Windows 7 enters its final year of free support

Up to three years of paid support will be available after the cut-off.

Read the whole story

 

[stormcrash]

I guess it's about time to get my parents off of Windows 7 on their computer then

 

[BushLin]

How is this being handled for individual users who are not in an enterprise setting? I’m asking that as a non Windows user, currently, but who does have friends who do, but are not in any way technical enough to even know about this.

I believe Microsoft's official statement went something like 'you will use Windows 10, what are you going to do? run Open Office on Linux? ha!'

 

[1232]

So many reasons to switch besides the obvious ones. Like DirectX 12, Windows Hello, Fluent Design, Virtual Desktops, Timeline, Game Bar, Snip & Sketch, Paint 3D, improved search, Cortana reminders, new Skype, Mail, Calendar, Todo etc...

You forgot to add Candy Crush to your list.

How about I add...

CPU/Core Thread Management Changes (Better scheduling, less SMP CPU overhead, etc.)

CPU/GPU Thermal Scheduling

GPU/CPU/Co-Processor Scheduler - agnostic threading based on load

Full SMP GPU support - vendor/GPU agnostic

GPU Pre-emptive multitasking (Windows 10 doesn't use cooperative or 'yield' wait states like Linux, OS X, etc. This is why GPU rendering and GPGPU operations can be used heavily on Windows with timing precision.)

Win32 Security Isolation features

Integrated Malware protection

UWP framework - dynamic layout/scale and extensible UI/UX technology and the highest security level framework in use today.


Cortana is also a valid 'feature' to list - as this is not just Siri or Google Assistant. Cortana functions as a 'reactive' assistant to information and changes as input. Cortana is also a multi-input based interface with automation to every features in the OS. Ironically, Cortana is the ultimate power user tool, and sadly most power users have no understanding of why or how to use Cortana in this way.


...and Candy Crush - and DX12 games - and VR/MR interface.


(The irony of 'gamers' or power users that stick with Windows 7, is that there are features in their GPU hardware and CPU hardware that is not usable in Windows 7 - thus getting only a portion of the features and performance available.)

I will add /s or /joke to posts, to avoid confusion.

 

[DanNeely]

How is this being handled for individual users who are not in an enterprise setting? I’m asking that as a non Windows user, currently, but who does have friends who do, but are not in any way technical enough to even know about this.

Unless MS relents in some way (see my comment above), when free support ends they won't have any official way to get patches.

With XP home users could registry hack their way onto an embedded version of XP that was still getting patches (XP POSready 2009) and in fact still will for a few more months. I'm not sure if any late start embedded platforms based on 7 are available that could have their patches hijacked.

 

[chadnt]

And then, it will join Win2000 on the "best windows ever" pedestal.

For me the weirdest one that people put on a pedestal is XP. Even after all the service packs it was a weird frankenstein of a release. Nostalgia is a powerful drug.

Compared to Windows 95, 98, and *shudder* ME - Windows XP was pretty solid. It did turn into a bit of a Frankenstein with SP2, a necessary change to handle its many security issues. But for its time, XP was a high-point. (Still no excuse for not upgrading to Windows 7 by 2013.)

 

[bthylafh]

HAY GUISE YOU SHOULD JUST USE ARCH LINUX

At least that's what "that guy" always seems to say.

 

[LuDux]

HAY GUISE YOU SHOULD JUST USE ARCH LINUX

At least that's what "that guy" always seems to say.

I found "that guy".

 

[DanNeely]

I guess it's about time to get my parents off of Windows 7 on their computer then

Thankfully my Dad's Win 7 laptop died last fall so I don't need to fight that battle. He was so unhappy when I told him I couldn't get win7 on the crappy surface knockoff (bottom end atom and unreliable keyboard connector for the lose) he bought after discovering the 1st computer he bought at a truckstop was a chromebook not a windows PC.

I'm not sure which he's currently using. The Chromebook's got much better hardware specs; but from everything I could find when I tried looking it doesn't understand metered connections (unlike windows which will defer downloads until you're on a normal connection) and devoured a quarter of his monthly dataplan in 2 hours.

 

[chadnt]

I run Windows 7 on my Windows machine at home, and I don't intend to ever upgrade to Windows 10.

I'm not interested in a machine where Microsoft controls the updates, and I don't.
I'm not interested in a machine which sends telemetry back to MS which I can't turn off.

Windows 7 does everything I need - I've got a 1080ti and Ryzen board for gaming. (Getting it to run on Ryzen wasn't as bad as suggested at all)


If it gets to the point that I want to play new games that don't support Windows 7, I guess I'll try to run them in Linux/Proton.

Will it get to that point when a 0-day exploit is released for Windows 7 next February, and Microsoft won't patch it?

Yes, yes it will.

 

[vedekhaliwell]

I removed 10 from my drive. I use the 7 drive now and am much happier. I cannot stand the 10 UI and hate having to use 3rd party solutions.

Plus all the other common complaints about telemetry and data sending to MS.

Give me the options to custom install without using this crappy UI and actually removing apps that it comes with, and I will reinstall 10 and do the updates.

 

[Apparition]

So what you're saying is that 2020 has been confirmed as the year of desktop Linux?

 

[buguguug]

I recently saw a Windows Vista computer in production use at a mobile phone retailer. Humanity has no hope.

 

[chadnt]

Will it get to that point when a 0-day exploit is released for Windows 7 next February, and Microsoft won't patch it?

If I'm running a hardware firewall (like literally everyone who is NAT'd), I really don't care.
There's no attack surface there.

False. Wrong. Incorrectamundo. Will that machine access anything on the internet, ever? Then its vulnerable.

 

[tgx]

know myself well enough to know I won’t ever make good on the threat “I’ll go Linux!!1”.

Try it, and by try it I mean live with it for a year. Truly it's not something you 'switch' to as much as it is 'learn to use'. Once you adapt, it's not that big an issue. It's sort of like learning to drive a stick shift if all you're used to is an automatic.

 

[barich]

It's understandable why some business/enterprise users are still on 7. Home users, on the other hand, ought to be using 10 by now. If I can transition my parents over without much fuss, so can you.

For people who want to get all hysterical about MS spying on them or whatever, go read some articles about product activation and DRM in Windows XP. This kind of tin-foil-hat garbage has been going on for about as long as Windows has had a TCP/IP stack. If you don't trust MS, why are you using Windows 7 either?

 

[Bur a'Tino]

So many reasons to switch besides the obvious ones. Like DirectX 12, Windows Hello, Fluent Design, Virtual Desktops, Timeline, Game Bar, Snip & Sketch, Paint 3D, improved search, Cortana reminders, new Skype, Mail, Calendar, Todo etc...

I understand that each of us has unique needs, and some definitely will find some/all items on this list attractive...
But -- sorry, cannot resist:

- DirectX 12: I don't play games so I don't care. I use Windows for work.
- Windows Hello: nobody I know uses it; I prefer entering password.
- Fluent Design: meh.
- Virtual Desktops: looks nice; not sure if it 's useful in practice, but may be. On Mac I don't use the similar feature.
- Timeline: I never use "recent documents" and other similar features; I guess I know "what I was working on" without OS telling me... But who knows, may be useful.
- Game Bar: as I said, not a gamer. The very first entry Google brings up is "Fix problems with Game bar on Windows 10", so I guess it's not problem-free.
- Snip & Sketch: not sure I understand what it does, but does not sound particularly useful on a desktop.
- Paint 3 AFAICT this is an application, not an OS feature; anyway it's not for me.
- improved search: is it really? But if so, nice. On the other hand, I don't have problems with Win7 search.
- Cortana reminders: I hope I can turn Cortana off when I have to make a switch.
- new Skype: has nothing to do with Windows 10, and is plain horrible.
- Mail: I use Thunderbird, thank you.
- Calendar: same.
- Todo: you got to be joking...

Thanks, but no thanks.

 

[ChrisSD]

And then, it will join Win2000 on the "best windows ever" pedestal.

For me the weirdest one that people put on a pedestal is XP. Even after all the service packs it was a weird frankenstein of a release. Nostalgia is a powerful drug.

Not really. XP was the best thing for a lot of people that didn’t have access to windows 2000 Pro machines (which was more of a workstation OS and very expensive).

Sure the argument can be made it was amongst the best Windows at the time, I'm not arguing against that. However it was around far too long and was a mess of compromises. And yet even after the major VIsta issues were fixed and 7 was released people still put it on pedestal, which is what perplexes me

 

[tgx]

I run Windows 7 on my Windows machine at home, and I don't intend to ever upgrade to Windows 10.

I'm not interested in a machine where Microsoft controls the updates, and I don't.
I'm not interested in a machine which sends telemetry back to MS which I can't turn off.

Windows 7 does everything I need - I've got a 1080ti and Ryzen board for gaming. (Getting it to run on Ryzen wasn't as bad as suggested at all)


If it gets to the point that I want to play new games that don't support Windows 7, I guess I'll try to run them in Linux/Proton.

Will it get to that point when a 0-day exploit is released for Windows 7 next February, and Microsoft won't patch it?

Yes, yes it will.

Count on it, if nothing else MS will leak one.

 

[DanNeely]

I recently saw a Windows Vista computer in production use at a mobile phone retailer. Humanity has no hope.

A local restaurant to me is still using XP based cash registers. Granted, it's the last version of XP to still be getting support (EOL in later this year); but I'm not holding my breath on them replacing it in the next few months.

 

[Graw-_@]

Windows Media Center supported on Win10 yet? No? Then MS doesn't have an acceptable alternative to Win7.

Yes they do have an alternative. It is called the XBox. No seriously that's their living room solution. You may not like it. Neither do I. But that's their direction. It is probably better for majority of their users for the living room to be an appliance type device.

That said, it is possible to run Win 7 media center on Win 10! Google it. People have done it. It is of course not supported.

My Xbox One S is a very inexpensive and excellent media center. I'm not a gamer. I use Plex Media Server as a back-end for Plex Player on the Xbox front-end. Of course, it also does Amazon, Netflix and the others. $15 remotes can be found on Amazon. It's time to ditch the Windows Media Center idea - modern and better options are out there.

Or better yet...just install Kodi.

I recently saw a Windows Vista computer in production use at a mobile phone retailer. Humanity has no hope.

A local restaurant to me is still using XP based cash registers. Granted, it's the last version of XP to still be getting support (EOL in later this year); but I'm not holding my breath on them replacing it in the next few months.

The CNC machines at my work all still run on embedded windows xp with a real time kernel. I believe it's a custom version modified by Siemens. They don't support it anymore and I don't think Microsoft does either.

 

[barich]

And then, it will join Win2000 on the "best windows ever" pedestal.

For me the weirdest one that people put on a pedestal is XP. Even after all the service packs it was a weird frankenstein of a release. Nostalgia is a powerful drug.

Not really. XP was the best thing for a lot of people that didn’t have access to windows 2000 Pro machines (which was more of a workstation OS and very expensive).

Sure the argument can be made it was amongst the best Windows at the time, I'm not arguing against that. However it was around far too long and was a mess of compromises. And yet even after the major VIsta issues were fixed and 7 was released people still put it on pedestal, which is what perplexes me

XP was great for a few years, but it was past its sell-by date before Vista was even released. By the time Vista was on SP1 and had its initial bugs ironed out, I was at a loss to understand why anyone would prefer XP to it.

 

[DOOManiac]

I recently saw a Windows Vista computer in production use at a mobile phone retailer. Humanity has no hope.

At the dollar store near us, their POS system is still rocking Windows 3.1 (or perhaps Workgroups). Every time we go my wife facepalms as I look towards the enchanted relic of a bygone era...

 

[scenario_dave]

Someone who has to decide whether they should buy medicine or food this month may not want to spend the money to upgrade a perfectly functional computer.

 

[Jamjen831]

Similar policies exist for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2. These also drop out of free support in one year

This is the one that's going to be a pain in my ass. I've got a bank of 2008/R2 servers that are going to need to be migrated this year.

 

[Prosercunus]

Forget Windows 7 to Windows 10 migration working IT. I am still trying to get developers to get on board with 64-bit and support newer more secure browser versions. Windows 10 rollout was easy peasy compared to that ongoing cluster.

 

[MindBlown16]

And then, it will join Win2000 on the "best windows ever" pedestal.

You mean Windows XP. Oh, the memories...

 

[Fatesrider]

Anyone still on Windows 7 is just asking for trouble and is not worth Microsoft's time. Honestly I'm not getting all this nostalgia about it. Sure I liked it when it came out, jump lists were a great innovation. However Windows 10 Start Menu is a huge boon to my productivity and the new Settings UI is fantastic. Every W10 update there are less reasons to complain, it's becoming a really great OS.

You wouldn't be saying that if you were air traffic control running an app the vendor only certified under Win 7 , or a nurse at ER with some clinical app that must use Win 7. Etc... Real world is difficult, complicated, and messy.

That's the thing Windows 10 fanboi's don't get. The world doesn't operate the way they think it does.

Personally, I found Windows 10 UI settings to blow chunks, myself. I couldn't change the font sizes, types or colors on a per-item basis like I could in Windows 7. Window border colors are usually not supported. Creating task bars was a huge pain in the ass. I spent most of a day just trying to get rid of the fucking pastels.

Three programs I found that helped immensely were ClassicShell, LinkBar and Winaero Tweaker - which turned an otherwise fucked up UI into something I could live with.

It'd be nice if other OS users would simply love their OS for what it is instead of insisting that others love it as much as they do. They remind me of evangelicals who come to the door expecting you to convert on the spot. It never occurs to the OS evangelicals that someone might be happy with (or needing) the "OS religion" they already have.

 

[MMarsh]

So many reasons to switch besides the obvious ones. Like DirectX 12,

I'll grant you that one.

Windows Hello

I'll stick with strong passwords, thank you very much, particularly in the modern Border Gestapo era.

Fluent Design

Does it live up to its billing yet, or is it still an inconsistently-applied, active-clickable-whitespace, controls-indistinguishable-from-displays UX regression?

Virtual Desktops

That'll go nicely with my 9/0.9 Mbps connection and my 200 GB data cap.

Timeline, Game Bar, Snip & Sketch, Paint 3D,

I've yet to meet anyone (in person) who's used these, despite them being available for... how long now?

improved search

That's the search that keeps pulling up Bing in a browser when I type the name of a program that's installed locally, right? The one that can't find purchase order PO-18123.pdf in a folder called "PO" that's sorted by filename?

Cortana reminders

Hmm. I haven't encountered any of those since I stripped Cortana of its voice and permissions when it kept randomly yelling at everyone in the room.

new Skype

Does it work as well as Skype from 2006 did? I have fond memories of Skype from 2006. It was cleaner and more reliable than modern Skype is with 10x the bandwidth and 50x the CPU power.

Mail, Calendar, Todo etc...

It's hard to make much use of those in a Google Suite shop.

I've been using Win7 and Win10 in parallel on different machines for 3 years now. I get that Microsoft needs to cut off support for old stuff eventually. But as much as I know it's better under the hood, so much of Win10's UX just feels like huge regressions from Win7, and I have a surprising number of friends and family who - after trying Win10 for a while - are deciding that they're better off learning Ubuntu or Mint.

 

[NelaK]

And then, it will join Win2000 on the "best windows ever" pedestal.

For me the weirdest one that people put on a pedestal is XP. Even after all the service packs it was a weird frankenstein of a release. Nostalgia is a powerful drug.

XP was the last Microsoft product I have used.

I'm genuinely curious how. Even in a full Apple ecosystem, I think most people end up using Microsoft Office purely for the interoperability. Do you not use computers other than your own at work or other places?

 

[Fabermetrics]

False. Wrong. Incorrectamundo. Will that machine access anything on the internet, ever? Then its vulnerable.

Can you please explain your argument? There's no magic bits of evil between here and there.

I explained the places I saw vulnerabilities (shared libraries), and explained why that's not a concern. (Not browsing the web)

If the machine is firewalled off, please explain where you see a concern.

You see so many people repeating mantra without really thinking about what they're saying :/

So all I need is a firewall and I can never be attacked ever? Thats a relief! Im glad the open ports are unexploitable!

 

[DOOManiac]

And then, it will join Win2000 on the "best windows ever" pedestal.

For me the weirdest one that people put on a pedestal is XP. Even after all the service packs it was a weird frankenstein of a release. Nostalgia is a powerful drug.

XP was the last Microsoft product I have used.

I'm genuinely curious how. Even in a full Apple ecosystem, I think most people end up using Microsoft Office purely for the interoperability. Do you not use computers other than your own at work or other places?

I'm also curious how he's not ever played an Xbox, ran Minecraft, downloaded anything from Github, or accidentally clicked on Bing...

 

[Violynne]

No worries.

Our Windows Server 2019 box just came in last week, waiting to set up.

We took the extreme measure to keep control of our system by electing to bypass Windows 10 completely.

Like a bazooka to a fly, but at least we can ensure updates on our schedule so we don't lose data.

A risk we absolutely cannot take, even with backups.

 

[Fabermetrics]

And then, it will join Win2000 on the "best windows ever" pedestal.

For me the weirdest one that people put on a pedestal is XP. Even after all the service packs it was a weird frankenstein of a release. Nostalgia is a powerful drug.

XP was the last Microsoft product I have used.

I'm genuinely curious how. Even in a full Apple ecosystem, I think most people end up using Microsoft Office purely for the interoperability. Do you not use computers other than your own at work or other places?

Not him, but ever since google docs/sheets was released Ive used that. I am by no means a power user, but it was sufficient for the end years of school and personal/minimal work items.
Now I hear its a full replacement for most tasks.

 

[Jeff2Space]

Windows Media Center supported on Win10 yet? No? Then MS doesn't have an acceptable alternative to Win7.

Yes they do have an alternative. It is called the XBox. No seriously that's their living room solution. You may not like it. Neither do I. But that's their direction. It is probably better for majority of their users for the living room to be an appliance type device.

That said, it is possible to run Win 7 media center on Win 10! Google it. People have done it. It is of course not supported.

My Xbox One S is a very inexpensive and excellent media center. I'm not a gamer. I use Plex Media Server as a back-end for Plex Player on the Xbox front-end. Of course, it also does Amazon, Netflix and the others. $15 remotes can be found on Amazon. It's time to ditch the Windows Media Center idea - modern and better options are out there.

That eats another HDMI input on your TV. HDMI is a non renewable resource.

I have a 3 input to one output HDMI switch from Monoprice that cost me something like $15 US. It automatically switches to the HDMI port that's powered on and sending video. It's hooked up to HDMI-4 on the living room TV.

 

[SaaSaFRaaS]

I bought my current desktop from Dell (via an Ars deal master deal) , which came with Windows 7 installed and a Windows 10 install DVD, which I thought i could use to upgrade at my leisure. I like Windows 7 so I didn't bother with the upgrade, and recently I found out that the Windows 10 DVD will ONLY do a clean install. That really sucks.

 

[JohnCarter17]

So many reasons to switch besides the obvious ones. Like DirectX 12, Windows Hello, Fluent Design, Virtual Desktops, Timeline, Game Bar, Snip & Sketch, Paint 3D, improved search, Cortana reminders, new Skype, Mail, Calendar, Todo etc...

They let you do a lot of posting at work up in Redmond, don't they?

(Edit: spelling)