On October 13th, Microsoft will no longer provide technical support or fixes for Office 2010 products. Microsoft has been sounding the alarm for about a year. If you’re still using Office 2010, you’ve probably seen these warnings when you open Word, Excel or PowerPoint.
After October 13th you can still use Office 2010 products however you will not receive software updates, you’ll be unable to download Office 2010 from the Microsoft web site, you can’t get technical or phone support, and most importantly security or bug fixes – meaning you’re leaving your PC and network vulnerable to threats.
VIRUSES, SPYWARE AND OTHER MALICIOUS THREATS
If things are working well for your business with Office 2010, we understand why you’d consider delaying this update if the software seems to be functioning and working well for your business. We’re here to warn you that Office 2010 likely won’t work well for long.
Not only will incompatibility issues increase, Microsoft won’t be improving security and releasing patches for Office 2010. Some have said that aggressive antivirus protection could prolong safe use of Office 2010, however history tells that putting off an upgrade could have grave consequences.
We went down this road in January with Windows 7 and Server 2008 reaching the end of life, but it’s worth it to bring up the example again. In May 2017, an unknown number of Windows XP computers were infected with a worldwide malware attack called the WannaCry Attack. Windows XP had reached its end-of-life date three years earlier, but around the world organizations ignored the warnings. According to reports, within one day after WannaCry was released, malware was reported to have infected more than 230,000 computers in 150 countries. The day after the attack Microsoft took an extraordinary step of releasing a security update. Experts have cautioned that Microsoft likely would not provide a patch for a similar event in the future.
YOUR OPTIONS FOR UPGRADING FROM OFFICE 2010
For years Microsoft has been moving to a monthly subscription-based model for its offerings and while you can upgrade to the latest version of Office, we recommend considering an enterprise-level subscription for this suite of products.
If you are using Microsoft Office at home or for personal use, you can stay up to date with a newer version. Try it for free or buy it here
If you’re looking to upgrade your business from Office 2010, your IT department might already have a plan. (If they don’t, SWICKtech would be happy to help your organization come up with a plan!) We recommend that our business customers upgrade to an enterprise-level subscription. There are four levels of plans to choose from, and with an enterprise subscription there are features and security updates that other plans don’t offer.
If you’re trying to figure out which plan is best for your organization, SWICKtech is a certified Microsoft Partner and would be happy to have a no-strings-attached conversation with you about your goals. We can also help you plan for and implement Microsoft for your business.
