You can bypass the account requirement using https://github.com/abbodi1406/ConsumerESU. Of course that isn’t endorsed by Microsoft.

> And in order to get the Windows 10 updates in the article, you need to sign up for an MS account, or pay them $30 a year not to spy on you.

Can you elaborate on the "or pay them $30 a year not to spy on you" part?

Ctrl-F isn't finding any mention of that in either https://www.neowin.net/news/windows-10-quietly-gets-one-more... or https://waspdev.com/articles/2026-03-12/i-ll-probably-never-....