• Still running Windows 7 or earlier? Support for Windows 7 ended on January 14th 2020. Please review the thread here for more details.

Still running Windows 7? Read this first!

Will

Will

Senior Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 4, 2012
Posts
8,197
Location
%tmp%
Extended support for Windows 7 ended on January 14th 2020.

Windows 7 is now an officially unsupported Operating System, receiving no security updates or bugfixes since this date. As such, we recommend that all users still running Windows 7 (or earlier Operating Systems) upgrade to the latest available Windows version supported by their hardware.

For the majority of users, there are multiple upgrade paths available, and we'd recommend you switch to Windows 10 which has a wide variety of support for older hardware. If your hardware does not support a later Windows version, we'd recommend you either upgrade your hardware or switch to a suitable Linux Distro to give you a wider variety of options.

For Enterprise users still running Windows 7 or earlier and unable to upgrade, please review the Windows client deployment resources and documentation here:
Windows client deployment resources and documentation - Windows Deployment


Any support offered by Sysnative for Windows 7 or earlier operating systems should be considered "best effort" with limited troubleshooting available for issues. If you need help upgrading, please create a new thread with information about your setup.
 
There are a couple of important points to take into consideration here.

1. Most, but not all, third party antivirus vendors announced they will continue to support Windows 7 for at least two years after Windows 7 End Of Life (EOL). The official Windows 7 EOL date was January 14, 2020. Two years from then is January 14, 2022, which is now, just around the corner.​
​
A few vendors have already ended support for Windows 7! Others will follow. As with previous versions of Windows, much depends on the unknown as to how long Windows 7 remains safe to use.​
​
"IF" (when!) a currently unknown vulnerability is newly discovered, and due to EOL it is not patched by Microsoft, there will come a time when the antivirus vendors are technically unable (or simply unwilling to invest the resources) to develop the necessary code to secure that vulnerability from exploitation by the bad guys. Windows 7 will then become insecure, and worse, that system will become a threat to others. :( Or at least it will be a threat if that computer is connected to a network.​
​
2. It takes a lot of resources (time and money) for software and hardware driver developers to maintain current updates and drivers for their "legacy" products. And it takes a lot of resources for current hardware manufacturers to develop drivers for legacy operating systems. And that assumes that new hardware is even compatible with Windows 7 - that is not a given. Many hardware makers are already producing new hardware without Windows 7 drivers. And many application developers will, or already have released new versions of their programs and/or terminated support for Windows 7 too.​

Maintaining and developing legacy support is a pure money pit with $0.00 return on those investments. Software developers and hardware makers would much rather consumers buy new versions of their products - products that are designed to support Windows 10 or even now, Windows 11. That is, products that bring in profit.

So, just as we have seen several times in the past, despite how great the legacy OS may be, or how much we like it better, the time is now to start planning for our next updates. If your current hardware supports the latest operating systems, then great. I urge you to update now. But if your current hardware does not support at least Windows 10, start planning and budgeting now for new hardware that will carry you many years into the future - securely!

Oh, and BTW - mainstream support for Windows 8/8.1 already ended January 9, 2018. Extended support will end January 10, 2023. It is not too early for Windows 8 users to start planning their updates too.
 
Once Windows 7 reaches end-of-support (EOS) on January 14, 2020, Microsoft will also stop updating Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) for Windows 7.
Click to expand...
This from ZDNet and it is completely false.
My screenshot is the proof.
db_updates.jpg

I'm trying to determine when exactly it will stop being updated. I assumed it would work until Win 8.1 reaches EOL.

Fortunately Malwarebytes is still working too. I make images and if something seems strange, I restore the image and do the few updates I need.
 
But plodr, those are all "definition" files. That is not the same as updating MSE, the security program, itself.

So it would see the ZDNet article is correct.
 
Wow - your second link says manual updates for XP are still available. I guess that is good but I wonder if that is just "enabling" XP hold-outs to keep using XP. :(

Wikipedia cites this Microsoft source for that 2023 comment and I note it says,

Microsoft will continue to release signature updates (including engine) to service systems currently running Microsoft Security Essentials untill [sic] 2023.
Click to expand...

To me, "engine" would suggest MSE, the program, itself. But then it says,

Will Microsoft Security Essentials running on my system continue to run?

Yes, we will continue to provide signature updates for Microsoft Security Essentials until 2023.
Click to expand...

And there it does not mention "engine". Not sure what that omission suggests, if it suggests anything.

In any case, I don't really see this as a problem. Since W7 is not being updated, and MSE runs on W7, there is no reason MSE should suddenly stop working on W7. Now if MS decides, for whatever reason, to push out an update for W7 and that update breaks MSE, then I can see MS pushing out an "engine" update for MSE. Or, if some previously unknown vulnerability in MSE is suddenly discovered, and for whatever reason there is, or might be some kind of uproar over it bringing unwanted publicity to MS, then they might push out an engine update just to avoid that bad PR.

Otherwise, just signatures seems fine to me. Though really, W7 users need to get with the times and upgrade to W10/11, or move to Linux, or take and keep that system off-line.
 
I'll keep using W7. I have no intention of running W10 or 11. I also don't intend running linux.
Between the android tablet (10.1") and the Chromebook (11.6") I can surf safely. The biggest hurdle on android was getting printing to work. By contract it was extremely easy to do in ChromeOS.
 
Digerati said:
I wonder if that is just "enabling" XP hold-outs to keep using XP.
Click to expand...

My answer to that is an unqualified, "Yes." And Microsoft has enabled "clinging" to their out-of-support Windows versions for as long as I can remember.

I'm actually impressed that they appear to be sticking to their guns with regard to the hardware requirements for Windows 11.

In this business, all hardware and software has a finite service life. Much of it can continue to function beyond its service life, but it's not intended to continue being used as a "daily driver" in that context. If you happen to own a 1953 Hudson in nearly perfect condition, you can still drive it, but it doesn't make sense for it to be your daily driver for a multitude of reasons.

When it comes to any operating system, the only reasonable practice is to use what the makers of same currently support. Doing otherwise is just inviting anything from trouble to catastrophe.
 
My favorite = Windows 8.1 x64.

I mostly use W10 these days as I am not thrilled by W11 at all.
 
If I could, I'd use XP on my laptop as well as my desktop. Win 7 is just bearable, but 10.... forget it. Also Word 97/XP does everything I need (I'm a professional writer)
 

Has Sysnative Forums helped you? Please consider donating to help us support the site!

Back
Top