![\"Windows](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1764306441_410_0x0.jpg\")
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Alarmiung new data as security disaster looks.<\/p>\n
NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/p>\n
So, this is alarming and new. It turns out the \u201clooming security disaster<\/a>\u201d for Windows users may be even worse than we feared. Microsoft is pushing<\/a> continuous update warnings, and a billion Windows users may be at risk.<\/p>\n This is all about Windows 10 which came crashing down to its end-of-life last month, with hundreds of millions of users still on board. Microsoft has given all those users an extended security update lifeline, but warns it\u2019s nowhere close to Windows 11 and all those users should upgrade their OS \u2014 or if that\u2019s not possible, their PC.<\/p>\n ForbesAmazon Customers Issued 48 Hour Warning\u2014\u2018Attacks Already Surging\u2019By Zak Doffman<\/a><\/p>\n We had assumed around 550 million PCs are still running Windows 10, out of the 1.4 billion market total. And we had also assumed around half of those were older PCs, ineligible for a Windows 11 upgrade without some form of workaround.<\/p>\n But now Dell, (via Windows Latest<\/a>) has issued a stark correction. \u201cThe installed base is roughly 1.5 billion units,” Dell COO Jeffrey Clarke told an earnings call. \u201cWe have about 500 million of them capable of running Windows 11 that haven\u2019t been upgraded. And we have another 500 million that are four years old that can\u2019t run Windows 11.\u201d<\/p>\n If correct, that\u2019s twice the number we thought, and makes Windows 11\u2019s momentum look even worse. \u201cMicrosoft\u2019s strategy to push Windows 11 is clearly not working out,\u201d Windows Latest says, either because \u201cthe OS doesn\u2019t have a good reputation\u201d or because consumers \u201djust don\u2019t want to dump” healthy Windows 10 PCs.<\/p>\n Whatever the reality, Dell likely has a sharper view than market analysts such as StatCounter, which estimate the install base using small representative samples. It\u2019s clear that a vast number of PCs are still using a now retired OS, ESU or not<\/a>.<\/p>\n ForbesDo Not Click\u2014This Porn Site Installs Malware On Your DeviceBy Zak Doffman<\/a><\/p>\n Meanwhile, Microsoft<\/a> will continue to issue its nags and warnings. Windows 11 PCs, it says, combines \u201cthe latest security updates and hardware-backed protection\u201d to deliver “a reported 62% drop in security incidents.\u201d This, it says, is \u201csecure by design, secure by default<\/a>,\u201d with \u201clayers of protection built-in and enabled out of the box.\u201d<\/p>\n The Oct. 14 deadline has now passed, but there\u2019s a new one. Same date just a year further down the line. October 2026 will be a real crunch point with another ESU looking unlikely. As such, holiday shopping seasons \u2014 like the one we\u2019re now in \u2014 become critical for OEMs, retailers and users.<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alarmiung new data as security disaster looks. NurPhoto via Getty Images So, this is alarming and new. It…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287331,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[59,86,56,54,55,101129,116816,101128,2892,12494,38253,2767],"class_list":["post-287330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-gb","tag-technology","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-windows-10-attack","tag-windows-10-free-update","tag-windows-11-attack","tag-windows-11-free-upgrade","tag-windows-attack","tag-windows-security","tag-windows-warning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}