Support for Windows 10 has ended. The machines still switch on, everything still works, and nothing visible has changed, which is exactly why this is easy to leave alone.
What has changed is that security updates have stopped. That matters more gradually and more seriously than a sudden failure would.
What end of support actually means
Not that the computer stops. It means that when a new vulnerability is discovered, and they are discovered constantly, no fix arrives for your machine.
The risk profile is the opposite of most technology problems. It does not spike on day one and settle. It compounds, quietly, as the list of unpatched weaknesses grows month by month. A machine six months past support is meaningfully more exposed than one at the deadline, and it feels identical to use.
There is a second effect that arrives later. Software vendors gradually stop supporting the old platform, so at some point your accounting package or your line-of-business application declines to install its next version.
The business consequences beyond security
Two that catch small businesses out.
Insurance and contracts. Cyber insurance policies increasingly ask whether systems are supported and patched. Answering that question inaccurately is a problem at claim time, which is the worst possible moment to discover it. Larger customers asking for security assurances will ask the same thing.
Data protection. GDPR requires appropriate technical measures to protect personal data. Running unsupported systems holding customer data is difficult to defend as appropriate if something goes wrong. That is not a theoretical concern in Ireland, where these questions get examined properly.
Work out what you actually have
Before deciding anything, count. Most businesses are less exposed than they fear, or exposed in a different place than they assumed.
Go machine by machine and note the version, the age, and what it is used for. Include the ones nobody thinks of as computers: the machine running the till, the one attached to a printer or a piece of equipment, the laptop in the back office used once a week.
Those forgotten machines are usually the oldest, and often the ones holding something important.
The realistic options
Upgrade in place. Free where the hardware qualifies. Many machines from the last several years do; older ones fail on specific hardware requirements rather than on general capability, which is why some perfectly good computers are excluded. Check each machine rather than assuming either way.
Replace the hardware. The honest answer for older machines. Spread over a few months by priority rather than all at once: anything holding customer data or connecting to finance goes first.
Pay for extended updates. A paid programme exists to continue receiving security updates for a limited period. It is a bridge, not a destination, and it is reasonable when replacement cannot be funded immediately. Know when it ends.
Isolate what cannot move. Sometimes a machine is tied to equipment that will not run on anything newer. If it genuinely cannot be replaced, it should come off the internet and off the main network, with strict limits on what it touches.
Do this in the right order
Prioritise by what the machine holds and touches, not by how old it is.
Anything with customer records, anything used for banking or payroll, anything a member of the public could reach. Those first. The machine used for stock counts once a month is genuinely lower risk and can wait a quarter.
This is also a sensible moment to check what else is unsupported, because operating systems are rarely the only thing that has quietly aged out. Old plugins on a website carry exactly the same kind of risk for exactly the same reason.
While you are replacing machines
A hardware refresh is the cheapest moment to fix two things that are otherwise awkward.
Anything stored only on a local machine should move somewhere shared and backed up, because a replacement cycle is when locally stored files get lost permanently. And the licences attached to departing machines are worth reviewing at the same time, since unused subscriptions cluster around old equipment.
The honest summary
This is not an emergency and it is not nothing. The machines work; the exposure grows monthly and invisibly.
Count what you have, check which machines can upgrade for free, and replace the rest in order of what they hold. Most small businesses find this smaller than expected once it is written down.
If you have a machine that cannot move because something is tied to it, that is a specific problem with real options. Describe what it runs and you will get a straight answer about isolating it safely.
Common questions
Do the machines stop working?
No. They keep running exactly as before. What stops is security updates, so the risk compounds quietly month by month rather than arriving as a visible failure.
Which machines should we deal with first?
Prioritise by what a machine holds and touches, not by age. Anything with customer records, anything used for banking or payroll, anything a member of the public could reach.
What if a machine cannot be replaced?
If it is genuinely tied to equipment that will not run on anything newer, take it off the internet and off the main network, and limit strictly what it can reach.