On-Site Computer Services

Windows 10 End of Life Coming, Upgrading to Windows 11

Per Microsoft www.Microsoft.com/en-us/windows/end-of-support?r=1 ...

"Support for Windows 10 will end in October 2025

After October 14, 2025, Microsoft will no longer provide free software updates from Windows Update, technical assistance, or security fixes for Windows 10. Your PC will still work, but we recommend moving to Windows 11. Windows 11 offers a modern and efficient experience designed to meet current demands for heightened security."

The above is often referred to as "End of Life" or EOL. Typically, Microsoft's anti-malware (AM) continues to function after EOL, at least for a while. Further, also in the past, Microsoft has issued SOME security patches to an EOL operating system for some of the most critical and most impactful security issues both to minimize bad press and when Fortune 500 and Fortune 100 businesses demand such a response while they are still upgrading tens of thousands of computers per business and hundreds of thousands as a group.

However, nobody should depend on such "kindnesses" from Microsoft, especially when they give more than ample notice of a coming EOL.

Further, in some industries there are requirements ("compliance" and others) that computers are upgraded prior to the EOL date. Similarly, some industry vendors that your company may interact with may have similar requirements. The latter may be true for your entire business or for specific functions in your business such as PCI Compliance (credit card readers and any automation related to credit card information).

Aside from any requirements, as EOL passes, fewer and fewer software developers will support the previous operating systems (less work for them, et cetera) and some of them will start to fail on your EOL systems, sometimes without notice.

So, "What to do?"

First, review that all your mission critical software and hardware is compatible with the new operating system (OS). Sometimes, one has to support BOTH EOL OSes and the new OS in order to support mission critical automation for their business. When this is found to be the case, it is best to maintain pressure with such a software and/or hardware product. It may also be a good time to look for a better provider.

Next, you need to review your hardware for compatibility. For Windows 11, Microsoft provides an application that diagnoses and reports what in a given system is compatible or not.

Plan for replacement computers for the current computers that were previously found incompatible with Windows 11 In the meantime, proceed with upgrades of the compatible computers so any software issues may be identified and addressed in the interim.

The upgrade of Windows 11 has thus far been free in terms of the product, not the labor. It is recommended that the upgrade is performed by your IT, internal or external (consultant). While the upgrade is normally easy and painless, things can come up and even minor changes are often more efficiently noted and addressed by IT personnel.

Note: Microsoft’s upgrade currently notes if the old Windows 10 version (such as Home or Professional) and upgrades to the equivalent Windows 11 version.

Next, you can start the roll-out of Windows 11.

It is highly recommended that business managers are involved interactively in the process. They must take and share ownership in the process. Some may be resistant but A) they have knowledge of their workflow that is critical to success and their sense of satisfaction; and B) their buy-in fosters buy-in of end users. Said managers are critical in identifying groups of users who functions are similar and use the same mission critical software.

From the latter identify a single user, per identified group and their station/computer for the first upgrade.

Considerations include:
• If the user is an IT savvy person, who can and will provide sufficient feedback;
• Consider their impact on production if something goes wrong and they are sidelined for a period;
• Maybe not select the most efficient user for the first upgrade.
For each identified group, upgrade one station/computer and monitor function for a day or two. Address any issues, taking notes. Then roll-out to the rest of the group.

Monitor in the ensuing days, weeks and months.

For one of our clients, we found one mission critical application that slowed after the upgrades but only on upgraded computers and maybe not all of them. For computers purchased with Windows 11 Professional, the speed of that product seemed fine.

The product support for that application acknowledged an issue for the areas that slowed but not that it was related to Windows 11. Regardless, they are working on addressing the issue.

End of support for Windows 10, Windows 8.1, and Windows 7 | Microsoft Windows Make a smooth transition to Windows 11 from your unsupported operating system with help from Microsoft. Enjoy the benefits of upgrading to a Windows 11 PC.

"Outlook (New)"

Note: That, "Outlook (New)", is the app name as currently listed in installations of Windows 10 and 11 that have this app (now the default configuration of those operating systems).

The Outlook (New) product is an App that comes with new computers/Windows operating systems. ALSO, it can, apparently, be an unasked-for "update" from Microsoft to existing installations of Windows 10. Yes, it is FREE. Cool but...

The problems are, if you have or plan to install Microsoft Office with Outlook (the regular version), then Outlook (New) can interfere with expected function of your regular Outlook.

Issue(s): As long as Outlook (New) is installed, Windows default app/applications for some/all mail file types is set to Outlook (New) instead of Outlook (from Office) and it loads up then attempting to open said file types from Windows Explorer, browsers, and other applications/apps.

Side Note: The naming convention and icon are both unfortunately very much similar to Outlook (Office) with most users not made aware that Windows is taking them to another version of Outlook. Hence the said users get sucked further into a problem often wasting a fair amount of time before calling IT or their consultant(s), and often providing errant diagnostic information, such as, "For the last couple weeks, my Outlook suddenly hangs up and gets weird when I try to open/add a vCard or calendar item or..." Given that, they end up not only spinning their wheels but adding the cost of their IT/consultant, who also may initially spin their billable wheels. The nature of how this comes to be, especially when installed as an update to an existing computer, operates much like malware spoofing a common product. Indeed Microsoft apparently very much wants users to use this free product instead of a competing product or webmail implementations. But, the ex*****on leaves much to be desired.

For instance, when attempting to add a calendar item from a link in an e-mail, even if already using Outlook (regular from Office) Outlook (Office) may load a browser when initially clicked or to read a given message and some or likely all browsers, when a user clicks said link, reference the Windows defined default app/application for that file type and, yes, mistakenly open Outlook (New) which pretty uniformly fails as it is normally NOT configured to handle e-mail, at least not when someone is using Outlook (Office) as their main mail "client" (software). There are some cases otherwise, but pretty darn rare. Regardless, it either has no store file defined or, conceivably, a different mail store file for another purpose/use.

Other mail file types are also impacted in this or similar manners. We have not tested/documented a complete list of affected mail file types. It appears likely that all file types are affected whenever attempting to open them anywhere but within Outlook (Office).

The Fix(es):

The easiest fix is simply to uninstall Outlook (New) unless really using it for another mail service, such as GMail.
1 - Find Outlook (New) in the Apps section of your Windows Start menu (sometimes in your list of recent apps/applications).
2 - Right-click and select Uninstall.
3 - Complete the normal uninstall process.

The above has fixed every instance of this issue we have come across and utilized this fix.

A [Slightly] harder fix is to scan through file types changing all references to Outlook (New) and setting the default application to Outlook (Office), simply "Outlook". The specific steps are NOT detailed here because it is rarely needed. NOT recommended unless wishing to use the Outlook (New) "client" for a secondary e-mail account/server. This latter scenario has NOT been utilized by OCS as of this posting.

- OCS