This month, Microsoft will ruin hundreds of millions of computers in the U.S. and create more than one billion pounds of electronic waste, for no reason other than to make money, consumer and environmental advocates warn.

The tech goliath valued at $3.8 trillion is ending support on personal computers for Windows 10, the second-most popular version of the operating system worldwide. This means that owners of devices that are too old to handle the free Windows 11 upgrade must make a choice. Businesses can pay Microsoft to extend support for Windows 10 for $61 per device, a cost that doubles each consecutive year for three years total. Individuals can pay $30 for security upgrades that are only scheduled to last for one year. Or everyone can bin their computers and buy a new one.

For everyone who can’t afford those choices, they can run Windows 10 without support, making their devices easier to hack.

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The sheer scale of what will happen when support ends on October 14 is “alarming,” Nathan Proctor, senior director the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) Right to Repair campaign, told the Prospect. He noted that when Microsoft ended support for Windows 8 in January 2016, less than 4 percent of users were still running it. But about 42 percent of Windows computers worldwide are still using Windows 10.

Along with right-to-repair groups, consumer advocates, and environmental organizations from around the planet, PIRG is calling on Microsoft to extend free, automatic support for Windows 10, as the company announced last week it would do for an additional year within the European Economic Area.

Proctor characterized Microsoft’s decision to end support everywhere else as holding security hostage. He asked, “Will having a secure device be the privilege of the well-to-do now?”

MILLIONS OF COMPUTERS BECOMING OBSOLETE because they cannot upgrade to Windows 11 is coming at a particularly difficult time for many working people. The U.S. unemployment rate has hit a nearly four-year high of 4.3 percent, and August saw an inflation rate of 2.9 percent. It’s easier said than done to encourage Microsoft users to upgrade their devices to newer versions—doing so can be costly. The pricing for a new, lower-end Windows 11 laptop begins at around $300, and a more advanced machine can be more than $3,000. Although it is possible to purchase a used or refurbished computer, that too can be costly.

Yet having reliable access to a laptop or PC is an essential part of being a worker, and without this technology, many people are unable to successfully complete their jobs. Although you can use your cellphone to access the internet, most online work requires the use of a computer nowadays, says Michael Deeb, the director of Civic Tech DC and founder of Keeplist.io. “It’s less about access to the internet, but more so equitable access to sort of the markets, like people being able to work, to actually follow through on their jobs, apply for jobs,” Deeb contended. Remote work also has become increasingly popular since the COVID-19 pandemic, which requires the use of a dependable computer, and some workers are not supplied with one from their employers.

In 2022, researchers estimated that nearly 43 percent of active PCs employing Windows 10 are not equipped to upgrade to the latest operating system.

In the United States, 36.38 percent of all PC users are running Windows 10, and with the deadline to switch to the new operating system quickly approaching, millions will see safe usage of their devices dissipate. In 2022, researchers at Lansweeper estimated that nearly 43 percent of active PCs employing Windows 10 are not equipped to upgrade to the latest operating system due to its advanced system requirements. Microsoft mandates that Windows 11 can only be installed on a PC that has 64 GB of storage, a compatible 64-bit processor, and a high-definition (720p) display. Older laptops, from 2017 or before, cannot meet many of these specifications.

Up until June 2024, the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), a bipartisan, government-sponsored project, provided a subsidy of $30 to impoverished households for monthly internet access, and a one-time allotment of $100 toward purchasing a connected device. There is no government program like that now. With Microsoft’s deadline approaching, individuals can seek out nonprofit organizations that offer refurbished options at lower prices, or attempt to trade in their older devices to Microsoft, which has strict quality standards. But supplies will be relatively limited.

It’s not just adults who stand to struggle if they are unable to transition to Windows 11. Families who share a computer, or children who use a dated device, may experience an impact on their ability to do schoolwork from home. For many students, access to a computer is required to complete homework assignments and other school-related activities.

ANYONE WHO DOESN’T UPGRADE will give hackers an easier time breaking into their system, locking them out, stealing their data, or all of the above, cybersecurity researchers and consumer advocates said.

That’s because ending support means Microsoft will no longer freely look for flaws in the software or issue patches to fix them, part of the routine ongoing technical maintenance that software companies perform on their operating systems. That work is often invisible to users, so they may not recognize the danger of continuing to run an unsupported program, said Kevin Cleary, clinical associate professor of management science and systems at the University at Buffalo School of Management. Hackers are similarly quiet, Cleary added, working in the background as long as they need to, in some cases for years, to steal as much personal information as they can. “The primary motivation is still, today, monetary,” Cleary told the Prospect.

The cost to U.S. consumers is severe, coming in at more than $16 billion in 2024, 33 percent higher than the year before, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s internet crime complaint center. Phishing, extortion, and personal data breaches were the most common crimes. People over the age of 60 lost the most of any group, $5 billion, and submitted the most complaints.

Like consumer advocates, cybersecurity experts also said the most vulnerable people are those for whom extended support or a new computer is an unexpected cost. Whether companies intend to provide long-term support should be a factor when deciding what technical products to buy, said Florian Schaub, an associate professor of information and of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of Michigan School of Information. That information is not always obvious, he noted, praising the work Consumer Reports has undertaken to provide some insight.

The nonprofit found in a survey last year that 72 percent of Americans who own “smart devices” believe manufacturers should say how long they’ll support those devices’ software. Consumer Reports also developed a model bill with U.S. PIRG and other organizations to require companies to do just that, arguing that it would boost national security.

Without such a regulatory or legal mechanism, consumer advocates said they were working to generate enough public pressure to force companies to provide that information. PIRG’s Proctor said that even though Microsoft was within its rights to proceed as it is, it’s still a terrible business practice and a betrayal of the company’s environmental promises.

“This is such a departure from what we expect from Microsoft,” Proctor said. Five years ago, they pledged that they would be carbon-negative and a zero-waste operation by 2030, “and they claim that the incredible climate damage of forcing people to replace hundreds of millions of computers doesn’t factor into their commitments.”

A spokesperson for Microsoft did not respond to a request for comment.

UPDATE: This story has been updated to better clarify the extended security upgrades Microsoft has made available to both businesses and individuals.