You do not have to upgrade to Windows 11. Microsoft will continue to support Windows 10 until October 14, 2025.
Thankfully, Windows 11 is a free update for users to make their PCs look modern with new features. Microsoft will not force you to upgrade to Windows 11 and ditch Windows 10, at least until 2025. However, it wants to ensure you are running the latest version of Windows 10 on all your PCs.
If you want to use Windows 11, you can choose to get it on your PC. If you want to continue to use Windows 10, you can choose to decline Windows 11 update. This will not influence your device. You should not worry about it.
Click the Update & Security tile in the Settings app. Select the Windows Update option on the left panel of the screen. You'll get a notification if Windows 11 is ready for you. You'll notice an option to download and install the update, as well as an option to ignore it below the notification, as seen below.
You'll soon be forced to (or switch to Windows 11) Windows 10 users who haven't upgraded to the latest version of the operating system (22H2) will soon have to do so. That's because Microsoft is ending support for Windows 10 21H2 on June 13, and has issued a reminder to that effect (as Neowin reports).
Not only your computer will stay outdated and make your system unstable, it might also put your data at risk. You can wait for a more stable Windows 11 build with more features, but we wouldn't recommend you sticking around with Windows 10 post October 2025.
You can replace the Windows 11 Start menu with its Windows 7 or Windows 10 version, move the taskbar to the top of the display and restore the taskbar context menu, and change a bunch of customization options.
First, you will miss out on the latest system features, security updates, patches, and compatibility for upcoming security features and programs. This lack of updates will mean your system will become more vulnerable to attacks.
"The free upgrade offer does not have a specific end date for eligible systems. However, Microsoft reserves the right to eventually end support for the free offer. This end date will be no sooner than October 5, 2022."
Windows 11 raises the bar for security by requiring hardware that can enable protections like Windows Hello, Device Encryption, virtualization-based security (VBS), hypervisor-protected code integrity (HVCI), and Secure Boot. These features in combination have been shown to reduce malware by 60% on tested devices.
To roll back to Windows 10 from 11, open Settings > System > Recovery and click “Go Back.” Skip the update check, follow the on-screen directions, and click “Go back to Windows 10.”
Although you can easily upgrade a Windows 10 PC to Windows 11, preserving installed apps, settings, and data files, you can't do the reverse. If you want to "downgrade" from Windows 11 to Windows 10, you have to do a clean install, which requires backing up and restoring your data files and reinstalling all your apps.
No, Windows 11 will not automatically be installed or downloaded in your system.
For Windows 10 20H2 to version 21H2, it started auto upgrades four months before 20H2 reached end of support. "The automatic update to Windows 11, version 22H2 will happen gradually starting with those devices that have been using version 21H2 for the longest period of time," Microsoft notes.
The biggest stink made by Windows commentators at the launch of Windows 11 concerned its new hardware requirements. The need for a TPM security chip got a lot of digital ink, while in my experience, the more widespread barrier to upgrading was a requirement for a more recent CPU.
Windows 10 Home and Pro follows the Modern Lifecycle Policy. Windows 10 will reach end of support on October 14, 2025. The current version, 22H2, will be the final version of Windows 10, and all editions will remain in support with monthly security update releases through that date.
Apart from the Windows 11 system requirement issues, you may encounter problems with the audio, network connectivity, battery, display, and more. Here we have constructed a list of common Windows 11 problems and how to fix them so that you can have the best experience using the best Windows OS version yet.
Can you still use Windows 10 after 2025? Sure, just like you can still use DOS/Win3. 1 or Win95 in 2022 (assuming it will run on your hardware). You're not going to be receiving any more patches or updates after then, but the OS is not time-bombed to stop working.
In Windows 11, go to Settings > Windows Update and next to “Pause updates,” click Pause for 1 week. After seven days you can do this several more times, a total of five times to delay the updates for 35 days. You can delay quality updates a week at a time for up to 35 days.
According to the latest statistics windows 11 is installed at around 23 % of windows devices/ PCs and windows 10 is installed at around 75 % of them.
Windows 11 does a lot under the hood to speed up a PC's performance. The same PC will generally run faster on Windows 11 than Windows 10. But no matter how zippy your Windows 11 may be, it can run faster. And keep in mind that PCs tend to slow down over time, and you want to make sure that doesn't happen to yours.
Upgrading your system from Windows 10 to Windows 11 will not erase all your files. After the update is completed, you should have access to all user files that were previously available in Windows 10.