This Tuesday, October 13, two of the most common pieces of software in small offices reach the end of the road at the same time. Microsoft is ending support for Windows 11 version 24H2 (Home and Pro editions) and for Office 2021 — all editions. If your Frederick County business has computers still running either one, here’s what that means and what to do about it, in plain English.
What “end of support” actually means
Your software won’t stop working on October 14. Word will still open, email will still send, the computer will still boot. What stops is the monthly flow of security updates, bug fixes, and technical support from Microsoft. From that day on, every new vulnerability discovered in those products stays open on your machines — permanently.
That’s the part that matters. A computer without security updates is like a storefront with a lock nobody maintains: it works fine until the day someone tries it.
Who’s affected
You may be affected without realizing it. Check any office PC by going to Settings > System > About and looking at the Windows version. If it says 24H2 and the edition is Home or Pro, those monthly updates stop on October 13. (Enterprise and Education editions keep going until October 2027, but most small businesses run Pro.)
For Office, open any app like Word, go to File > Account, and look at the product name. If it says Office 2021 — the one-time-purchase version — support ends October 13 as well. Unlike older versions of Office, there is no extended support phase and no paid option to keep getting updates. When it’s over, it’s over.
What to do before the deadline
For most offices, both fixes are straightforward:
- Update Windows to version 25H2. It’s delivered as a small feature enablement through Windows Update — not a full reinstall — and for most PCs it takes only a few minutes. Go to Settings > Windows Update and check if 25H2 is offered. Then verify every PC in the office got it, not just the one you happen to sit at.
- Replace Office 2021 with a supported version. Your two options are Microsoft 365 Apps (the subscription version, which stays current automatically) or Office LTSC 2024 (the newer one-time-purchase version). For most small businesses, Microsoft 365 is the better fit: it includes cloud storage, built-in security features, and you never face a cliff like this one again.
- Don’t forget the stragglers. The machines most likely to be affected are the ones nobody thinks about — the front-desk PC, the laptop that lives in a drawer until someone travels, the old desktop running the label printer. Those are exactly the machines an attacker would love to find unpatched.
One note: if any of your PCs still run Windows 10, you’re on borrowed time in a different way — Microsoft ended Windows 10 support last October, and the paid extended updates for year one just got more expensive. That upgrade should be next on your list.
A word about doing nothing
Running unsupported software doesn’t guarantee you’ll get hacked. But it quietly raises the odds every month, and it can cause real problems beyond security: some businesses run into compliance requirements from customers or insurers that demand supported software, and compatibility issues with new apps tend to show up a few months after updates stop.
The good news is that this particular deadline is one of the easy ones to meet. The Windows update is free and quick, and the Office decision is something you can plan once and stop worrying about. The businesses that get in trouble are the ones that meant to get around to it — and didn’t.
If you’d like someone to check your office’s versions and handle the upgrades before Tuesday, West Main Tech Services can help. Call us at (240) 490-9703 — we’ll take a look and get every machine back on a supported version, so this deadline is one you can forget about.