WhatsPC app can help salvage non-upgradable Windows 10 PCs

Various news sources have reported on the possibility of a surge in e-waste once Windows 10 reaches its end-of-support date in October 2025. Tech market analyst firm Canalys has estimated that a staggering 240 million Windows PCs might be tossed out once security updates generally cease for the OS (although users will be able to purchase paid security updates annually for up to three years following that).

A new open-source, unofficial Windows app seeks to help Windows 10 users salvage PCs that don’t meet the Windows 11 upgrade system requirements. “WhatsPC” is a small WebView2/Chromium-based application available on GitHub that runs a check of your system to determine what options may be available for your PC, other than throwing it out. As per the app’s GitHub page description:

This started as a fun application to inform some colleagues that they shouldn’t throw away their Windows PC. A fresh install can be sufficient and often even work wonders. If you add a little boost here and there in the form of an SSD, the PC might not need to be discarded at all. Currently, some are already dealing with the end-of-life of Windows 10 in October 2025 and the question of how much electronic waste will be generated. For a better feeling, I have now packaged a wealth of information and system checks into an app (hosted in a WebView2/Chromium control) that analyzes the system and provides tips and hints regarding its health status. This might help prevent someone from throwing away their PC and instead consider other uses for it.

Among WhatsPCs suggestions for repurposing a PC are keeping the computer as a backup, using it as a file server, selling or giving away your computer, or switching to a Linux operating system. Amusingly, Microsoft has a rather useful article on how to do this on its blog. WhatsPC can also give some hardware upgrade recommendations, such as upgrading to an SSD.

At any rate, there is no need to chuck out a perfectly good computer, and there are plenty of alternatives for those who don’t want to run Windows 10 on their device unsupported and don’t want to pay for security updates.