Consumer Reports has criticized Microsoft as hypocritical for phasing out free support for Windows 10 while advertising Windows 11 as a security upgrade, and the two actions in concert would either leave many millions of PCs unprotected or force their owners to pay for extended support. In a letter to CEO Satya Nadella, the nonprofit said Microsoft’s plan leaves behind those customers whose devices don’t meet Windows 11’s strict hardware requirements and puts everyone at increased cybersecurity risk.
Written by policy experts Stacey Higginbotham and Justin Brookman, the letter reads that consumers are in a difficult spot being forced to “pay for a brief security extension,” purchase new hardware, or tolerate declining protection. Describing that position as “hypocritical,” Consumer Reports (CR) argues that it can’t plausibly cast Windows 11 as a necessity for security when it compounds the number of unpatched Windows 10 systems.
What Consumer Reports wants Microsoft to do for Windows 10 users
CR, which says it represents some five million members, is calling on Microsoft to offer free security updates to Windows 10 users who are unable to update their devices because of hardware limitations. The group also calls on the company to collaborate with it on more convenient ways for people who do retire older machines to recycle them and to entice upgrades without resorting to coercive tactics.
The letter slams Microsoft’s paid Extended Security Updates (ESU) route for consumers — which CR called a one-year reprieve that costs $30 — as too brief and expensive for a problem predicated on sudden hardware pull-outs. CR also cautions against conditioning support on unrelated services, claiming that such a move would penalize longstanding customers and distort competition.
How many PCs are affected by Windows 11 hardware limits
The group, Public Interest Research Group, based its estimate on the assumption that between 15% and 20% of all Windows PCs in use are effectively sidelined because they do not meet Windows 11’s criteria for operation, including modern CPUs and a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0.
That coalition — which has been joined by iFixit, the European Right to Repair campaign and Consumer Reports — argues that software policy should not artificially end the useful life of hardware.
CR cites its own membership poll of more than 100,000 laptop and desktop owners, according to which more than 95% of purchases made in the past five years are still being used. Members of the PC master race also tend to keep their PCs through multiple operating system cycles; Windows 11’s strict cutoffs mean many machines purchased just a few years prior to the transition can’t upgrade, effectively trimming down their support lifespans.
Microsoft’s security claims and the backlash over Windows 10
Again, Microsoft has said Windows 11 enforces a beefier security baseline — TPM-backed encryption, Secure Boot and virtualization-based protections — that cuts down on ransomware and firmware attacks. Security engineers generally concur that recent hardware is a help. But CR contends that leaving behind a vast population of Windows 10 users opens up another threat: ensuring there’s an even bigger pool of vulnerable systems for botnets and large-scale exploitation, which carries knock-on risks for businesses, schools and public infrastructure.
The ESU system is another flashpoint. Earlier extended-support plans were mainly for enterprises and lasted several years. Advocates argue that consumers currently navigating the aftermath deserve that sort of long-tail protection without punitive pricing, particularly when many of the blocked devices still feel plenty fast and snappy for basic tasks.
The environmental stakes and market impacts of forced upgrades
Environmental groups say a wave of forced refreshes will lead to more e-waste and an increased carbon footprint from replacing devices. For families and small businesses, a new PC can run hundreds of dollars each — many times the worth of a brief security extension. Advocates for the right to repair say that software support should mirror the physical longevity of devices, not undermine it.
According to the coalition pressing Microsoft, this is as much an issue of market fairness: when a platform owner determines what hardware and support rules must be abided by, as well as when its developer community finds itself stuck on machines that are relatively current but not quite in possession of their required capabilities, consumers end up with no real choice.
Support for alternative operating systems can be found, and even implemented by some technical users in the know, but doing so involves a learning curve, compatibility headaches and a support gap that many users have difficulty managing.
What to watch as Microsoft winds down Windows 10 support
CR’s request is a practical one: Offer free security updates to Windows 10 users who are unable to upgrade while still pushing as hard as possible for people with capable hardware to make the leap to Windows 11. Policy experts are also seeking clear, advanced timelines for any future shifts and consumer-friendly recycling routes that prevent fully functioning PCs from going directly into landfills.
In the meantime, Windows 10 owners should check whether hardware settings and firmware features such as TPM and Secure Boot are present and enabled, which can make borderline systems Windows 11-compatible. For others, it’s a tradeoff between paying for some temporary coverage or buying a new machine that is still working fine — and exactly the dilemma that Consumer Reports says it wants Microsoft to address.
