For most people who registered for extended service updates after Windows 10 EOL, the world as we know it ends in October, again. Personally, I didn’t bother and kept using it anyway, for the few things I use it for, but people might want to think some more about the alternatives.
Here’s a short video discussing some of the options, from “Explaining Computers”, delivered in the style of an 80s BBC presenter talking about BBC Micros (as usual):
Windows 10: Four Months to Go (Again)
FWIW I did the ESU. Although it seems that many are using Windows 11 without too many issues, the recent MIDI issues on the latest win 11 update plus other issues that some have had has convinced me to stay on 10. I use bitdefender on my personal laptops so I am considering just putting that on my gig and backup machines and calling it a day. Like most, I only go online when I need a software update. If anyone knows of a better approach to stay on win 10 I would certainly be interested in hearing that. Thanks!
Tom
My main gigging machine is still Win 10, but my newest is Win 11. The Win 10 is stable, but I’ve had many problems with 11. It seems to be ok now after all the headaches.
The reason I have Win 11, is because so many vst companies are starting to require 11 only, just as they did with 10. I wanted to be ahead of a shut down on Win 10.
Yes, my 10 could stay as it is for years, just have to live with what I’ve got.
I remember when Win7 shut down. It took awhile, but the newer vst toys required 10.
It becomes a rabbit hole very quickly.
That’s true, but they often work well with Windows 10. For example, although Cubase 15 requires Windows 11, it runs smoothly on my Win10 PC.
It would be interesting to compile a list of VSTs that don’t work on Win10.
The time will certainly come to move on 11, let’s hope it’s as late as possible.
Strange thing is I hear all of these problems with WIN11 (and I am not suggesting that you are not suffering from them), all my PCs (DAWPC, GIGPC, VIDEOPC) are now WIN11 and they are as solid as a rock…
The biggest faff was enforcing local only accounts as part of setup. It’s not easy to to do as Microsoft want to force you onto their web accounts (which I do have for OneDrive and MS365) but you can do it. I use Stardock Start11 as my start menu which removes all of the adverts/pushes to Microsoft content, search redirection to web content, etc., and also has great features for organising things.
So I am perfectly happy with WIN11 (as modified by Start11)
With the exception of the MIDI 2.0 release, I have had exactly zero issues with using Windows 11 on my PCs. In fact, my wife’s machine is still on Win10 and we are beginning to find issues with certain functions and planning to upgrade her to Win11 very soon. If I were starting a clean install of Windows for a PC in 3Q2026 (we’re just about there), I would definitely run Windows 11. Even if one can disregard the security fixes, Win10 has been declared obsolete, and interest in supporting it will reduce with each passing month. Yes, most software ‘seems to run OK on Windows 10,’ but once providers decide to make the move to support the newer OS, one loses most of the leverage with customer support when chasing problems.
For the record, the Windows MIDI 2.0 release was an exceptionally ambitious attempt by Microsoft to try to catch up to where Mac music support has been for years. (And Apple has had OS compatibility issues with musical products, too.) The very fact that MS agreed to spend any amount of significant development in this area was a large step in the right direction. Unfortunately, MS underestimated the amount of third-party add-ons and driver hacks that exist in the Windows MIDI arena precisely because native Windows support has been historically poor. The big issue that most of us ran into wasn’t programming/debug expertise; it was getting MIDI code updates in a timely, predictable manner from a company who tends to: a) release large chunks of unrelated bug fixes in a single package; and b) often enable fixes to various users over time, using an undisclosed priority scheme. (ex: MS was aware of issues with virtual port tools like rtpMIDI back in February, but an official fix was delayed until early June.) Interim fixes were tagged as ‘test’ or ‘unsupported’ software, which made returning to the ‘official road’ difficult for some of us.
Good summary. I have also said that (once they get it right) Windows MIDI is now looking quite MAC like 
Brief update, because I’ve only just seen it and haven’t watched it yet - it seems Microslop have decided to extend Windows 10 EOL for consumers by another year:
Windows 10 Consumer ESUs Extended to October 2027
– ExplainingComputers