Windows end-of-life pop-ups: Watch their long, annoying history

In recent weeks and months, Microsoft has increased the pressure on Windows 10 users to finally upgrade to Windows 11, highlighting the impending end of Windows 10 support. However, this end of support is not until October 2025 and can even be delayed by three years for a fee with the “Windows 10 Extended Security Updates” (ESU). The end of support means that Windows 10 users who do not pay for ESU will no longer receive Windows updates after October 2025 and therefore no newly discovered security vulnerabilities will be closed on their Windows 10 computers.

How Windows 10 is currently annoying us with pop-ups

Windows 10 displays full-screen adverts for the upgrade, even on Windows 10 computers that do not meet the requirements for Windows 11. The annoying upgrade notifications are even appearing on Windows 10 PCs within companies. At the same time, Microsoft has increased the number of upgrade-eligible Windows 10 PCs. So far, however, none of this has been successful; on the contrary, Windows 10 has recently gained market share, while Windows 11 has lost market share.

The long history of end-of-support pop-ups

Such annoying (full-screen) pop-ups, with which Microsoft urges users to upgrade to the latest Windows generation, are by no means an invention in Windows 10. Microsoft has been presenting users with such upgrade annoyances since Windows XP.




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The YouTuber WindowsOSStuff has taken the trouble to put together a short, snappy video of all the “End of Support” pop-ups (also known as End of Life, EOL) that Windows has annoyed its users with and continues to annoy them with to this day. The video is a journey through time on Microsoft’s incessant pestering of satisfied Windows users.

The first of these end-of-support pop-ups appeared in Windows XP. It could still be easily switched off using a checkbox and was not aggressive. WindowsOSStuff didn’t find such a pop-up in Windows Vista, which was quite unpopular at the time. But in the very successful Windows 7, the pestering resumed: Several times, in fact, as Microsoft placed different pop-ups in front of Windows 7 users. What’s more, Microsoft became much more intrusive. The video continues with the unpopular Windows 8 and 8.1, followed by the end-of-support pop-ups for the ever-popular Windows 10, which is where we stand today.

This article was translated from German to English and originally appeared on pcwelt.de.

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