Reminder Windows 7 Support Ends Today

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Zepanda66

533 posts

Ultimate Geek

#262286 14-Jan-2020 14:03

https://support.microsoft.com/en-nz/help/4057281/windows-7-support-will-end-on-january-14-2020

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.

Hard to believe its windows 7 has been out for 10 years.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/7315955530.png

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#2392307 15-Jan-2020 08:53

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.

Moving to Windows 10 isn't always straight forward. I have good laptop which is running perfectly well on Win 7. My research shows that I need new drivers etc, for the Win 10 install, some of which may or may not be available, or require a fair degree of stuffing around to find and install. I don't have the time to spend doing this and I cannot spend what would be a potentially extended time without the use of my laptop.

So for me I'm sticking with Win 7 for now supported or unsupported.

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timmmay

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#2392309 15-Jan-2020 09:00

Technofreak:

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.

Moving to Windows 10 isn't always straight forward. I have good laptop which is running perfectly well on Win 7. My research shows that I need new drivers etc, for the Win 10 install, some of which may or may not be available, or require a fair degree of stuffing around to find and install. I don't have the time to spend doing this and I cannot spend what would be a potentially extended time without the use of my laptop.

So for me I'm sticking with Win 7 for now supported or unsupported.

Unless you have really, really rare equipment it should "just work" on W10. You can check compatibility. To be super safe you could:

Create an image with Macrium Reflect so you can easily restore W7
Put a new disk in (SSD) so you can really quickly recover

W10 is better than W7 IMHO.

Oblivian

6942 posts

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#2392334 15-Jan-2020 09:46

3 years. Pretty much the magic number.

Business warranties tend to be 3/3/3 on EU devices. And depreciation is often based around 3yr, Sure it lasts longer. But 3-5 seems to be the average tech cycle age too

The lines seem to be being drawn into the sand that times of keeping stuff running for 8-10 years like we use to when tasks weren't able to be as integrated into CPUs and so on with lowering of costs and increase in capabilities, isn't expected. In the great tech eyes it seems to be, if it's old enough to not have drivers or be supported. It's time to Re-invest in something that is.

ajw

1840 posts

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#2392336 15-Jan-2020 09:48

A friend installed Linux Mint to replace Windows 7 and after a week said he should have replaced it years ago.

chevrolux

4962 posts

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#2392337 15-Jan-2020 09:50

Hopefully all the browsers just put nagging prompts in for Win 7 machines like they did for XP - but they should make them permanent, rather than dismissable. Just annoy the cr4p out of Win 7 operators until they upgrade.

Rikkitic

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#2392340 15-Jan-2020 10:03

timmmay:

W10 is better than W7 IMHO.

Issues like this frequently come up but one size does not fit all. It depends on your use case. I have Win 10 on one laptop and it is sometimes a pain. It doesn't always 'just work'. Sometimes it actually gets in the way, meaning I have to go to a certain amount of trouble to work around it. My experiences in this regard have persuaded me to keep Win 7 on my other laptops. For the use I make of them, it is ideal and Malwarebytes gives adequate protection.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

Rikkitic

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#2392342 15-Jan-2020 10:08

ajw:

A friend installed Linux Mint to replace Windows 7 and after a week said he should have replaced it years ago.

I have tried different versions from time to time. Not a single one ever worked. Most crashed during the installation. Others had no support for my devices. If I have to buy new hardware just to run a particular OS, I'm not interested.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

ajw

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#2392346 15-Jan-2020 10:19

Rikkitic:

ajw:

A friend installed Linux Mint to replace Windows 7 and after a week said he should have replaced it years ago.

I have tried different versions from time to time. Not a single one ever worked. Most crashed during the installation. Others had no support for my devices. If I have to buy new hardware just to run a particular OS, I'm not interested.

Has always worked for me and have the satisfaction of not lining Bill Gates pocket with my money.

MurrayM

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#2392503 15-Jan-2020 11:44

ajw:

Has always worked for me and have the satisfaction of not lining Bill Gates pocket with my money.

I switched to Linux Mint about a year ago and haven't looked back. I've been able to do everything that I previously used to do on my old Windows XP desktop. I did buy a new NUC to run it on since I thought my old desktop was getting past it and it's such a pleasure to get back to running on nice speedy hardware.

SpartanVXL

969 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2392549 15-Jan-2020 12:09

As I mentioned in the other thread about virtualising win7, it really depends on your kit.

I know it sucks to see installs/upgrades fail and wonder why it doesn’t work and is so crap to get moving. It take a degree of effort and understanding to do this on certain pieces of kit.

But nothing works better to dispel the bias than to get a piece of tech that does “work” and see how it should be. If you just keep with one piece or similar pieces of equipment that continually have problems or fail while others can breeze on by then you should start to wonder if you’re doing it the hard way.

Rikkitic

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#2392561 15-Jan-2020 12:44

I am not so bothered by security issues in my use case, but I would be bothered if software I depend on stops working. I will take another look at Mint to see if the earlier issues have been fixed. If it actually worked for me it would probably meet my needs quite well.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

ajw

1840 posts

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#2392563 15-Jan-2020 12:50

Rikkitic:

I am not so bothered by security issues in my use case, but I would be bothered if software I depend on stops working. I will take another look at Mint to see if the earlier issues have been fixed. If it actually worked for me it would probably meet my needs quite well.

You are spoilt for choice with so many distros on offer.

https://distrowatch.com/

noroad

751 posts

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#2392568 15-Jan-2020 13:28

Technofreak:

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.

Moving to Windows 10 isn't always straight forward. I have good laptop which is running perfectly well on Win 7. My research shows that I need new drivers etc, for the Win 10 install, some of which may or may not be available, or require a fair degree of stuffing around to find and install. I don't have the time to spend doing this and I cannot spend what would be a potentially extended time without the use of my laptop.

So for me I'm sticking with Win 7 for now supported or unsupported.

I have Win10 on a 13year old laptop which definitely should not work that runs surprisingly well. Also, doing a clean install (usb boot) and then using the windows 7 key has worked every time for me on old machines. Give it a go, really what have you got to loose, it will certainly make things run faster than an old insecure win 7 setup.