Microsoft has made a decision that is likely to be annoying for Windows 10 users, as those who do not have an official Microsoft account active on their PC will receive pop-up messages insisting that they create an account to link their PC and Microsoft services to a specific person.
This is a striking move at this point, considering that Windows 10 has just over a year and a half of free support left. However, it seems that Microsoft wants to continue insisting on this service for a niche of users that, to this day, is still much larger than the one that exists in Windows 11.
Annoying pop-up messages
As PCGamer explains, Microsoft has taken the most aggressive and invasive approach possible to continue convincing Windows 10 users to create a Microsoft account. Considering that this window will appear if you don’t have your account linked, an option that many users choose is to disable this type of notifications through the settings in the security and privacy section.
This will not be harmful to Windows 11 users for one reason: in order to use Windows 11, you must have a previously linked account, so this step is already fulfilled by all users who have Windows 11 on their computer. It is not the same in the case of Windows 10, where this requirement is optional, and there are still many users who use this system without creating or linking a Microsoft account to their PC.
Windows 10 continues to be ahead of its successor
This decision, which will be quite unpopular for the numerous Windows 10 users, is partly due to the fact that Windows 11 users are still a minority compared to its predecessor system, as Windows 10 still has more than twice as many users today. It is partly a failure on Microsoft’s part, whose requirements to make the leap were too demanding for many users, either due to lack of hardware capacity or because they failed to convince users of the advantages of Windows 11 over its previous version.
And, despite the fact that virtue lies in freedom, this freedom has an expiration date: October 2025, the month in which, after more than a decade, the free support for Windows 10 will officially come to an end. At that moment, Windows 10 will no longer receive security updates, so its mere use will pose a great risk for users. Likewise, Microsoft encourages those who want to stay on this version to pay a fee to continue updating their PC until October 2027.
Therefore, by the end of next year, it will be seen whether users opt for the exodus to Windows 11 or other systems, or if they comply and pay to continue receiving security patches.
