Questions about Thunderbird. For several years I have been successfully using Thunderbird on my desktop computer, using Microsoft and Windows 10. I have been notified that Windows 10 will no longer be maintained by Microsoft after 30 Sept 2025, and users are being encouraged to move to Windows 11, which is mainly designed for computer games, and requires a larger computer than my existing one. I am not interested in computer games, and do not wish to purchase a new computer, when my existing computer is more than adequate for my needs. This raises several questions. Is it possible that I will be able to continue using Thunderbird with Microsoft and Windows 10, even though Windows 10 will not be revised? Is it possible for the same Thunderbird software to be driven by software other than Microsoft and Windows 10? If so, which software? Thank you. From: Alastair.

1. If you have an MS account, W10 updates can be extended for free for another year.

2. I have updated 2nd and 4th generation Intel PCs (10+years old) from W10 to W11, using widely available methods.

3. I rather doubt TB will stop being supported on W10 any time soon, and at worst there will always be an older version available, like there is for W7 users.

4. There are several Linux versions which run current and future versions of TB. Zorin, Mint etc.

Supposedly, after that magic October date, Microsoft will stop "support" for Windows 10. That may mean that there will be no more security updates (although I won't be surprised if the updates continue.) But if your operating system is working properly, there's no reason your current programs, including Thunderbird, won't continue to work like they do now. If a future version of Thunderbird will not work on Windows 10, I'm sure they will let us know - probably the install process will halt if you try to install it on an incompatible OS.

You'll be able to continue to use Thunderbird with Windows 10.

Thunderbird will eventually stop produce new releases for Windows 10. At that time you will continue to be able to use Thunderbird with Windows 10 with the latest Thunderbird offered for Windows 10 but you'll no longer be able to get bugs fixed and/or securities issue fixed. There is no known date when this will occur. Based on experience with Windows 7, very likely, Thunderbird will continue to release bug fixed for windows 10 for possibly 3 to 4 years ( please note that this is a pure speculation ).