You mean that still could run Windows10? Mint. I don't really like laptops and use my big box most of the time. I only use the laptop to run and play RPGs at the table with my game group. But I do my prep on the box down in my nerd lair, with two nice monitors.
this post was submitted on 24 May 2026
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By installing Linux on it
debian trixie was released at just the right time, about two months before win10 went on life support.
IdkWhatIExpected.gif
Mint on the laptops. Bazzite on the gaming PCs
Mint on the laptops. Bazzite on the gaming PCs
Yep. Recently convinced my brother to install Fedora Silverblue on it.
Is it… could it be…. The year of the Linux desktop??
What do you mean? Win10 still works. MS didn't Thanos snap it.
No, I mean is it prone to being hacked now more than before? Or has MS actively pushing updates to worsen it to force people to move to Win 11?
It was simple to get extended security updates for w10 for a year. After Oct, it'll require payment for another year, up to 3 years total I believe.
Did something happen to Windows 10 that made them vulnerable?
Support has been extended, but 10 is EOL, which means soon™ it'll stop getting updates. Once that happens, any vulnerabilities that exist (discovered or not) will stop being fixed.
This doesn't effectively increase your risk as a consumer. It only increases risk at the enterprise and infrastructure level.
All threat models include who you are and the environment the OS is run in for a reason. Just browsing the web is fine as a consumer, until browsers stop targeting your OS for updates.
The main vector for infection for any OS isn't the OS itself. Malware doesn't just spawn on your computer the second you plug it in to a router (no matter what Trump's FCC thinks with their chinese router ban). It needs to get on your computer.
An up to date browser will prevent the majority of infections, with common sense preventing the rest. I kept Windows XP well into windows 7 years, and windows 7 well into windows 10 years before switching to linux. Just don't download malware, you'll be fine. Worst case scenario you keep a backup clone of your hard drive on a usb stick (which you should have anyway) and just reflash your drive every few months (or just switch to linux, it can do anything windows can do at this point with enough faffing about.)
You could download a Trojan that takes advantage of a known vulnerability.
It is part of the swiss cheese model.
Your browser could have a vulnerable plugin, or maybe the user delays updates.
I bought a USB drive off a sketchy guy in college which had auto-run Malware on it -- but it didn't work on Ubuntu.
Not a good idea to use an unpatched OS.
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You still need some sort of exploit to be able to hit your machine. If you’re behind a firewall and not raw dogging it on the internet then you’ve got a decent layer of security.
At that point it’s just your web browser (or your brain) that needs an exploit to for something bad to happen. And both chrome and Firefox will be supporting 10 for years to come.
No windows 10 left in the house.
Mint, Debian. Dual Boots are now all off. Couldn't be happier. It was a pain getting everything setup correctly, but wow. I love having an OS that only does what I tell it.
LTSC IoT Enterprise support until 2032 - massgrave dot dev/windows10_eol
I'm running 10 with no security features as my main gaming system. I turned off as much of Windows defender as I could because it was slowing down texture downloads in Second Life + was trying to say my fan control software was malware.
I hope I get a virus because it'll be the final tug I need to fully cover to linux. I just converted a 10 year old laptop to linux mint to run as a server since everything is getting enshittified and requiring monthly fees, like Mint the budgeting app, so I'm dipping my toe into self-hosting.
I have nothing to lose.
I'm also still running Android 9 on my phone because I refuse to buy a new one due to planned obsolescence.
Same way you'd use a phone that's EOL. Even my old ass EOL router still held up because it accepted no incoming calls as if it wasn't even there. Any other more involved attack vectors would probably fall outside of scope for the people potentially targeting an average person. Where the real danger lies with outdated systems, especially W10 while it's still fairly fresh, is user error - visit the wrong link or download a wrong file and you are in the world of pain.
There's multiple good answers in the comments but context can help.
Why do you need to stay on Win10?
Can't update? Don't want to update?
Personally I moved to Linux Mint about 2 years ago. My laptop I just switched to Fedora (I think the UI is great on laptops but not a fan on desktops).
Anything Windows exclusive I need to keep around (and there are many reasons but they are highly subjective) I run Windows in a VM.
On top of that, I use ameliorated.io to reclaim the OS as my own and have little issues as far as privacy or security. As such, I didn't mind updating to Win11. The way the ameliorated version runs is essentially the same as 10. So I get a clean interface (no asinine menu system), secured with admin and user accounts, no telemetry, no bloat. I'm very happy with this setup. If I had to stay 100% on windows for some reason this is how I'd run it.
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By turning it on.
What am I saying, it never gets turned off.
I also have both XP and Win7 VMs for running software that won't run under 10/11.
Google and Apple have done a great job making people believe that an "unpatched" system is somehow dangerous.
Nearly all of my system failures/OS problems since about 2010 have been from updates breaking things - both Windows and Android
I haven't seen a virus since Win2k and running a decent AV became standard.
And I'm in Enterprise IT - our biggest concern is social engineering, not direct attacks.
Security/stability is about layering protections/mitigations to prevent alignment of "risk holes", like stacking Swiss cheese.
The slew of recent zero days in everything from the Linux kernel to Firefox warrant urgent patching...
I did the free extended update. Will probably swap to the iot version later this year.
we still have some win10 here. not too worried given who is using them and for what purposes. we've retired from some of our work so we don't have or access any sensitive data (medical records mostly) anymore.
if you need it, try to score the extra update time for 'free' (check settings-windows update for the offer). i've done that for a few people and it didn't even mess up their 'backup' status.. but do check to make sure it's off if you do that method. there are other 'methods' but idk if LW lets you discuss them.
All my laptops are running Linux. Daily driver is currently on Manjaro with a dual boot to a very stripped down Win11 for some professional software with no Linux version.
Main PC is on Mint.
HTPC is on Win10 and I do not give a single shit what happens to that installation. Its purpose is to run Steam and VLC. If it gets a virus, it gets a virus. If it steals my info and sends it to China, then someone in China will know I play Jackbox games and watch weird arthouse Japanese movies. I could not care less.
I've tried to install windows 11 and it fails lol. I have a 2.0 tpm. I'll probably switch over to opensuse or mint soon.
Actually thats my desktop. My laptop is came with ubuntu.
I have TPM disabled in the bios so Windows 11 can't install itself.
I'm not
We still need Windows 10 to run things. So I switched those systems to LTSC.
just install ltsc its easy
I couldn't find a Tiny10 ISO anymore to share with you... Let me upload next week and I'll paste it here. :)
Meanwhile, just nuke a normal ISO with:
https://christitus.com/windows-tool/
Interesting! This does a lot of what I've always done by hand lol. What a time saver!
I never learned how to fiddle with regedit before I moved to Linux, but I always ran this or this when I used to help friends and family setting up a Windows system.
I've been slpwly transitioning everything to Linux. I've been using Kubuntu so far, but have been encountering enough issues that I might have to go back and redo it with a new distro at some point.
I recommend Fedora Kinoite if you have a newer device, Debian KDE if you need stability and have a slightly older device, and Zorin if you have something sort of in between and need professional support.
(Oh and Bazzite if you'll be gaming on something newer or PikaOS if gaming on something older)
With a hammer
Its kinda dumb but I have this stuff setup and to move it to linux I need to buy a new drive and I have literally zero disposable income.
I don't know if this helps at all, but you actually don't need to buy a new drive! You can install Linux next to Windows on the same drive, it works perfectly fine.
(You will need something to put the installer on though, and USB sticks do cost money, so.)
-- Frost
yeah would be great if that was my particular thing. I overwrote windows and use an older machine for windows currently. I will need a new drive but I don't really want to go into details with the niche thing im doing. Im actually moving from an ubuntu child distro to bazzite. a big issue was how appimages would work and I thought I had a big issue until I finally realized its an issue with how google does chrome. its looking good. taking a sit down before I finish it off. the chrome issue seems to be fixed by killing various caches it keeps btw (or for someone who comes across this and kinda has the same issue).
I'm not using windows 10, but you can use a version which is still getting security updates.
The laptop I received from work still runs win 10. I don’t think work it cares one bit, and I suspect I will get a win 11 replacement only if this one dies.
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