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In late summer of 2014, Microsoft officially announced that it's

July 20, 2018 by Kimberly Parks

In late summer of 2014, Microsoft officially announced that it's re-launching the ESU scheme. The ESU program allows enterprises to add a new, additional security update to their existing operating system and continue to support it until they're no longer required to.

As a result of the new ESU and the continuing efforts of several organizations like the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and Xerox Center for Automotive and Systems Engineering (CSAEE), Microsoft is able to offer customers with the extended security updates a two-year grace period or less over the following six months and will also provide a "continuing support option" of $30 off with regular business plan credits. The company is also offering an optional "continuing support option" of $30 off with regular business plan credits.

Microsoft believes that the extended security updates are the best solution available for those who wish to keep using the Windows 7 operating system to help mitigate a number of security issues. Microsoft also believes that enterprise customers can expect extended security updates on Windows 10 for the most part.

"We have seen a significant increase in the number of security updates being delivered to Windows 10, and we believe that this is an important step in moving Microsoft closer to delivering extended security updates to all Windows customers," said CSAEE principal engineer Kevin Stokes. "Continuing to deploy the best security updates to Windows customers through extended support means it's likely that all Windows customers will benefit from the extended security updates."

Microsoft is also making its presence felt in the security world by offering "support" for the Windows 10 Security Update. A number of organizations are offering support for Windows 10 Security Update in an effort to help them better support their enterprises. Microsoft offers this support in addition to the standard Microsoft Security Update (MSU) and the Microsoft Security Update (MSU-C) services, but it's still the standard.

In August 2014, Microsoft announced that it would have the option to extend the ESU through a "continuing support option" to $30 off with regular business plan credits. Microsoft is also providing other extended security updates at no additional charge to customers with the extended security update. The extension program covers the following:

Windows 10 (Windows 8.1, Windows 8.1x, Windows 8.1x SP1, Windows 8.1 SP2, Windows 8.1 SP3, Windows 8.1 SP4, Windows 8.1 SP5, Windows 8.1 SP6, Windows 8.1 SP7,