Windows 10 is Retired: How to Keep Your PC Secure in 2026

The deadline has passed. As of October 14, 2025, Microsoft officially stopped providing standard security updates for Windows 10. If you are a home user or a small business in Wickford still running Windows 10, your computer is likely no longer receiving the vital patches needed to defend against modern cyber threats.

At LaunchLayer, I’m helping local residents decide whether to upgrade their hardware or use Microsoft’s new "bridge" to stay safe for one more year.

1. The Reality of Staying on Windows 10

If you use your PC for banking, shopping, or business, running an unsupported OS is a significant risk. Without updates, new vulnerabilities found by hackers stay open forever. However, Microsoft has introduced a temporary safety net: the Extended Security Update (ESU) Program.

2. How to Enroll in Extended Security Updates (ESU)

For the first time ever, Microsoft is offering home users a way to extend the life of Windows 10 until October 13, 2026.

Where to find it:

• Go to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update.

• If your PC is up to date, you should see a link that says "Enroll in Extended Security Updates."

• The Cost: * Free: If you sign in with a Microsoft Account and enable "Windows Backup" (syncing your settings).

  • £25–£30 (approx): A one-time payment if you prefer to keep using a Local Account.

  • Business Users: Small businesses must purchase a different license (starting around £50 per PC for the first year) through a Microsoft partner.

Note: This is a one-year-only fix. After October 2026, the ESU program for home users ends, and you will have to move to Windows 11 or a new device.

3. Your 3 Main Options in 2026

Option A: The "Compatibility Hack" Many PCs marked as "ineligible" can actually run Windows 11 perfectly well. Microsoft’s requirements (like TPM 2.0) can often be bypassed or enabled in your BIOS settings. I offer a Free Compatibility Check at my Wickford workshop to see if your "old" PC just needs a professional touch to get onto Windows 11.

Option B: The Refurbished Route If your hardware is truly too old, don’t buy a bottom-of-the-barrel new laptop. At LaunchLayer, I stock Professional-Grade Refurbished Laptops. These are higher quality than retail "budget" machines, fully Windows 11 ready, and come with a local guarantee.

Option C: The "Secure Enough" Strategy If you choose to stay on Windows 10 without ESU, you must be extremely vigilant.

• Browser Choice: Use a browser that still supports Windows 10 (like Chrome or Edge) to get some protection.

• Third-Party Antivirus: Ensure you have a robust, paid antivirus, as Windows Defender’s effectiveness may decrease over time on an unsupported OS.

Don’t Wait for a Breach

If you’re seeing the "End of Support" pop-ups and aren't sure which path to take, bring your device into LaunchLayer. Whether it’s enrolling you in the ESU program or migrating your data to a faster, newer machine, I'll make sure your data stays safe.

Is your PC Windows 11 ready? Book your Free Compatibility Check at LaunchLayer today.

Introducing Rail Sign for Rail Shine

Introducing Rail Sign (formerly ShineCheck) for Rail Shine

In the world of rail maintenance, keeping a clear record of work is just as important as the work itself. What started out as ShineCheck evolved—after a bit of a naming epiphany—into what we now call Rail Sign: an app we built to streamline how Rail Shine’s operators document completed jobs on each asset. This post is a candid look at how we approached the problem: false starts, frustrations, breakthroughs and all. Think of it like a dev diary from the trenches.

The Problem: Documenting Work Done (Without the Hassle)

Rail Shine’s field operators needed a straightforward way to record each job they finished on a given asset. That sounds simple, but the requirements quickly piled up:

• Attach photos of the completed work (often multiple photos per job)

• Capture the customer’s signature as proof of completion

• Automatically generate a PDF summary of the job’s details (including those photos and signature)

• Email that PDF report to the customer, with their boss CC’d

• Organise everything in Google Drive: all photos and the PDF needed to live in a folder named after the specific asset and job number

In short, we needed to go from an operator finishing a job to a polished PDF report landing in a customer's inbox, with all files archived in a structured way. And we needed to do it without manual effort.

Early Attempts: Over-Engineering an Automation Rube Goldberg

I started where any reasonable person might: AppSheet for form logic, and Google Sheets as the backend. But to automate the rest, I assumed we’d need a Google Workspace upgrade at £20 per user/month just to send emails outside our domain.

To avoid that cost, I duct-taped a system using Zapier and Make. AppSheet fed form data into Google Sheets. Zapier would pick that up to create and email a PDF, and Make would try to relocate the images into a Shared Drive folder. In theory: elegant. In reality: an automated disaster.

It quickly got out of hand. I had:

• Zaps triggering Makes

• Makes looping Drive API calls

• Credentials and webhooks like spaghetti in a drawer

Photos would go somewhere in Drive, but rarely where I actually wanted them. And email? Half the time it failed silently.

One low point was looping multiple image uploads in Zapier. I built five identical steps in case the operator added five photos. If they only added three? The rest just failed. It worked, badly.

Trial and Error: Dead Ends That Taught Me Something

1. Zapier Loop Hack
Chaining five image steps in Zapier got the job done, but it was brittle and ugly. If the job needed six photos (don’t even ask about seven), I'd have to rebuild the whole chain and maybe even split the automation due to step limits. It was a “win” I regretted immediately.

2. The Glide Detour
Thinking AppSheet might be the wrong horse, I rebuilt the app in Glide over a weekend. The UI looked great and PDF generation was simpler, but Glide’s Drive control and automation logic were too limited. We bailed.

These misfires weren’t wasted. They gave me a clear view of what we needed, and just how far I’d been trying to over-solve a problem that already had a native solution.

The Breakthrough: AppSheet Was Enough All Along

The real "aha" moment came when I realised AppSheet could handle all of it natively. I’d already got it generating the PDF and consistently sending emails. My mistake was assuming it had to land in my personal Drive folder.

Here’s what unlocked it:

• PDF Generation: AppSheet was already creating PDFs from templates. The issue wasn’t generation—it was where the file ended up.

• Shared Drive Foldering: I discovered I could set the default AppSheet storage path to a Shared Drive and dynamically generate folder names using formulas like Asset123-Job456. AppSheet would create the folder if it didn’t exist and save everything there: photos and PDFs included.

• Emailing External Users: Despite my assumptions, AppSheet can email external parties, so long as the app is trusted in Google Admin. No Workspace Enterprise upgrade needed.

Once those clicked, the complexity evaporated:

1. Operator fills out the Rail Sign form in AppSheet

2. Submission triggers a bot: generates the PDF, emails it to the customer, and CCs the boss

3. All files are saved directly into a Google Shared Drive in a dynamically created folder

Done. No external services. No duct tape. Just clean automation.

Outcome: From Frankenstein to One-Stop Solution

Rail Sign now runs daily for Rail Shine’s team. Operators hit submit, customers get a polished report, and the office gets clean records in Drive.

Even better? No Zapier subscription. No Make flow management. No Workspace upgrade. Just one AppSheet app doing its job well.

It’s not glamorous, but it works. It’s maintainable. And it's much easier to debug or extend now that everything happens in one place.

Lessons Learned

• Don’t assume your primary platform can’t do something—check first

• Every workaround comes with a tax: money, time, or hair loss

• Shipping small failures is how great products learn and evolve. What matters is that we learn fast and improve faster

Rail Sign now does exactly what ShineCheck set out to do: just cleaner, leaner, and entirely native. And yes, the founders loved the new name.

Job done.