Goodbye Windows 7

Dennis Snider

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Windows 7 is on the way out, and the still-popular operating system is warning users that they will not be supported much longer. To be precise, support for Windows 7 will cease on January 14, 2020, and Microsoft has been encouraging users to upgrade to Windows 10.

You can’t be forced to make the switch, and the OS won’t suddenly stop working on your computer after support stops, but there will be no more security updates, so you will be vulnerable to any new threats that come along (and they will be coming along). You could ignore the warnings and carry on using Windows 7, but once the security support has stopped you shouldn’t risk connecting it to the Internet or indeed any other networked system.

Some might feel this is an unwarranted interference from Microsoft, but with some adherents still buying Windows 7 computers, and 37.19% of desktop PC users sticking with the system, the company was clearly tired of having to continually patch up an old option instead of focusing on their new systems. The links Microsoft is sending out to Windows 7 users explain how to upgrade to Windows 10 and even suggest that users might consider buying new computers, seeing as a Windows 7 computer will probably be far from state-of-the-art.

Windows 10 has improved massively since the October 2018 update, with many new features added and old bugbears removed, and the May 2019 update promises even more improvements, so it could be a good time for diehards to consider switching allegiance.