Posted on 11/24/2019 9:12:44 AM PST by 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?
LOL. You’re not alone, but you’re becoming increasingly isolated. :-)
Spyware, and fewer functional options.
But the security updates -are- a pretty compelling argument.
I’ll probably run Win7 Pro for many more years but it never connects to the internet or a network. I surf and do most everything else on Linux Mint with the Plasma desktop. Linux Mint people are going to quit making builds/distros with the Plasma desktop though so I’ll have to find another distribution that has the Plasma desktop because it’s my favorite.
If you don’t upgrade ANYTHING on the computer, it will keep running just like before.
But if you upgrade your applications, they may no longer run on Windows 7. That is one of the “less functional” aspects. The OS remains as it is, but everything else moves ahead.
How many Windows 10 apps run on your VM?
I had Win98 on a PC for years after formal support ended, and even ran WinXP programs/apps on it with no trouble. Then after I did switch that PC to WinXP I ran it for years after formal support ended, and again with no issues. I only switched to that PC to Win7 when I could not then get current anti-virus software with system requirements that accepted WinXP.
I imagine my one PC with Win7 will continue to do just fine for years to come. Again I expect it will only have to be upgraded to Win???, or replaced, when new versions of antivirus software are not compatible on Win7.
I believe in the “if it’s not broke don’t fix it” standard for PC operating systems and the software running on them.
Having the newest or latest and greatest has most often been not about any real “improvement” of nay necessity but merely newer versions with additional bells and whistles that are almost never needed or used, while what was working just fine gets more complicated to get to.
Thanks for the ping dayglored.
I never got into Mac’s. As an IT guy in a succession of Windoze shops I always had wintel equipment available for my use. Now that I’m retired the next machine I get will be out of pocket. I suspect that it won’t be Windoze.
I have about a dozen machines of various vintage, same for OS. The oldest is a virtualized NT Domain Server but abandoned the domain years ago. The newest is Win-10 (1801). I have one laptop still running Win-8 (don’t fix it if it ain’t broke!), and two laptops running XP (legacy apps).
I was given two Panasonic Toughbooks as evaluation machines about four years ago and one of them is what I’m using right at the moment for surfing the web. I set one up Win-7 and one Win-10. Over those four years I find myself consistently going back to the Win-7 box - it’s just more comfortable. I have a configuration that I like and a ghost image of it in case anything goes sideways (hasn’t happened yet - mostly because I do now allow updates).
I do have a couple of Linux machines - one running Ubuntu and one running Mint - but I haven’t been able to get past the file sharing stumbling block. Every so often I get ambitious and go after the problem but I just can’t get Windoze and Linux to share files. I suspect that once I get past that obstacle I will part company with Microsquish - except for VM’s.
Typically no more than 3 or so at any given time. Outlook, Word, Edge, a Windows-only utility or two. Pretty light load, being all interactive.
So I give the VM a few CPU cores and 4GB RAM and it does okay.
If I was loading them down, doing software development or running lots of database stuff, I’d have to allocate 4 or more cores and at least 8GB RAM, to get decent performance.
I think you're going to find that it is going to ask for a Win10 activation code sooner than later.
The original one still works and there's nothing really wrong with it. But it just got too slow due to all the memory demands of modern applications these days. Also, it was burning my legs! The new MacBook Pro is much slimmer, faster, uses SSD hard drive and runs very, very cool.
What bums me out is that the 16" version just came out...oh well, maybe next time.
I’ve had good luck with Samba (on Linux, to share files out to Windows clients), and the “cifs-utilis” package (for Linux clients that need to access shares from a Windows server).
I got an old Pentium I need to get running so I can use my old negative scanner. I don’t see having to ever get new hardware unless it wears out.
That’s “cifs-utils”. Damn auto-correct.
So, should you just go to office depot or best buys and purchase the disc?
Thanks. I’ve dug into Samba several times but it’s like whoever wrote the setup guides missed a step. And of course most tech support for Linux comes from bloggers. I will look into cifs-utilis.
So what? Have not gotten any support for W7 from MS in years.
No interest in dealing with endless updates slowing things down like on my wife’s W10 laptop.
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