If your business is still running Windows 10, you are not alone. Plenty of Perth organisations have a handful of older machines ticking along in the background, doing the job just fine. Nothing has crashed, nobody has complained, so why change anything? The problem is that Windows 10 reached its end of support on 14 October 2025, and since then the safety net that protected those machines has been quietly removed. Here is what that means for your business, in plain English.

What end of support actually means

Microsoft has confirmed that once Windows 10 reached end of support, it no longer provides technical assistance, feature updates or security updates for the operating system. Your computers will not suddenly stop working, and that is exactly why the risk is so easy to ignore. The machine boots up, your staff log in and everything looks normal. Behind the scenes, though, every new weakness discovered in Windows 10 stays open. Microsoft itself notes that a PC without continued software and security updates is at greater risk from viruses and malware.

This is why business IT support Perth teams like ours treat unsupported operating systems as a priority issue. It is not about chasing the latest shiny software. It is about making sure the foundation your business runs on can still be defended.

What is a zero day exploit?

A zero day exploit is a security flaw that attackers find, and start using, before the software maker has released a fix. The name comes from the fact that the vendor has had zero days to respond. On a supported operating system, a zero day is a race. Microsoft investigates, builds a patch and releases it, and your IT provider rolls it out across your fleet. The window of danger is real, but it closes.

On an unsupported system, that window never closes. If a new flaw is found in Windows 10, Microsoft has no obligation to fix it. Every vulnerability discovered from here on becomes, in effect, a permanent zero day for anyone still running the old software. Criminals understand this well. Older operating systems are attractive targets because the flaws are known, documented and unlikely to be patched.

Microsoft does not guarantee a fix

This is the part many business owners miss. When a product is out of support, Microsoft makes no promise to repair problems it finds. In rare, severe cases it may release an emergency patch, but that is a goodwill gesture, not a guarantee, and you cannot build a security strategy on goodwill.

Yes, there is an Extended Security Updates program that can supply critical and important security patches for a limited time, but it is a paid, short-term bridge. It does not include new features or general technical support, and it is not designed to be a permanent plan. Microsoft has also said it will keep updating Defender antivirus definitions on Windows 10 for longer. That helps, but as one Microsoft community expert put it, Defender can block known malware, yet it cannot repair the underlying holes in the operating system. It is a strong lock on a door with broken hinges.

It only takes one compromised machine

Many businesses assume that one old computer in the corner of the office is a minor problem. Unfortunately, attackers do not think that way. They only need a single way in. Once a hacker compromises one unpatched machine, they can sit quietly on your network, harvest passwords, move sideways to your servers and file shares, and eventually deploy ransomware or steal client data.

That one forgotten reception PC, the workshop computer or the laptop that only gets used once a month can become the front door to your entire business. This is particularly serious for organisations that hold sensitive information, which is why we see so much concern around IT support for accounting firms, medical practices and law firms. A single breach can mean notifiable data breach obligations, lost client trust and days of downtime.

Other reasons to move on from Windows 10

Security patches are the headline issue, but they are not the only one. Here are a few more reasons that came up in our research.

• Software support is fading. Browsers, accounting packages and other business applications will gradually stop supporting Windows 10, which means fewer security updates for the programs your team uses every day.
• Hardware drivers are drying up. New printers, scanners and peripherals increasingly ship with drivers for Windows 11 only, and some modern tools already require it.
• Cyber insurance and compliance. Insurers and auditors increasingly ask whether your systems are supported. Running unsupported software can complicate a claim or a compliance review.
• Performance and reliability. Over time, unsupported systems become slower and less stable as the rest of the technology world moves on.
• Hidden costs. Paying for extended updates, working around compatibility problems and recovering from an incident can quickly add up to more than the cost of replacing the machine.

Why you cannot simply upgrade most of these machines

The obvious answer is to upgrade to Windows 11, and where a machine is eligible, that is exactly what we recommend. The catch is that Windows 11 has stricter minimum hardware requirements than Windows 10, including newer processors, TPM 2.0 security chips and Secure Boot support. In our experience, most machines still running Windows 10 simply do not meet those requirements, so a software upgrade is not possible. Forcing it onto unsupported hardware is not a safe or sensible option for a business.

In most cases the right answer is to replace the machine with a modern device that is built for Windows 11, is faster, and comes with current warranty and security features. Planning a staged replacement, rather than waiting for a failure or an incident, keeps costs predictable and avoids disruption to your team.

What you should do now

Start with visibility. You cannot protect what you do not know about, so get a clear list of every device on your network and the operating system each one runs. From there, separate the machines that can be upgraded from those that need replacing, and prioritise anything that handles sensitive data or sits in a customer facing area. Alongside that, keep your cyber security services Perth layers in place, including patching, endpoint protection, multi factor authentication and dark web monitoring, so that any leaked credentials are spotted early. These controls reduce risk, but they work best when they sit on top of a supported operating system.

If you are a small business without an in house IT team, you do not need to tackle this alone. Our managed IT services Perth clients have this kind of lifecycle planning built in, so ageing devices are flagged and budgeted for well before they become a problem. It is the same approach we take with small business IT support and larger organisations alike.

The bottom line is simple. Windows 10 still runs, but it is no longer being looked after, and attackers are well aware of it. Replacing old machines is far cheaper than recovering from a breach.

Ready to get your business off Windows 10? Reach out to your Qbit account manager, or contact the team at Qbit IT Solutions today, and we will put together a no fuss quote to replace any machines that cannot run Windows 11. Let us help you stay secure, supported and ready for whatever comes next.