Articles about End of support

Support has ended, or is coming to an end, for a lot of Microsoft products at the moment. Perhaps the most notable or well-publicized is Windows 10, but this is far from being the end of the story.

In a move designed to push people towards Teams, killing off Skype and Skype for Business made a lot of sense. The same is true of the aging Exchange 2016 and 2019 losing support. But while this makes sense for Microsoft, it is also incredibly disruptive and expensive for businesses that rely on these tools – hence two newly announced Extended Security Update programs.

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As we are being reminded on a near daily basis, Microsoft is ending support for Windows 10 in mid-October. The company has made it clear that the end of support means the end of security updates, but this does not mean that all Windows 10 users will take notice and jump to Windows 11.

However much Microsoft might wish otherwise, Windows 10 will remain in popular usage for some years to come – so the company is tightening the thumbscrews. A quiet announcement reveals that anyone sticking with Windows 10 will no longer receive feature updates for their Microsoft 365 (Office) apps.

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Microsoft is no stranger to announcing the deprecation of components of Windows, or even entire apps. But what does it mean exactly? The company has tried to make things a little clearer, but it’s up for debate whether it achieved this or not.

In a post on the Windows IT Pro Blog, Microsoft starts off by defining deprecation by describing what it is not -- “deprecation is not the end point of the lifecycle”.  It is also not to be considered “the end” according to Microsoft. Eh?

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It can hardly have escaped the notice of anyone that Windows 10 is reaching the end of support later this year. By now, it is abundantly clear that there will be no more (official) security updates as of October, but there are other casualties that are starting to become apparent.

Fans of using themes as a way of customising the look of Windows will be sad to hear that the official Microsoft page that is used to host hundreds of themes is due to be closed down.

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As of October 14, 2025, Microsoft will officially stop supporting Windows 10, marking the end of the road for regular security updates and technical support.

This doesn’t mean your Windows 10 machine will suddenly stop working of course, but it does mean that keeping it safe and secure will require more proactive measures. Here’s how you can protect your Windows 10 system after official support ends.

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It always sounds dire. "After five years of mainstream support, and five years of Extended Support, Office 2013 will reach the End of Extended Support on April 11, 2023," warns Microsoft. "Per the Fixed Lifecycle Policy, after this date security updates for Office 2013 will no longer be available."

At the end of support, the official statement continues, "Microsoft won’t provide any new security updates, and the continued use of Office 2013 after April 2023 may increase your organization’s exposure to security risks or impact your ability to meet compliance obligations." And dire it can be.

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