Windows 10 support finishes and charities are left with tough choices

In October, Microsoft is due to end free security updates for Windows 10. This means that there is a large problem to address for any charities that offer a refurbishment and distribution service for older computers to those in need.

Statistics have shown that around 240 million PCs will no longer be able to meet the hardware requirements for Windows 11, which will be incredibly stringent. Therefore, these organisations that aim to help will now face a difficult choice. Their options will be to send the computers to e-waste recyclers, explore alternative operating systems such as Linux, or provide Windows 10 systems, which may be insecure.

It has been made clear that Microsoft’s requirements around Windows 11 include things such as, ‘a 1GHz or faster CPU with at least two cores, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, Secure Boot capability, and TPM 2.0 compatibility.’ A further difficulty is that ‘the supported Intel CPU list only goes back to 8th Gen chips, introduced in 2017, while the AMD list includes Ryzen 2000 series and above.’

Due to this list of features, it has become clear that a range of computers are ineligible for the upgrade, even though these devices are very recent and a lot of them are powerful and even include a large amount of RAM and storage.

This issue is made bigger, once statistics around the effectiveness of e-waste recycling are taken into account. Right now, approximately fourteen to forty percent of US electronic waste is being recycled, which means that this current issue has the potential to lead to around 1.06 billion pounds of e-waste. This is the same as the weight of 320,000 cars and it is a large problem because when electronic devices are not recycled, they usually end up in landfills and this is where substances such as lead, mercury, and cadmium which are toxic, can leach into the soil. From there these chemicals contaminate the soil and affect its quality, ultimately making it unsuitable for agriculture, whilst it also creates risks for drinking water supplies and finally, aquatic ecosystems. On top of this, burning e-waste has the effect of releasing harmful fumes into the atmosphere.

Moreover, it has also been stated that this amount of e-waste is having a larger effect than just causing problems for the environment. It has been revealed by the UN that the net annual economic cost when it comes to e-waste is $37 billion and this amount is expected to increase to $40 billion by 2030 unless significant improvements are made to the e-waste management system and its policies.

However, in relation to the issues that are being created for consumers by the new update to Windows, although there are concerns around the system, it seems increasingly likely that customers will continue to use the old system, despite rising concerns.

Statistics from Statcounter have shown that ‘Windows 10 still accounts for 58.7 percent of all Windows installations, compared to 38.1 percent for Windows 11.’

So far it is clear that there is very little chance that users will choose to upgrade or replace these systems by October and on top of this, it is also unlikely that consumers will decide to use Microsoft’s Extended Security Update program, which currently costs $61 every year.

Altogether, during this upcoming change and the challenges presented by obsolete systems, charities must make an effort to balance both secure computing, whilst also being aware of the environmental impact disposing of these systems will have. Plus, charity shops must also be wary of the impact using outdated systems could have on the business itself. This concern comes from potential compliance issues, which could lead to fines and damage to the charity’s financial stability and even its reputation. These compliance issues may crop up with regulations such as GDPR, after support ends.

Director and global field CISO for Sophos, Chester Wisniewski, commented, “Deploying Windows 10 at this time is a bad idea. The writing is on the wall. Microsoft has made the internal decision to obsolete this equipment, so I guess they just don’t want more people to use Windows.”

Wisniewski added that “Windows 10 and Windows 11 share a largely common codebase, meaning vulnerabilities patched in one can often be exploited in the other.”