End of 10 - Upgrade your old Windows 10 computer to Linux:
Stumbled on this website today.
Nioce 
more users for this site 
Hello,
going to Linux isnāt that easy, especially on Samsung and Acer laptops. Their BIOS/UEFI doesnāt show anything like Secure Boot, Legacy Boot, CSM, etc.. making it impossible to boot Linux distros like UBUNTU, MINT, ZORIN, etc. Although these have the possibility to boot in UEFI mode and have the Microschoft approved signatures.
Any known workarounds ?
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I currently own an Acer laptop from 2017, I use this system for work so Iām forced to use Windows. But I tried to install with success Linux (POP and Debian) couple of times.
I remember in stock bios thereās an option for switch from UEFI to legacy mode and viceversa. You need to reboot computer after configure this settings.
Let us know.
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Yes this website encourage users to switch to Linux. But butā¦
One other possibility for security reasons could also be switch to Windows 10 LTSC 21h2 IoT Enterprise wich is having support by M$ until 2032.
One other option is switch to Windows 10 LTSC 1809 wich is having support by M$ until 2029.
One other option is keep using Windows 10 PRO beyond october 2025, but you need to have a strong antivirus and you might survive creating a virtual network between router and computer.
Letās say altough Windows 10 PRO and Home wonāt be supported anymore by M$ from october 2025, Iām pretty sure software companies will continue release their software available for this OS for many years, I expect more then 5 years for sure.
If you are a user that use computer for play videogames you should switch to Windows 11 soon, if you are an intermediate user you might consider one of options I typed, and if you are base user you might enjoy some easy Linux distros. Source: my mom uses Linux as well, and she does not nothing more surfing the web and reading email.
Oh interesting. I did not know this!:
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Iām one who chose to go the Win 10 to 11 (so called) upgrade route because going to Linux will take a lot of effort that I canāt afford right now (e.g. converting notebooks containing filesystem paths, should be straight forward but isnāt). āupgradingā buys me time.
After using Win 11 for a week now, I feel like Iāve got maybe 1 year.
Iāve been looking into a Linux based web presence for years, and started down the path a couple weeks ago, before feeling compelled to do the Windows change over. After changing over, and experiencing the ānew and improvedā Microsoft, Iām glad I had started the Linux ball rolling. Iām looking forward to this like I look forward to surgery to repair broken body parts: itās for the best.
Fortunately, my Rust mentor is also a web/Linux expert, and heās coaching/guiding me through launching a static website. Just as fortunately, I know this community has my back. Makes me feel better about the situation.
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So this is less than a month away. Have they extended deadline? Anyone still on 10 (besides bank ATMs lol)?
Iām on Windows 10 and Debian. According to this ESU Program for $30 bucks theyāll extend it for 1 year. Iām staying on Win 10,my CPU doesnāt meet Win 11 standards. I seem to remember they pulled this need to buy a new PC to run their OS before (Windows 7? Maybe it was 8, I donāt remember for sure) and they wound up lowering the requirements. Because not everyone ran out and bought new hardware or new computers to run that version. just my 2 cents
I still have a Windows 10 install on my main gaming PC (which uses Zorin) because I like to play Destiny 2 and Bungie (the studio) thinks Linux users are evil hackers so they insta-ban anyone who boots their game on anything other than Windows.
That being said, I donāt like Windows/Microsoft and have found this very helpful for having an optimized and safe Windows install: https://atlasos.net/
I went from idling at 8% - 11% CPU usage and 22% RAM (Ryzen 7 5800X 8-Core and 32GB RAM) on an out-of-the-box Windows 10 install to idling at 1% CPU usage and 8% - 10% RAM (all according to Task Manager).
I also found that, several of the ārestrictionsā like what youāre mentioning with the CPU not being compatible for Windows 11 went away when using Windows Update from Atlas OS. Might be worth looking into?
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Support of Windows 10 has ended last week.
I want to take in consideration this point:
Iām quite sure many non-tech users who own a Windows 11 - no compatible device will move to Linux.. I expect weāll see a world wide Linux adoption increasing on the next 6-12 months.. Many of these users will be using some beginner friendly distro such as Ubuntu or Linux Mint, or similar.
But hereās the concert: as the user base grows, it will increase also the Linux malware. Itās not so recent the news in Aur repositories were found alot of unsafe and malicious scripts..
So Iām wondering ā do you think weāll soon need to start considering antivirus software for Linux desktops?
Curious to hear your thoughts.
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Thatās an excellent point. With Windows 10 support ending, users with older hardware will definitely give Linux a try. Zorin Windows has been reporting record downloads. Ubuntu, Mint, and similar distros will likely see a noticeable bump as well.
And yeah, that growth cuts both ways. A bigger user base means more incentive for bad actors. Weāve already seen questionable scripts pop up in the AUR and other community repos, so I wouldnāt be surprised if Linux-targeted malware grows in frequency.
That said, look at macOS. Itās also Unix-derived and very popular, yet its popularity hasnāt required widespread use of antivirus software.
Still, I think for now, good system hygiene by keeping software updated, avoiding random scripts, and using official repos will continue to cover most of the risk. It will be an interesting space to watch!
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