Windows 10’s Free Extended Support Will Make You Use OneDrive

It’s a known fact that Microsoft is really into shoving its services down people’s throats. I haven’t seen attempts at doing so that are as blatant as this one, though. Microsoft will, after all, allow you to continue updating Windows 10 past its EOD date, if you agree to do a little something.

As a reminder, Windows 10 support is ending on October 14th. It used to be a far away date, but it’s creeping closer and closer every time. If you can’t move to Windows 11, either because of technical requirements or because you don’t want to, you can get an ESU that will let you continue getting updates for a year. That’s a paid update of $30, but Microsoft is now giving you a few options to allow you to get the update for free. The most reasonable one is for you to “use Windows Backup to sync your settings to the cloud.” In other words, if you want to stick with Windows 10 and you don’t want to pay money, you’ll have to start using OneDrive. The other options include the $30 payment and redeeming 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points.

It’s a clever way for Microsoft to notch itself more OneDrive users while getting people an extra year of updates (which Microsoft was going to offer anyway). This might not sound that bad for some people, until you realize that Microsoft OneDrive only has 5GB of free space. And yes, the Windows backup counts against that. Depending on how much you’re actually saving, you might quickly run against your limit, which means that if you want to use Windows Backup seriously, you’ll have to fork up a monthly subscription anyway.

Forcing people to use a service they would otherwise not use in order to continue getting Windows 10 updates is kind of blackmail. And it will unfortunately work—a lot of people are permanently stuck on Windows 10 because they simply can’t install Windows 11 officially on their computers. A lot of users will need to just get a new computer if they want to update to Windows 11, and that’s going to be a costly upgrade for many. A decent laptop can start at $500, and you might want to spend a tad more if you’re getting a desktop computer.

If you’re already using Windows Backup (which is useful, but it’s still uncool to force someone’s hand to use your service), you’ll be enrolled into Microsoft’s ESU automatically, giving you critical security updates until October 13th, 2026, at which point you’ll almost certainly have to get a Windows 11 PC anyway. So think of this as an extra year to save money and review your options.

Source: Microsoft