Technologies

Don’t Want to Upgrade to Windows 11? Microsoft Offers Free Windows 10 Security Updates

If you don’t want to upgrade to Windows 11, you can still get support for a year, but it requires linking your OneDrive account to your PC.

The era of Windows 10 is almost at an end. In October 2025, Microsoft is ending support for Windows 10 and stopping security support. Initially Microsoft was offering a one-year extended security update for $30, but we’ve got good news. Microsoft has added a free option, allowing you to stick with Windows 10 for another year. However, in order to access it, users will need to use cloud backup and connect it with their OneDrive account.

The ability to get free updates on Windows 10 is a pretty big deal because it is still the most widely used Windows OS, accounting for just over 53% of installs as of May 2025. That leaves millions of people without security support in just a few months unless they upgrade. So the cloud backup option gives users a way out without costing them any money.

The only potential issue is OneDrive. Anyone with a Microsoft account gets up to 5GB of storage for free. However, as The Verge points out, some backups may exceed this limitation, requiring users to purchase a monthly or yearly plan. At $1.99 per month for 100GB of cloud storage, a year of OneDrive still costs less than the $30 for a year of additional security updates, but it still may cause frustration among some users.

Windows 10 was released in July 2015, more than a decade ago.

How to get Windows 10 security updates for free

Per Microsoft’s blog post, there are now three options for people who want to stay on Windows 10 and still receive security updates.

Use Windows Backup to sync settings to the cloud via OneDrive.
Redeem 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points. Redeeming those points can buy you one year of security updates.
Pay $30 for the extended security updates program.

Users will be presented with these options starting in July, which is when Microsoft plans to roll out the sign-up wizard for the Extended Security Updates program. Signing up for this option will guarantee updates until Oct. 13, 2026, although businesses will have the option to purchase up to three years of additional updates. So, this isn’t a long-term solution, but rather gives consumers more time to upgrade to Windows 11.

It’s been an uphill battle for Microsoft as people have been resilient in upgrading their existing hardware. There are myriad differences between the two operating systems, but Microsoft’s string of unpopular decisions along with Windows 11 compatibility issues have kept the prior generation OS around a lot longer than it normally would be.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Saturday, Nov. 8

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Nov. 8.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? It’s the long Saturday one, so you might need assistance. Read on for the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Uber alternative
Answer: CAB

4A clue: Red-headed character in the «Scooby-Doo» franchise
Answer: DAPHNE

7A clue: Not arrive on time
Answer: RUNLATE

8A clue: Label on a green U.S.D.A. sticker
Answer: ORGANIC

9A clue: Prestigious engineering school in Pasadena
Answer: CALTECH

10A clue: Prepares to be knighted
Answer: KNEELS

11A clue: Parts of a city grid: Abbr.
Answer: STS

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Fashion brand with an interlocking «C» logo
Answer: CHANEL

2D clue: Silly behaviors
Answer: ANTICS

3D clue: Tree with smooth gray bark
Answer: BEECH

4D clue: Kevin ___, 15-time N.B.A. All-Star
Answer: DURANT

5D clue: They’re measured in degrees
Answer: ANGLES

6D clue: Division of the earth’s crust
Answer: PLATE

7D clue: Ice, in bartending lingo
Answer: ROCKS

Technologies

Spotify Brings Wrapped Energy Year-Round With Friend-Sharing Stats

The music service introduced new ways for music nerds to share their listening habits with friends.

It can be a long wait for Spotify Wrapped, the end-of-year promotion that allows Spotify users to view and share their listening habits. Now, users can keep an eye on those stats daily, plus share their listening habits with friends.

You can view your Spotify usage statistics every 24 hours and share your updates via social media services, such as Instagram Notes or Spotify Messages. The new share icon gives you access to eight different services where you can post your stats.

Every week, you’ll get updates on your top artists and songs from the past month, and Spotify will recommend new playlists. The app also gives you a «special highlight» based on a specific artist or song.

To access your personal musical data, click on your profile in the top left corner of the app and scroll down to «listening stats.»

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The new features are somewhat similar to Spotify Wrapped, the service’s annual end-of-year review of users’ listening habits, which is designed to be shared. Every year, Spotify adds extra details to Wrapped, such as assigning users a listening personality or a city that supposedly reflects their music tastes. It’s been the most popular way for Spotify users to view and share their music listening in the past. A number of third-party services do the same thing, including Volt.fm.

Read more: Best Music Streaming Services

Spotify is the world’s largest music streaming service, offering 100 million tracks and serving more than 713 million users. In addition to its $12-per-month subscription service, Spotify also offers a free, ad-supported option.

Technologies

Wordle Gets Personal: You Can Now Make and Share Your Own Puzzles

If you’re a Wordle obsessive, you can now make your own inside joke puzzles to send to friends.

Wordle’s an immensely popular New York Times word game (we post the answers daily), but it’s not the most personal game in the world. Answers such as GUISE and PERIL are tricky, but generic. Now, Wordle fans who have ever dreamed of making their own puzzles can test their friends and family by creating their own Wordle creations up to seven letters in length.

No surprise, you have to be a New York Times Games or All Access Subscriber to use this feature. If you are, you’ll find the Create a Puzzle option available from the top menu above today’s Wordle. While you must be a subscriber to create your own personalized puzzle, you can share it with anyone — they only need the link, not a subscription, to complete your Wordle.

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Enter a word, and the site will tell you if it is available. Real Wordle limits you to five-letter words, but the puzzle-making feature lets you choose words between 4 and 7 letters.

The usual dictionary rules apply, and so curse words, some pet names, and obscure inside jokes are essentially out. If your cat is named TANGO, that’s there, but RINGO is not an option. You can drop a proposal with a single word like MARRY, but MARRYME will get rejected since that’s two separate words.

Word chosen, you can then fill out your name and add an optional hint, and the feature will generate your puzzle with a link you can send around. Unlike standard puzzles, your puzzle doesn’t appear to reset after a day, so whoever you send it to doesn’t need to rush to solve it.

Looking for the most recent Wordle answer? Click here for today’s Wordle hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.