So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye

by Steve Yates

The ITS Connection Online Newsletter

Several ubiquitous software programs stop receiving security updates in 2025, putting your company at risk. Plan ahead, and upgrade to stay secure!

Windows 10

After ten long years, Windows 10 puts one foot in its grave on October 14. As we've written, paid extended security updates will be available for those who want to put off replacing 8+ year old PCs a little longer. Though, we advise just replacing them due to age and increasing probability of hardware failures, plus newer PCs will be dramatically faster, leading to increased productivity. We anticipate that limited time and elevated demand, in addition to possible governmental tariffs, may increase overall hardware replacement costs later this year.

Office 2019 and 2016

Office 2019 and Office 2016 both stop receiving security updates that same day. Microsoft already does not officially support these versions for connecting to Microsoft 365 services. Per Microsoft, "...older versions might encounter other unexpected performance or reliability issues while using Microsoft 365...improvements to Microsoft 365 services don't consider or test compatibility with these older Office versions."

Acrobat

Adobe Acrobat 2020, the "last perpetual" version of Acrobat, ends support on November 30. At that point the two options from Adobe are an Acrobat subscription, or a time-limited three-year license to use Acrobat for a lump sum. Acrobat Readers' huge installed footprint makes it a frequent target for hackers via malicious PDF files so upgrading or at minimum using Acrobat Reader to view PDFs instead of an unpatched Acrobat, is imperative.

Planning Ahead

For those planning a little further ahead, Windows Server 2016 support ends in just under two years, on January 12, 2027. Office 2021 becomes completely unsupported in October 2026, even for security updates, given newer versions' five-year lifespan.

We encourage clients to contact us with any questions about how to best replace these programs, or other upcoming replacement cycles.

February 2025

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