Windows 11 has made significant strides in adoption, now installed on a remarkable 78.8% of Windows computers. In contrast, 16.9% of users remain on Windows 10, representing nearly one in six PC owners, which translates to millions of devices still operating on the older system. According to research firm Lansweeper, the delay in upgrading poses increasing risks for these users.
Risks of Remaining on Windows 10
Microsoft officially ceased support for Windows 10 in October 2025, although it initially offered a year of Extended Security Updates (ESU). Recently, this support has been extended until 2027. However, experts caution that this is merely a stopgap measure. The number of vulnerabilities in Windows 10 is significantly higher—2.9 times more—than in its successor, with 1,903 active Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) compared to 652 in Windows 11. This disparity continues to grow with each patch released for the newer operating system.
Lansweeper’s findings highlight that the issue extends beyond just the sheer number of vulnerabilities; the potential for exploitation is also a concern. Of the active CVEs on Windows 10, a staggering 66.6% are classified as high or critical risk, with 2.4% actively exploited in the wild. This figure is approximately 1.7 times higher than the number of actively exploited vulnerabilities on Windows 11.
“Part of the reason for this difference is patch-diffing, where attackers reverse-engineer Windows 11 fixes to locate the same unpatched flaw in Windows 10, then weaponize it. The supported OS effectively hands attackers a map into the unsupported one,” state the researchers at Lansweeper.
The research indicates that the majority of devices still running Windows 10 belong to users who either cannot or choose not to upgrade to the latest operating system. Small businesses exhibit the most significant lag, with 21.4% still relying on an unsupported version of Windows. Conversely, large enterprises, two-thirds of which have transitioned to Windows 11, view the use of unsupported operating systems as a substantial cybersecurity risk. For smaller companies, however, the cost associated with upgrading remains a primary barrier.
Read also: Windows 11 has exceeded 70 percent of Steam users for the first time.
