Hi everyone,
While I still can use Windows 10 now but its support end on October 2025 and upgrading to Windows 11 is not an option due to hardware limitation. Google AI says Amibroker can run on Playonlinux but not very clear on OLE support. I depend on OLE to run various automation. I would be very much appreciated if anyone in this forum can share their experience on Linux support for Amibroker and OLE.
Thank you very much.
@Peter2047, I will simply stay on Windows 10.
End of support means simply that Microsoft will no longer provided OS upgrades, security and bug fixes, etc.
If you use that PC mainly for Amibroker and do not plan to install new fancy unrelated applications that will work only on newer OS version, just being careful navigating and downloading will probably enough to work without issues until you are ready to buy some new hardware.
I still have a machine on Windows 7 and the original applications I use on it are still doing their work as they did in the past!
Expand the text below for a longer response from Chat-GPT; it contains more extensive suggestions for avoiding potential problems - You might want to consider the ESU option).
Microsoft plans to end support for Windows 10 on October 14, 2025. Here's what that means and how it affects you, along with best practices if you choose to continue using your current PC.
What Does “End of Support” Mean?When Microsoft ends support for an operating system, it stops providing:
This does not mean Windows 10 will stop working. Your system and applications will still run after October 2025.
Your Situation: Licensed Windows 10 Pro, Non-upgradable to Windows 11You can continue using your Windows 10 PC, but there are risks and limitations you should understand:
What Still Works:
What Changes:
Best Practices If You Continue Using Windows 10 After 2025If you're not ready to replace the hardware, you can extend its safe usage by following these precautions:
Alternatives or WorkaroundsIf your hardware is still functional, consider these options post-2025:
1. Extended Security Updates (ESU)
2. Switch to Linux 3. Use it as a Secondary / Offline Machine Summary| After Oct 2025 | Status |
|---|---|
| Windows 10 works? | Yes |
| Security updates? |  No |
| Safe to use? | With precautions |
| Upgrade path? | None if hardware unsupported |
| Alternatives? | Linux,  Offline use,  ESU plan |
As always take Chat-GPT's responses with a pinch of salt!
@beppe,
I have a bad experience of using Windows Vista beyond support period. All browsers support will be pulled eventually. I can't imagine using a pc without a working browser.
@Peter2047, I understand your point of view, especially given your experience with Windows Vista, but I believe the situation with Windows 10 will be different.
Currently, Windows 10 is still installed on more than half of all Windows-based PCs, so I expect some browser vendors will continue supporting it for some time after Microsoft officially ends support.
As for PlayOnLinux, I haven’t used it myself, so I can’t speak to its stability, performance, or support for features like OLE.
Personally, I’d rather take a wait-and-see approach before considering a switch that might introduce new limitations.
Windows 10 support is not going to disappear any time soon. It is Dominant Windows version see the stats
Just keep using it and don't worry.
Yeah, even if you're not a conspiracy theorist it's OK to be slightly suspicious, you might think Microsoft is in deep with all the hardware companies, especially the chip makers. I have two old boxes Dell Precision Workstations with 2x XEON E5-2600 v3 in one and v4 chips in the other. Both generation XEONS are currently unsupported hardware for Win 11 and beyond. You can buy some time if you can get a copy of Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC, which may get updates through 2032. But it might not be as simple as validating with a new Key, you might need a full re-install and those disk images are hard to come by etc. If you do find an install image, validate the hash/checksum on it. It should match...
SHA256: a0334f31ea7a3e6932b9ad7206608248f0bd40698bfb8fc65f14fc5e4976c160
... and brave people can search on YT and elsewhere to find tutorials to update the "unsupported" hardware (better to do it after having made a good backup of everything relevant - keeping in mind that in the future MS could still limit certain features on these officially unsupported machines).
I have one pc that is stuck on win 10.
Essentially, this comes with a caveat. ( Forcing Win 11 on a win 10 m/c )
There are 2 issues:
TPM chip: Bypass will work
more importantly, there is atleast one CPU h/w instruction that MS Win 11 23H2 or 24H2, (I dont remember) is required
This means you need atleast Intel 8th Gen or equivalent CPU.
If your CPU is older, then it might be limited to 22H2 (or 23H2) and then there is BSOD / instability can of worms opened if attempting an upgrade to a later OS build.
Dangerous in my opinion is missing future IE browser patches and missing defender pattern. So you should never work daily business in Administrator context on Windows 10. So setup some "workuser" with minimum rights to your data, apps and exclude windows system directories. IE is part of the OS, so don't surf the internet on this PC. Additional Windows 10 firewall should be configured to restrict everything unneeded. Restrict/configure internet access to your broker/datafeed. Stealth your internet router. Check periodically your current connections outside on that Windows 10 PC for example with "netstat -a" to ensure not to have any "louse in fur" ... To bypass TPM for Windows 11 is possible and will work well, i use Rufus to get W11 native on a MacBook. But i think it is not a good idea ...
Nonsense. iE even though it is part of OS is NOT used at all when you browse web using Edge, Chrome or Firefox or Brave. So no risk if you use modern browser.
Typically people spread such panic without really knowing what is going on. For example HTMLHelp is based on IE rendering engine but it doesn't access internet. It is just used to display static HTML pages with no scripting no active parts nothin that can be dangerous. There are zillions of more insecure things in your computer than most hated IE. A PDF or Word DOC or ZIP file downloaded from some malicious site or attached to an email can be more dangerous, not because of OS but because of vulnerability in non-OS software.
Hmm... all interesting points. Even on a machine with TPM 2.0 and a XEON chip that has a base clock of >= 3.0 MHz, they are still not supported, makes my head explode. So I know there are many way to get Windows 11 on unsupported machines, but then again it's the potential of some future Windows update that might end up either not installing or bricking the system completely. There is always Linux for such machines. 
Here is a status on running Windows apps on Linux.
Hardware bought in 2013.
So far, I manager to install the following
If Office is OK, I am sure Amibroker should be OK.
Please do not try Zorin os, Wine, and Playonlinux. Wine is buggy. Zorin does not play well with Virtualbox.
I forgot to post here, because I didnt complete it. but here is a partial post of an attempt.
Bcos playonlinux did not seem active, last release was 5 years ago, I tried bottles. wine in bottles gives you isolated environments to avoid conflicts.
It will use more disk space though. Installed on Fedora WS 42.
AmiInstaller, the most recent exe that I downloaded did not run. Inspite of installing MFC42 dll, which was missing in the earlier error, it failed to run.
Troubleshooting when time permits.
Bottles / flatpak seems to have more curated lists, you can check this method also over playonlinux. The have a good gui to manage the "bottles".
I have installed Amibroker 6.20(I owe Tomasz an upgrade 
) and Amiquote 4.18. Both are running smoothly. 
So no worry, the worst case is to encapsulate Windows 10 inside Linux and we don't have to deal the MSFT upgrade nonsense.
In order to get the USB in Windows10 VM to work, run this command in the Linux terminal.
sudo usermod -a -G vboxusers $USER (change $USER to your user name)
Launch Virtualbox and setup USB.