Microsoft has issued a patch to remind Windows 7 users that they’ll soon have no patches.
The update tells users that they won’t be able to get support for Windows 7 after 14 January 2020, and it’s effectively a nudge to upgrade to a later operating system (Microsoft has been pressuring people for a long time to upgrade to Windows 10).
What does end of support really mean?
Each version of Windows goes through different support stages. In mainstream support, it gets all the updates and patches you’d expect, but this phase eventually ends, at which point the operating system version switches to extended support. This still provides security updates, but non-security updates are no longer available for desktop consumer-products. Enterprises can only get them with extended hotfix support.
Mainstream support for Windows 7 without Microsoft’s Service Pack one (SP1) addition ended on 9 April 2013. Those users that had installed SP1 still found mainstream support ending on 13 January 2015. Since that time, Windows 7 SP1 users have been on extended support. The end of support that Microsoft is talking about on 14 January 2020 is the end of that extended support, which is a little like running off a cliff, security-wise.
Microsoft says that after extended support ends, the security updates stop coming, which means that the company won’t issue patches designed to seal off security bugs for Windows 7 SP1 as part of its patch Tuesday releases anymore:
After that, technical assistance and software updates from Windows Update that help protect your PC will no longer be available for the product.
Users will be on their own – sitting ducks for attackers who discover zero-day bugs in Windows 7. So, what can they do? Microsoft wants you to upgrade, of course:
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.
The company also has a webpage explaining how to do it, along with a video, just in case you didn’t get the message, showing happy people abandoning their dirty, dysfunctional old stuff to buy shiny new stuff.
But wait, didn’t Microsoft at one point offer Windows 10 for free?
When the OS first launched in 2015, Microsoft offered free upgrades under its Get Windows 10 program, but those ended in July 2016. The only exception was for those using assistive technologies on the operating system, in which case it ended in December 2017.
That means, strictly speaking, users who want to upgrade now have to pay.
I say ‘strictly speaking’ because Microsoft allows people to install legitimately downloaded versions of the software and not activate it.
Microsoft’s lenience about securing unactivated Windows 10 installs is presumably because it’s better to have consumers protected for the good of the entire ecosystem. It remains to be seen how it might treat businesses trying to get away with the same thing, however.
Simon McAllister
Win7 is/has been one of the best versions of Windows since life began, in my view. I’ll miss it at work but will continue to use it for offline stuff. Have come to terms with WIn10 but not impressed with how MS deployed it or how they bork parts of it every feature update. If Win10 isn’t up to a level of stability, close to Win7, buy Jan 2020 then we’re in for more ‘fun’
Bryan
Herd immunity will indeed protect consumers in general. I’ll wager Microsoft finds willingness to skip a purchase here and there as a double win in PR.
Not only does it make them look charitable (to those aware of the loophole), but it’ll reduce the overall volume of criticism for each new blight discovered and reported–and those are not nearly as well-kept secrets.
DudeSweet
You can do an in-place upgrade from Windows 7 oem to Windows 10 home or pro (depends on flavor os 7) and activate it automatically. This registers your built-in 7 key permanently with MS as a Windows 10 key and can forever be used on that specific PC. After performing the in-place Upgrade, you can even do a clean 10 install on that PC without issue.
In other words, upgrading your pre-built PC from 7 to 10 is free and should not be a problem.
Chris Goddard
Good info, only no clue as to how one can accomplish this? (Or am I missing something obvious??) 😉 😊 😂
Oz
“windows 10 installs is presumably because it’s better to have consumers protected for the good of the entire ecosystem.” I call B’s, what about winxp/8/vista/7. It’s all about money grabbing greedy Microsoft.
Paul Ducklin
I’m not convinced that asking you to buy an operating system version to replace the one you bought many years ago is exactly “money grabbing”. It’s money *making*, to be sure, but I’d say it falls well short of “greedy” – try writing, testing and releasing complex software. It’s a lot harder than it looks – and it looks darn hard!
Sure, there are groups that produce software that costs just as much to make and then give it away – generally, they earn their crust from the ecosystem their software helps to create, but they still rely on people putting money into the system somewhere. If that’s the approach you prefer, then you just need to switch to one of the BSDs, say, or to Linux.
Mark Cannady
I received the free Windows 10 upgrade and tried not once or twice but 6 times. After downloading and installing I lost my wifi every time, finally just give up on it. It’s a Sony Vaio. Never figured out what the problem was and now stuck with 7.
Paul Ducklin
Have you spoken to Sony about it (since it’s their hardware)?
IIRC, Sony pulled the plug on the Vaio (and its entire laptop biz) 5 years ago, back in Windows 7 days… a big ask to exepect Microsoft to be able to keep supporting its new drivers on hardware that’s no longer supported by its own vendor?
Mark Cannady
Yes and they at the time were not helpful at all, that’s why I gave up. When this one goes I’m going with a Linux!
Paul Ducklin
Bit unfair to blame Microsoft for a hardware vendor that shuts down its laptop division and can no longer help its customers :-)
Asynchronousman
I’m not replying to Paul Ducklin but the platform is messed up like that.
@Mark Cannady When you upgrade, do you go into settings and re-establish the Wi-Fi manually? I believe your problem is that your settings are being completely refreshed, or else you should contact the maker of your wi-fi, or find it the problem with the TROUBLESHOOTER and restore a driver if needed. The biggest clue would be in Device Manager if you have the yellow triangle anywhere in the tree or a missing device. Refresh the list and click on any conflict shown for a status and report it to a technician if you don’t know what to do, or look it up online. If you truly want to use 10 you have to do the homework, It may also be that the wi-fi device is not compatible with 10 and you need to change it out.
But go into setup first, for the router as well and also make sure the password etc MATCH!!!
Computer troubles are full of D’oh! moments.
Anonymous
I lost my free download and dont know how to install without paying for it. If the wifi doesn’t work after purchasing a copy or would be wasted money. If I had the free download still o would give it another shot however.
YourMom
Bunch of BS $ grabbing in the mix. Microsoft is innovative sometimes but also greedy & manipulates it’s users slowly into buying into they’re newer OS builds.
Paul Ducklin
“Manipulating” someone slowly into spending $100 every few years” seems like the opposite of greediness to me…
Tac Ajnin (@dhagerjohns)
Yea, people don’t gripe and moan like this when they go out, and purchase a new car every few years.
Asynchronousman
I’ve used the same WordPerfect suite for 16 years and I don’t send files to other online (and who uses it that I know)? And Publisher ’98 was better than other MS stuff for me at the time I used it as required in a not for profit. It won’t work in 7 though.
Izaak Hagy
Not sure why I recognized this but the thumbnail of the windows 7 sticker is from a compaq laptop made in 2009, likely a cq62
Mahhn
I have to use w10 at work, at home it’s 7 and linux. W10 is one of those wtf were they thinking OSs. They would charge per mouse click if they could. Removed native DVD support (without telling anyone) every thing is a advertisement for an add-on. It’s almost like they want people to hate them (competing with Comcast and EA?) I will stick with 7 until the software I use no longer works then move slide to the Linux world completely (which has done Great the last 5 years). It’s not the tiles, its not the awful menus, it’s not the blind trust patch all or nothing (with all the bad you could expect occasionally), it’s not the single pixel scroll bar, it’s not the slow everything, with a fast PC, It’s not the saving files new now takes twice as many clicks (no I don’t want to use F-ing one drive), it’s not even the sending all my PII to MS, It’s because (why they gave the OS away) the User is the product (same as FB, but looking at everything in your PC). XP was okay, ME was a joke, Vista was a warm up for the 8s, 9 was so bad they just said no (that’s a pun), and 10, ahh the micro payment system. I would be happy to buy an OS, if it was good. – I’m thinking make a backup before this last patch – since it might have a timer to kill 7 – yes I think that low of MS’s business model. Just like XP – with a good firewall, AV backups and secure browser – 7 can last a very long time. But that’s just my opinion.
Paul Ducklin
Buy a Mac. Burn your DVDs. (I can no longer remember how to use the pesky things, but i do remember looking forward to a world where they didn;t need to exist.) You get industrial art that you will never tire of looking at, free OS updates and upgrades, and, hey, it’s Unix underneath.
Mahhn
It’s not burning, but playing DVDs, (ISOs, of movies at home) the training dept needs to play at work. Use MPC or VLC to resolve. Mac’s doesn’t natively play the game I like, so no use for it. Besides,,,, 7 is working just fine.
Paul Ducklin
Hahahahaha. Shows how how long ago I ditched DVDs from my life – I can’t even remember the terminology. By “burn your DVDs” I meant literally to “throw them in the fire to get rid of them forever!”
I haven’t owned a computer with a CD/DVD drive since… 2010? A disappointing data storage technology that I left behind a decade ago.
Asynchronousman
I don’t agree and I make LOVELY music programs and even video content, nicely mastered to copy and send at Christmas or for making CASSETTES, reel tapes and YES, 8 tracks. I’m still using some for backups of older stuff, even if I do have external drives. Don’t leave your security THAT naked.
Bryan
I for one am sad to see optical media dying. For both practical and nostalgic reasons.
When Netflix first began their streaming service I wondered, “but what about when the Internet connection drops?” Never have found an answer to that other than blank stares. Most residential customers find redundant connections overkill and (most of the time they’re right) a waste of money. But when that evening snowstorm makes a late movie seem just about perfect…hopefully it doesn’t slide a car into infrastructure three miles away and disconnect you for a couple days.
When I was a kid, holding a CD in my hand meant I could read song lyrics. See the photos. Read the inside jokes. I felt like I was part of the band. There’s a tactile experience that some people will never know. The smell of a freshly-opened CD (or even cassette) is mostly petroleum products, but there are also faint aromas of anticipation, adventure, and victory.
iTunes downloads don’t offer the same experience, even though you can read the band’s Wikipedia page while you listen.
Paul Ducklin
Hmmmmmm. I always felt that CD liners were a copout, typically being just scaled-down, cramped up renderings of the LP (vinyl) cover, which had more than six times the area [*], making the text eaier to read and allowing cool details in the artwork (Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, QED).
If album covers and retro cool are what you want, then lots of indie bands do vinyl and cassette issues (you get free downloads as well so you don’t need to play the LP or the tape all the time and risk damaging it).
These days I try to listen almost exclusively to albums made in the previous 12 months. If you want to “feel part of the band” then try hanging out on bandcamp DOT com, where you can not only chat to the band but also often buy vinyl and cassette versions (though they tend to sell out quickly). And we’re talking *real* vinyl – thick, colourful, quality pressings.
Now *that’s* the sort of nostalgia I like – what I call “forward looking” nostalgia made possible thanks to moderm technology, not an attempt to disown the present and revert to the not-such-a-golden-age-after-all past. (Modern pressings are made with care, love and few corners cut. In the 1970s and 1980s, albums were stamped out worldwide in bulk – and the quality of pressings in a run of LPs goes off rapidly as the stampers wear out.)
[*] 300mm×300mm / 120mm×120mm = 6.25.
Bryan
I agree vinyl is awesome for the losses I’m lamenting; in fact my band released an album last year, and we did the 180g pressings in a double album, lyrics insert, photos–the download includes a copy of these. Our goal was to provide the type of experience we all wanted as fans.
You’re not wrong about CD collaterals–lyrics printed in microtext, photos like postage stamps. However IMO a CD liner is still preferable* to the disappointing, singular thumbnail accompanying many downloads. Like most of your readers I work in I.T. and can’t deny life travels not backward nor tarries with yesterday… but some experiences are far better when the hands have more to do than click a mouse. I mourn society’s waning appreciation for that.
PS:
It wouldn’t be me second-guessing your math.
Bryan
* I was (predictably) crestfallen when outvoted: no CD
…but then we decided to do vinyl; I acquiesced, completely vindicated
…and we ultimately ended up doing CD anyway, with an insert.
I suppose I shouldn’t pout so much; I ended up getting my way.
:,)
Asynchronousman
Yeah and it RAINED good here a couple days ago, since then the public TV station which was marginal is junk. There’s your reason for having backups, in a nutshell. Although I suppose I’m going to call them about it anyway. Four our of over fifty signals but what if it was your movie?
And I guess buy a LADDER.
Asynchronousman
No way. I prefer Granny Smiths, and my own Granny Smith preferred Grandpa.
Seriously, the last Macs I used were a Power PC at the ISP office, a Mac Classic XL or something that was more arcane than some of my old cassette decks and the cute lady at the hospital had a G5 or something, but I went to college with her, it wasn’t her computer.
I doubt Ozzy sang Mac Solution.
Paul Ducklin
I used Macs (not out of choice) back in the Motorola/PowerPC/non-Unix days… and I really couldn’t stand the whole Mac experience back then (as a coder it was horrendous). Once Macs switched to Intel/Unix and Sir Jony Ive was in charge of design there was just no choice – form meets function and all that – and despite the “Apple tax” you get OS updates for free, Apple’s equivalent of Office for free, Apple’s equivalent of BitLocker for free, plus you can go into any coffee shop in Oxford without getting worried looks.
Asynchronousman
Bitlocker was broken into I understand, and there is nothing ironclad about UNIX. Viruses were born from computer technicians testing the security of large mainframes in the days of early networks (also when DARPA was building what eventually became the internet). Of course, I was busy learning my letters and numbers on this new show called Sesame Street at the time.
‘They’ know whose toilet paper you prefer on sale, more or less. Oh well.
Paul Ducklin
For more on the recent news stories about “BitLocker broken”, you might like this:
https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2019/03/22/bitlocker-hacked-disk-encryption-and-why-you-still-need-it-video/
To break into a correctly-configured BitLocker, FileVault, dmcrypt, geli &c disk is at the very least a non-trivial exercise. Breaking into an unencypted disk is not even an exercise. You just plug it in.
Bryan
Hahah, worried looks?
Now I’m curious…is Oxford an Apple microcosm–or are non Mackies seen as potential hackers?
Paul Ducklin
It’s a university city. In fact, Oxford could be considered *the* university city. (Although there are two universities now, the truly ancient federal collegiate one known as Oxford and the new, more regular one known as Oxford Brookes.)
And that’s all I’m saying.
Clive Arnold
“ME was a joke” <– I'd still rather use ME than 10 joke or no joke
Dirk7r7
Not all of us care about your security updates. We are on W7 only for gaming…that’s it. Don’t need your protection. Other than that…bring it on attackers. Nothing on my system to attack and I actually enjoy wiping my drive. I do al my important stuff on Linux.
Gillian Lee
I used Windows 7 for a number of years without any security updated because something was wrong and it wouldn’t update, and I had NO problems, you only need a good Antivirus program and a way of frequently cleaning the system. I removed Windows 10 from another computer and had Windows 7 installed, because with 7 you have control and with 10 you don’t.
Tac Ajnin (@dhagerjohns)
In my opinion Windows 10 blows Windows 7 away completely. 10 is a true joy to use, and I am a power user. I haven’t used 7 in so long it is hard to remember what it looks like, but using 10 is like a fresh ray of sunshine every day. I am also an insider, and am currently using build 18860.
Magyver
No on 10
William
Windows 8 and 10 sucks period. I use windows 7 for everything. I am smart, i dont leave my personal information on it. I use it fir gaming, web, music and videos.
Terry
I think a class action should be launched against Microsoft for not providing necessary support for the system people once purchased.
Paul Ducklin
Other industries don’t work like that – you pay as you go for updates, maintenance and newer models in the automotive sector – so why should software?
If a mobile phone company kept giving you a new phone every two years with nothing to pay, would you not only refuse but also threaten to sue them for “supporting” you so badly?
Sometimes in software engineering you have to throw out the past and embrace the new – and to be fair to Microsoft they did offer to let you do that (OK, they may have been pushier than just “offering” sometimes :-) without making you pay all over again.
You’re entitled to refuse but to sue them because you chose to refuse seems a weird leap of logic to me.
Linux and the BSDs are free and work excellently, if you really can’t stand 10.
Asynchronousman
The only problem with that (often proposed) idea is that if you read the terms, you can’t do that, you are bound to personal arbitration for damages or, they basically say just stop using the product and remove all traces. It’s not as simple as anybody thinks it is.
PS answers.microsoft.com is a peer support site that is hosted by Microsoft, not ‘official support’ but volunteers and other users try to help you solve your issues. Before you think of suing might you search there to find an answer to your problem?
This includes Xbox.
Asynchronousman
None of this means much, XP is still out there and nobody I know of has died of it yet. After 41 years using computers I’m not scared by an inferior OS that I understand is already planning to replace it’s ‘new’ browser with one ‘like Chrome’. HAH! EOS is not EOL and you won’t fall off the edge of the earth.
And at the rate my fellow 50somethings are dying around here, I suspect I’ll be dead by then or using Linux Mint more.
HAIL LUDD!
Paul Ducklin
Not sure how switching from Windows to Linux makes you a Luddite. The Luddites were violent terrorists who revolted against what they saw as social iniquity because the new machines would force choiceless workers into poverty and oppression. No one is forcing you to switch from 7 to 10 (though you could have done it for free if you wanted). You can switch from 7 to anything you like and there are lots of alternatives.
Asynchronousman
Then I’m an Alan Luddite, I’m with Betty White.
And those alternatives? They have a long way to go to get Windows apps to work in Mint, WINE Is Not an Emulator??? LibreOffice leaves a lot to desire compared to a 2002 copy of WordPerfect. And I started with TRS-80 in 1978, on to Apple IIs and even an HP3000 before I ever used a PC (1985). I’ve have enough time to see the horrors of IE 3 and 4 before I got to 98SE!
No, I used 10 for a short while for free and got past the 30 days before I finally got the heebie-jeebies and reloaded 7 from scratch. I’ve always had enough backup to do that. I have to brew my own from donations so I know better.
Mark
My first PC was a TRS-80 Model 4 lug-able as well, used it with TrashDos & VisiCalc for spreadsheet work, that was how I started learning to program. I was overjoyed to move up to DOS and Lotus123! Remember the Hercules green screens! I am now retired and I collect laptops mainly Thinkpads, I hop them up and sell or give them away to folks who can’t afford to buy a PC at Walmart or Best buy. Most of the folks I help only use Facebook and maybe play Solitaire games. I use Win 7 PRO in everything but I also play around with Linux on a regular basis. I did the free win 10 upgrade to three desktop PCs back when it was free – I hated all the junk MS put into the OS, I would load Win 10 then spend several days trying to take out all the corny stuff and I hated that stupid talking program, usually I eventually ended up killing Win 10 and went back to Win 7. I’ve gotten better good at removing everything from Win 10 but the basic OS (or hiding what can’t be removed). Now it looks and acts like win 7 but still many parts of the desk top are aggravating (single pixel sliding bars!).
Basically I use PCs to play music, movies and audio books, to browse on YouTube and use Google to answer all my questions. I use email to communicate more than I use my phone and I buy stuff I don’t really need every week. That is all I want a PC for anymore, Win 10 is just way to cluttered up with junk programs to be of any use to me so I will stop getting the monthly Win 7 upgrades very soon and keep good antivirus and malware programs to keep my machines clean of bad junk. Oh and I build in both an Admin account for working on the machine and a separate Browser account to live in on every machine, even the Linux ones.
Looks like I typed too many character again…
Cheers,
Chris Goddard
“The Luddites were violent terrorists”
Like ISIS then??
Paul Ducklin
No, not like ISIS. Though having typed that I think I might have been trolled…
Asynchronousman
I refuse to stand in gardens watching your begonias, not a troll :)
John Jasper
Microsoft couldn’t get us to switch to that trashy program 10 so now they’re going to force us to it. That is the most shoddy business I ever saw. Selling you a product and then ending support for their product to force everybody to 10 after trying every other scheme to get people to 10 failed. But if I paid good money for 7 and got screwed how can I trust them not to do the same with 10? As of 2020 I guess I’ll be looking for a new operating system from a company that doesn’t have a track record of screwing their customers. But beings I paid for 7 and it will stop being supported maybe Microsoft will be honest and refund the money I paid for 7 but I’m not holding my breath since their track record is get the money then dump em.
Anonymous
Been in the business since 1977! never touched a MAC except at McDonald’s. Now retired and I collect older PCs just for fun, 20+ laptops and four big media servers (44-88 TB storage). I have one friend who loves Apple products – he uses a Win 10 PC at home that I built for him and loves it. I do have one Apple product an old iPhone 6, it just died and I replaced it with an iPhone 6S Plus, its OK and does the job for a phone but my attempts to use iTunes on my various PCs has been a big disappointment and the phone has many problems talking with any of my PCs. So I guess I just am not smart enough to use Apple products!