It has taken almost five years but there are finally signs that Microsoft is succeeding in its wish of getting people to commit to Windows 11. The latest data from Statcounter shows that as of February, Windows 11 is now installed on 72.77 percent of Windows PCs globally, up considerably in just one month from 62.4 percent.

That means Windows 10 usage is in notably sharp decline, with the operating system now only running on 26.27 percent of Windows computers across the world, down considerably from January’s figure of 35.77 percent.

Microsoft ended its official support of Windows 10 in October 2025, bringing a symbolic end to the operating system’s ten year run.

The end of support means Microsoft no longer sends monthly – or any – software and security updates to Windows 10 PCs, meaning all are now technically susceptible to bugs and system flaws that could in time mean machines don’t run as smoothly.

More pressingly, it opens up Windows 10 computers to the possibility of vulnerability to hackers and cyber criminals, who can now learn the system’s weak points and target users.

The only way to continue to get security updates for Windows 10 is by joining Microsoft’s Extended Security Updates program. This opt-in option gives users an additional year of updates, ending in 2026. You might be able to get it for free if you are signed into a Windows account, but some users will have to pay a roughly £30 fee.

Now that it’s March, we are more than four months in to Windows 10’s retirement, and these latest figures show Microsoft’s aggressive pushing of Windows 11 seems to be working.

All Windows 10 PC owners have been offered Windows 11 asa free software update, but the issue for many could be that they are running Windows 10 on ageing hardware that simply cannot cope with Windows 11. Windows 8 PCs were offered Windows 10 updates, so some of the computers out there on Windows 10 could be very old indeed.

Windows 10 PCs won’t stop working, though, In fact, they will keep working indefinitely. It’s just that after this October and the end of the ESU program, there won’t be an official way to keep Windows 10 up to date – and if you can’t upgrade to Windows 11 as your hardware can’t cope, the only way to get onto Windows 11 will be to buy a new computer.

That’s something the Windows 10 online community has been vocally outraged about, especially as Microsoft is aggressively targeting those users with Windows 11 update messaging.

But step back from the issue, and it’s remarkable that Microsoft supported Windows 10 for a decade. Most commercial software and hardware does not get updates for that long. Though you may not want to buy a new PC, it doesn’t looks as though there are many ways around the situation if your old computer can’t run Windows 11 – and the stats in the coming months will likely confirm the continued decline of Windows 10.