We had a fantastic Repair Cafe at Thomas Jefferson Library on Saturday! Thank you to everyone who made it happen, volunteers, visitors, and as always, our host library. Every time we hold a Repair Cafe, I am reminded of how joyful it is to work together with our community, to collaborate, build, and re-build together.

Here’s a few things we want to share with you:

Next Repair Café: 12pm-2pm Sunday, Nov 9th

Mary Riley Styles Public Library

Our next Cafe will be outside Fairfax County, in the City of Falls Church. We are grateful to the MRSPL staff for their support for our event. They’ve put us on their official calendar! You can view the event here: https://www.mrspl.org/event/draft-repair-cafe-28087

Please note: Our doors open at 12pm on Nov 9th, which is a bit later than our other Cafes.

Here’s the library address:

120 N. Virginia Ave.
Falls Church, VA 22046

For transit: This location is served by WMATA MetroBus F20 (June 2025 routes)

By car: This location has extremely limited parking. Please see the library website for more details: https://www.mrspl.org/about/hours-location

This page says “registration is required” but it’s optional - walk-ins are welcome! Registration just helps the librarians know how many people to expect. You don’t need to be a City resident to visit - the library’s doors are open to everyone from any locality.

Also, please note that Falls Church is one of many municipalities that maintains a reciprocity agreement with Fairfax County. That means if you are a Fairfax County resident, or indeed a resident from any other locality in NoVA/DC area, you can get a library card with Mary Riley Styles Public Library and use their resources too. Using our libraries helps them make the case for more funding, better equipment, better programming, and more offerings - so everyone wins! I just got my library card with MRSPL when I visited them a few months ago, and I spent way too much time at their jigsaw puzzle table. Highly recommend.

Greenbelt Repair Café - Sat, Oct 18th, 10am-2pm

Can’t get enough repair, or maybe missed our last Cafe? No problem! Check out the Repair Cafe held at the Greenbelt MakerSpace: https://www.greenbeltmakers.org/2025/08/greenbelt-makerspace-repair-cafe-2025-oct-18/

If you know anyone who would be interested, the Greenbelt Cafe is also actively recruiting volunteers to make the event happen. This is a great way to celebrate International Repair Day, and a great way to help our communities be more sustainable.

Microsoft ends support for Windows 10: What now?

Today, October 14th, 2025, is the official last day of support for Windows 10. Millions of people use Windows 10 at school, work, and home. Windows 11 removes critical features - things people are used to, things they rely on - and overtaxes older, perfectly functional devices, loading them down with bloatware and advertisements. Some devices are not even eligible for Windows 11 - they’re “not powerful enough,” so they don’t even get the option to install it.

Microsoft’s solution to this has been to tell people to throw away their computers (Link to Forbes article).

At Repair Cafe, we say: Toss it? No way!

A Windows 10 computer is still perfectly functional. The end of Windows 10 support does not need to be the end of a good device. For starters, most Windows 10 support comes from users anyway - troubleshooting forums online, along with in-person support from friends, neighbors, colleagues, and family. (For instance, Repair Cafe can help!)

But if you’re sick of Windows 10/11, if you want to try something new, or if you want to give your device one last try before recycling it, here are some links to help you:

End Of 10: This campaign promotes alternative operating systems, like Linux. Linux systems power system-critical devices worldwide, and there are many to choose from. Linux computers also tend to run better than Windows, because Windows installs a lot of apps that you don’t really need, want, or use.

Extended Security Updates: Microsoft is offering an additional year of “extended security updates”. This page gives you more information about how to access them. This is a great option for people who cannot or don’t want to move to Windows 11, but need more time to find an alternative.

Keep using your computer and install uBlock Origin: Most cybersecurity threats that you will come into contact with, on a day-to-day basis, come from ads. The more intrusive and annoying the advertisement, the more likely it may be malicious. Installing an “ad-blocking” software, like uBlock Origin, prevents you from ever encountering these malicious advertisements, and it makes your computer run smoother because it doesn’t have to load so much junk.

If you don’t already have a browser you like, I recommend LibreWolf: it’s lightweight, straightforward, and privacy-minded. It also comes with uBlock Origin pre-installed.

Google Chrome prevents uBlock from working properly, along with other ad-blocking extensions. If you have questions about anything here, you can reach out to me directly at anicski@proton.me - I would love to help! Alternately, feel free to visit Repair Cafe with your questions/your devices, and we can work on them together.

That’s all for now - enjoy the beautiful autumn weather, and happy International Repair Day (Oct 18th)!

Ari Nicholas

Fairfax County Repair Cafe