Windows 10: How to Get a Free Extra Year of Security

Windows 10 is reaching the end of its life soon. On October 14, Microsoft will stop sending security updates to Windows 10 PCs. This means users have three options: upgrade to Windows 11, buy a new PC, or sign up for Extended Security Updates (ESU) to keep using Windows 10 safely for another year. The ESU option is the easiest and can be done for free in many cases. To get started, users need to check if their PC is up-to-date. They can do this by going to Settings > System > About. If the PC is not up-to-date, users should install all available Windows 10 updates. Next, users need to make sure they are using an administrator account. This is usually the first account created on the computer. Users can check this by going to Settings > Your Info. If the PC is eligible to upgrade to Windows 11, users should do so. If not, they can continue following the steps to sign up for ESU. To do this, users need to go to Settings > Update & Security and click the "Enroll Now" link. If the "Enroll Now" link is not visible, users may need to update and install the latest Windows 10 updates. Once users have enrolled in ESU, they need to choose how they want to back up their PC settings. The free option is to back up the PC settings to the cloud. However, this option comes with two catches for users in the US. First, users will need to link their Windows login to Microsoft's cloud-based online service. Second, the free backup only applies to the first 5 GB of storage. Anything more, and users will need to pay for Microsoft's OneDrive services. Once users have signed in, a window will pop up that says "Add this device to receive Extended Security Updates. " Users need to click "Add Device" to enroll their PC. That's it! Users have 12 more months to figure out an alternative upgrade path to Windows 11.