Windows 7 support will end on January 14, 2020 (A Friendly Reminder to FR's Win7 Die-Hards)

Microsoft Windows Support Site ^ | Recently in 2019 | Microsoft Windows Support

[dayglored]

Windows 7 support lifecycle

Microsoft made a commitment to provide 10 years of product support for Windows 7 when it was released on October 22, 2009. When this 10-year period ends, Microsoft will discontinue Windows 7 support so that we can focus our investment on supporting newer technologies and great new experiences. The specific end of support day for Windows 7 will be January 14, 2020. After that, technical assistance and software updates from Windows Update that help protect your PC will no longer be available for the product. Microsoft strongly recommends that you move to Windows 10 sometime before January 2020 to avoid a situation where you need service or support that is no longer available.

Dayglored's note: This site page has lots of Question And Answers regarding the upcoming Windows 7 end-of-life, including:

What does end of support mean for me?
What should I do?
Can I upgrade my existing PC to Windows 10?
How can I upgrade to Windows 10 for free?
What happens if I continue to use Windows 7?
Can Windows 7 still be activated after January 14, 2020?
Will Internet Explorer still be supported on Windows 7?
Will Microsoft Security Essentials continue to protect my PC after end of support?
What if I'm running Windows 7 Enterprise?
What about Windows 7 Embedded?
Can I move my existing programs to a new Windows 10 PC?
How will Windows 7 end of support affect my Microsoft Office apps?

[miliantnutcase]

An FYI, for those who own a business or manage IT for one Microsoft is charging 26 dollars per Windows 7 machine to continue providing security updates after January.

[Cementjungle]

Does that run Lightroom, Photoshop, Outlook, Excel, Phocus, etc.?

[2111USMC]

How many computers do you have at your desk? Or are you running some of these systems in VMs?

[dayglored]

> I see Microsoft is adopting the Linux architecture due to its solid reliability. ‘Bout time.

Over a decade ago, I became a vocal advocate of Microsoft chucking the old NT kernel out, and running the Windows GUI over a Linux kernel. At that time my statements to that effect were considered insanely radical nonsense.

Recently Microsoft has made noises about doing exactly that. Like you say: 'Bout time.

I don't expect it to happen right away -- though maybe in 5 years.

[miliantnutcase]

It would be nice if people did upgrade and continue to get security updates... There’s millions of botnet computers out there and just about all of them are people still on Windows XP. The same thing will happen with 7.

[mad_as_he$$]

Which I will reluctantly pay. I run an app that is critical to my business that will not run on Win 10. The producer is working on an update but it doesn’t look like they will be done any time soon. And I hate win 10.

[miliantnutcase]

Good on you for doing that. I’m in the same boat my team manages 2400 machines and I still have about 80 I can’t move to Win 10 for similar reasons.

[2111USMC]

Wow, now THAT is a DIE-HARD! :-)

Or a MASOCHIST!

[Dacula]

> I think you can download windows 10 for free.

True, but after you’ve downloaded and installed it, you can’t run it without activating it, which you must pay for.

---

My son and I recently built me a new PC. We did it all in less than a day and that includes buying the parts.

We ‘ported’ over my Win10 license from my old PC because I wanted the OS to be on an SSD drive.

[TomGuy]

Home users don’t necessarily need an OS to be “in support”, especially if they are satisfied with their present apps and browser.

Yes and no.

I recall with WinXP that my browser could not handle many of the newer videos and websites. That and a hard drive crash forced me to Win7.

I have noticed recently that some of the older browsers (Firefox ESR 52 and Comodo IceDragon 42) struggle with some graphic intensive websites. I figure HTML5 and similar newer coding will eventually make Win7 browsers unusable.

I have seen some notices that Adobe Flash dies in a couple of years. It will be interesting to see how that impacts Win7 browsers.

[dsrtsage]

I still run VMWare with WindowsXP, Windows7, and WindowsNT on my Windows 10 machine. I will soon be able to get rid of NT, and hopefully get rid of 7 within the next year, but I am afraid I am stuck with XP for a few years yet

[oh8eleven]

I suspect a Win 10 PC will be ordered soon. Not pleased about this.

I hated the Win10 User Interface (and still do) with a passion. Ten months ago I had to buy a new PC, and decided to bite the bullet and go with Win10.
The first thing I did was to install a free program called Classic Shell. It allows you to customize the look of your Windows system — especially if you want to make it and the Start menu look like Win 7. Example:

You can see different screen shots of Classic Shell here.
And you can download the program here.

If you don't like it (which I doubt) you can always uninstall it. But before you do that, or have other Win 10 questions, you can always request help here at FR. Just make sure you're logged in 😜

[McGruff]

The company I worked for did alot of classified work. If they found you using anything but Windows 7 it was grounds for dismissal. The IT dept was dead set against Windows 10. I'm retired now so I can't verify it that is still true.

[Fresh Wind]

If you need a PC in order to access online bank and investment accounts, makes sense to use an OS that hasn't lapsed in security support.

I understand tax software (Turbo Tax and TaxAct) will no longer support Win 7.

[dsrtsage]

I even have a few programs written in Borland C++ for Windows 3.1 floating around. They will soon be absorbed into our shiny new enterprise and MES system that we finally got away from contractors and IT people and got to develop ourselves after years of wasted IT time and millions of dollars wasted like every other white elephant they try to pay contractors to do. It is stunning how much IT departments pay for absolute worthless krap

[DesertRhino]

“I think you can download windows 10 for free.”

That’s like advice on how to get herpes.

[mad_as_he$$]

My IT consulting firm is against Win 10 also. They are suggesting going to Linux(they have excellent Linux support) or Apple products on the next machine phase out - as a nuclear option.

[mountainlion]

Lenix or Apple are the solution. I refuse to buy new computer, printers and software, and hardware for greedy companies.

[Bob434]

could run windows 7 in a sandbox- no worries then really about viruses or run windows 7 main os, and linux in a virtual machine as online os, or even another windows in a vm, but i would prefer linux as it’s much less prone to viruses i n the first place-

[SamAdams76]

It would help the economy if you bought a new system.

Please do your part to help the economy. I suggest a MacBook Pro.