For information about what End Of Support (EOS) means, see our blog what does end of support mean.

For many businesses, Microsoft desktop products such as Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, Outlook etc) and browsers such as Internet Explorer or Edge are among the main ways in which staff interact with and process business information.

When these products reach their end of support (EOS) date, they represent an increasing level of risk for your business unless you upgrade to a supported version of the product.

For desktop products, running EOS software makes your business particularly vulnerable to the most common types of cyber attack including:

  • Phishing and Ransomware attacks – which are often perpetrated through using specially crafted Word, Excel or PDF attachments which contain malicious macros or code.
  • Drive-by malware attacks which rely on out of date or insecure web browsers

You also risk difficulties in accessing modern cloud and server systems which rely on modern security features to keep your data secure. This will cause interruption of IT services for your staff, and possible loss of revenue if they are unable to work.

Microsoft Lifecycle Policy

Microsoft has a highly structured product lifecycle policy which helps customers understand and predict exactly when the products they are using in their business are going to reach their end of support date.

See:

  • Microsoft Windows 10 – Modern Policy
  • Microsoft Windows (older versions) – Fixed Policy
  • For Microsoft Office and other products, you can search for your product here

Common products and their EOS dates

The table below shows Microsoft desktop products that have recently or will be coming to end of support soon, and the recommended products to upgrade to.

Microsoft Product End of support Date Our Recommended upgrade

Windows 10, version 2004 14th Dec 2021

Windows 10, version 1909 10th May 2022

Windows 10, version 1903 8th Dec 2020 Windows 10 version 1909 or LTSC 2019

Windows 10, version 1809 11th May 2021* Windows 10 version 1909 or LTSC 2019

Windows 10, version 1803 10th Nov 2020 Windows 10 version 1909 or LTSC 2019

Windows 10, version 1709 13th Oct 2020* Windows 10 version 1909 or LTSC 2019

Windows 10, version 1703 8th Oct 2019 Windows 10 version 1909 or LTSC 2019

Windows 8.1 10th Jan 2023 Windows 10 version 1909 or LTSC 2019

Windows 7 14th Jan 2020 Windows 10 version 1909 or LTSC 2019

Office 2010 13th Oct 2020 Microsoft 365 or Office 2019

Office 2007 10th Oct 2017 Microsoft 365 or Office 2019

*extended from Apr 2020 due to Covid-19 crisis