Microsoft is showing some Windows 10 users full-screen displays on new Surface laptops.

Anyone who uses Windows 10 may see full-screen advertisements from Microsoft for Windows 11 computers from its own Surface series. The announcement is the most eye-catching yet and comes ahead of the end of support for Windows 10 in October 2025.

In the ads shared by users, anyone who clicks through will reach an advertising website that links to Windows 11 computers. The ads use images from Microsoft’s own Surface computers and take up the entire screen.

The fact that Microsoft is warning users about the end of support for the operating system next year isn’t that bad in itself. Microsoft will then have supported the operating system for a decade. If security updates are stopped, Windows 10 is no longer safe to use.

Electronic waste

However, the problem with moving from Windows 10 to Windows 11 is that users can no longer upgrade older systems. Microsoft artificially blocks such upgrades for systems older than 2018 without a TPM 2.0 chip, even though this isn’t really necessary for Windows 11. This means that many Windows 10 systems that are theoretically quite capable of running Windows 11 will be banned from October and end up on the electronic scrap heap by 2025.

With the advertising, Microsoft wants to encourage users of such devices to spend money on a new computer. Microsoft doesn’t mention that additional support for Windows 10 can still be purchased for $30 per year.

The aggressive way in which Microsoft advertises is also not well received. Earlier this year, Redmond launched a system upgrade campaign for business users. These ads also took over the screen.