![\"Windows](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1764571809_849_0x0.jpg\")
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Do you have one of the PCs at risk?<\/p>\n
NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Microsoft\u2019s \u201clooming security disaster<\/a>\u201d is worse than feared. A staggering billion Windows users are at risk as the sheer scale of the task to avoid a cybersecurity cliff edge is made clear. Not a cheerful holiday season message for anyone.<\/p>\n Last week I reported on Dell\u2019s surprising message, when the leading PC maker told investors and analysts<\/a> that one billion PCs<\/a> are still running Windows 10. That\u2019s twice the number we thought. 500 million of those are older devices that are not eligible for the upgrade. But another 500 million can run Windows 11 \u2014 but users have said no.<\/p>\n ForbesMicrosoft Will Tell Your Boss When You\u2019re Not At Work\u2014\u2018Starts January\u2019By Zak Doffman<\/a><\/p>\n Before the Windows stats from Dell\u2019s earnings call started making headlines, we assumed around 250 million PCs were aged and needed to be replaced. The fact that number has now doubled is more of an issue than just those needing to hit the shops.<\/p>\n As XDA-Developers<\/a> says, if Dell got its numbers right, \u201cand I don\u2019t see why it shouldn\u2019t, not only does one third of the Windows user base not have a PC compatible with Windows 10, but a further third can upgrade to Windows 11 but have chosen not to.\u201d<\/p>\n That \u201csecond part,\u201d XDA-Developers\u2019 Simon Batt says \u201cis what stuns me the most, as it shows that people just don\u2019t see upgrading as worth the hassle, even when the option to do so is sitting right in front of them.\u201d We knew that was an issue \u2014 but not this scale.<\/p>\n Microsoft surprised its Windows 10 user base with a sudden u-turn on ongoing security updates, essentially offering them to all home users for free until October 2026. I said at the time that this was a mistake. The extended security updates (ESU) should have been limited to users with older PCs, others should have been mandated to upgrade.<\/p>\n ForbesGoogle\u2019s New Gmail Update\u20142 Billion Users Must Now DecideBy Zak Doffman<\/a><\/p>\n Absent that, we now have a messy landscape, with no public data on how many PCs running Windows 10 \u2014 home or enterprise \u2014 are enrolled for ongoing updates and how many are already at risk from cyber attacks. The cost for businesses, unlike home users, could be huge with large estates of aged Windows 10 PCs. have they skipped updates?<\/p>\n And so as we head into 2026, we know there\u2019s a potential 500 million PC landfill crisis<\/a>. Further advice for users to switch machines to Linux or even ChromeOS<\/a>, and tracking of whether we\u2019ll still have most of the billion affected PCs in play next fall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Do you have one of the PCs at risk? NurPhoto via Getty Images Microsoft\u2019s \u201clooming security disaster\u201d is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":317927,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[49,48,37707,45386,61,17167,3600,3602,15392,45385],"class_list":["post-317926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-microsoft-attack","tag-microsoft-warning","tag-technology","tag-windows-10-free-update","tag-windows-10-vs-windows-11","tag-windows-11-free-upgrade","tag-windows-attack","tag-windows-warning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=317926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317926\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/317927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}