There are no two ways about it: Windows 7 is dying, and fairly soon. On January 14, 2020, Microsoft will stop issuing security updates for their best-selling operating system. Some users remain defiant: They fail to see any reason to migrate to a newer system. This is a dangerous attitude: By holding on to Windows 7, they don't just risk their own safety, but also the security of others.
The following article will explain what to expect when Microsoft pulls the plug on Windows 7, why it's a bad idea to stick with a dead horse, and propose viable migration options for users unwilling to upgrade to Windows 10. In any case, it's high time to get ready: January of 2020 is closing in fast.
"It's dead, Jim."
Let's clear up a common misunderstanding first. When Microsoft first warned users that extended support for Windows 7 would end in January of 2020, some reacted with boasts and derision: "Why should this faze me? I've never contacted Microsoft for support, anyway!" However, Microsoft has a different concept of "support."
For Microsoft, "support" means supplying their software or operating system (OS) with updates to fix issues. Windows 7 is already on "extended support;" mainstream support expired five years ago. Extended support means that Windows 7 is only receiving critical security fixes.
At the beginning of 2020, even this tenuous life line will be cut. From that date onward, home and small-business users will be cut off from Windows 7 security patches. Microsoft has done this before, most notably with Windows XP.
Extended support for Windows XP ended in 2014. Since then, Microsoft has issued only three critical patches for Windows XP. Anti-virus vendors gradually phased Windows XP support over the following months; the developers of most other applications followed suit.
Ironically, Microsoft's critical fixes for newer Windows versions quickly became a security problem for Windows XP users. Malware developers analyzed these fixes to find out which issues they addressed. Then they checked whether Windows XP shared the same weakness and wrote malware to exploit it, safe in the knowledge that Windows XP users would not be protected from their attacks. This is likely to repeat itself with Windows 7.
Get ready for change
Even though Windows 7 is still supported until January, affected users should start planning their migration today – or yesterday. Most corporate users already have a strategy in place: If you are still using a Windows 7 machine at work, consult your IT department for their migration schedule.
Home users need to make sure that they have switched away from Windows 7 well before the cut-off date. Anti-virus protection can mitigate the dangers, but there is no guarantee that they will be able to block low-level attacks. Extreme measures can reduce the attack surface, such as disconnecting Windows 7 machines from all networks or setting up hardware firewalls with extreme filtering rules. However, this approach is both cumbersome and risky – one slip-up can make all efforts futile.
Some corporate customers may not be able to move away from Windows 7 due to legacy hardware or software. This situation affects hospitals and similar institutions with highly-specialized equipment. Some choose to buy extended support from Microsoft, supplying them with exclusive security patches – at prices far beyond the reach of home users and small-business owners.
Where to move to
Microsoft suggests Windows 10 as the obvious upgrade path. In spite of what Microsoft has claimed in the past, free in-place upgrades are still possible (or at least they were when this article was written) using the Windows 10 Media Creation Tool.
However, Windows 10 is far from being the only option. Another choice is to move away from Windows altogether, to an alternative operating system such as macOS or Linux. Some users may even decide to ditch desktop computing altogether and move to a mobile device running Android. Good news for SoftMaker customers: SoftMaker Office is available for all the aforementioned platforms.
Windows 8.1 is a terrible choice to migrate to. True, it does not follow the controversial "OS as a service" approach Microsoft introduced with Windows 10. However, its days are already marked: Extended support for Windows 8.1 ends in January of 2023, meaning that three years down the road, you will again stand at the same crossroads.
How to decide
To decide on your migration path, you should first take stock of your current computing habits. Try answering the following questions on a notepad:
- For what purposes do I mainly use my computer?
- What applications do I use most frequently?
- Which applications do I absolutely depend upon?
- Which of my most-used applications are available for other operating systems?
Special consideration needs to be given to commercial applications. Set up a simple spreadsheet to determine how much it will cost you to switch to a new operating system: In the first column, list the hardware and software you will require. In the second column, enter the cost for every item and add it all up. Now you can make an educated decision on how to continue.
Vendors who publish their software for multiple platforms often offer cross-platform licenses. Others offer "crossgrades", i.e. special rebates for customers who wish to switch to a different operating system. SoftMaker offers crossgrades for SoftMaker Office 2018 users migrating to macOS or Linux. The subscription version of SoftMaker Office, SoftMaker Office NX, is an operating-system neutral license which can be used across all three desktop operating systems.
The remaining question is how to migrate essential user data such as documents, photos, e-mails, contacts and bookmarks. This issue will be addressed in a future article.
Comments
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I have benefited from reading your article.
Thank you very much.
dont-activate-windows/
Thankfully with all the choices nowadays you don't have to infect your computer with the gates virus.
Weil es halt nur ein repository hat...
Schmales -aktuelles-schönes linux distro...
Astonished how much garbage is on many people's mind.
I have a friend who sticks to WXP-SP3 and he has had so many issues, that I stopped helping him.
Now he got another one with W7 and I told him that I refuse to help, when he soon will be again in trouble.
DOS efficient? I remember routing simple PCBs with Orcad on DOS at work! I had to put a sign to avoid anyone touching my "workstation"! Many times it crashed and I had to start over again.
If Microsoft stops Updating Windows 7, people who don't feel like switching to Linux will rise up and keep it going, just so they don't have some crappy and completely unintuitive Windows 8 or the idiot spawn, Windows 10, which is designed to break non Microsoft programs, especially competing programs .
Microsoft keeps thinking it wants Apple customers. Sure, it looks great having smug idiots who will pay 900 dollars for a monitor stand... At first. Then you realize that nobody sensible is going to work or play on a computer like that. At most, you win over someone who wants to hide pictures on their computer to blackmail a Democrat.
I don't need Apps. Those are for children and drunks at TGI Fridays. I am an adult. I use programs that are made by professionals for professionals. Even when I am playing a computer game. Take that touch screen and shove it in the wastebin next to my shattered dreams of VR. We don't need it if it's gonna be micromanaged run by out of touch tech moguls.
The answer is: BY REVERSE-ENGINEERING THE PATCHES, then targeting machines that are slow to apply 'em. This makes for a small target, which anyone with a decompiler and one of the automated malware-creation engines can attack -- after all the patch tells you exactly what it fixes, so you know precisely where to look for the hole!
(The actual number of PCs infected by malware is very low; according to one security site, about 0.4% -- but 0.4% of several billion machines is still a lot of targets.)
Thus, no more patches means no more new vulnerabilities discovered by the average hacker. So as soon as "support" ends -- newly-discovered attack vectors become rare to nonexistent. (When did you last hear of an attack on Win98? or one that targets XP, but doesn't *also* target current Windows?)
Which is why in fact the very old OS is actually LESS likely to be infected by the latest and greatest exploit -- the current hook simply isn't there to attack. In rare cases an exploit targets something that hasn't changed since the mists of time (and therefore affects ALL versions of Windows) and that's generally when Microsoft issues a post-support patch.
Use a good router/modem with a competent firewall, enable Windows' own firewall, use a good HOSTS file (such as from here: http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm ) and don't do stupid things online -- which is advice everyone should heed regardless of their OS -- and frankly it does not matter which version of Windows you're using, nor whether it's still "supported".
Most of the comments I read, I didn't understand, So I'm no wizard when it comes to
computers and understanding the language.
It's too bad someone doesn't offer a simple program for those of us who just want to check
the news and weather, do some research, or send and receive e-mails, on line.
angry customers.
I'll cut this here by saying Windows 7 was Microsoft's humble redeeming. Every single OS from Windows 8 onward is a dishonesty for the reasons explained above.
It's never enough money one would find....
Don't believe me I guess....
I have 3 machines & they run well , especially since I changed over to SSD's on each.
Most of the main application you could want, office tools, video editing, music, video, web, developing tools, graphic design tools are all available on linux.
Many games on steam are compatible and reliable applications do exist to let you run many .exe files if a very specific app isnt available on linux.
Even most games that dont natively work do run with tools like lutris, wine.
If your computer is still running Windows XP, its disk-drive was manufactured before 2014. Ouch, again.
I think that your best "business continuation" plan is to run something like VMWARE under Windows 10 running on modern hardware, with "mirrored-RAID" disk-drives, for redundancy. Migrate your antique operating-system and milling-machine's software into a virtual machine. Migrate now, when there is no "panic", and sleep soundly, knowing that your business is "future-proof".
Depending on your BIOS age, a complication may be lack of LBA 48 support (only relevant if you want to use more than 128GB), or for really, really ancient hardware, lack of Extended Int 13 support (without which, a drive larger than 32GB will hang the machine).
I run 1 computer with XP
2 pc's + 2 laptops with Vista
3 pc and a laptop with windows 7
1 pc and 3 laptops with windows 10
The idea that you allways need the newest is totally crazy; some of my software just runs best on the older XP.
Last week I switched this XP machine on, just to check what was on it and if there was a need to copy some old files to an external drive and maybe get rid of this 13 year old computer.
I was surprised how fast and smooth everything worked on this antique beast!
If you just use a machine for some word processing / spreadsheet etc, why would you need something else than this reliable windows xp. Besides: security would only be an issue when online and while this old desktop does not have wifi build in and I do not connect the ethernet: security is no issue at all!! Very very safe!!
Then I use several windows 7 pc's because certain administrative software does not work on win 10.
Also a win7 PC for a music system ( very heavy investment 5 years ago ) the hardware connected to this pc does not have win 10 drivers. It would be crazy to throw away such a fantastic and expensive music production system ( 8k €...) just because they want you to switch operating system.
windows 10 works fine only when installed from scratch on ssd.
Several win8 pc / laptopswere auto upgraded to win10 and after that they became slower each day up to the point they became totally useless! ( startup time > 20 minutes )
So for the I drastically removed the original harddrives, put in a 500 Gb SSD ( crucial ) installed win 10 from scratch ( and immediately made a 100% clone of this SSD that is stored away) this works fantastic: startup time 10 seconds. BUT: only to reinstall all my valuable software is a nightmare that still continues.
The biggest mistake in the whole concept of windows is, of course, the registry. This crazy system prohibits just dragging software onto your drive. This used to be the case in the early days of "home" computers in the eighties: your whole system, your programs and your data all on one floppy disk!
Super fast, super efficient, super safe: when done with one program: floppy out and another floppy in.
The only thing that comes close is "portable software" this can be run from a USB stick without any installation on your pc / laptop.
I will stick to several systems and I wish even that for microsoft and the likes of them is would be forbidden
to automatically install updates that I do not want. I have had on several occasions that my computer work was rudely interupted even by a restart because of these "updates".
Image the drive after a fresh re-install of all the apps & programs. All other must have docs/picts etc. is copied to another slave drive. If it crashes who cares? Re-image c: again...done.
At least three times a week, something goes awry with her OS.
My win 7 box? Runs like a top -- the only time it gets rebooted is when a software or OS upgrade requires it.
Oh, and before I got this desktop, I had win 10 (upgraded from 8.1) on a laptop. I was so caught up with the "Whew! Thank heaven Windows 8.x is gone!" euphoria, I never noticed how bad Windows 10 was until hardware failure led me to buy the refurbished desktop I'm using now. Minimal work-arounds, no silly MS-generated hoops to jump through just to make things work. It was like a breath of fresh air!
And yes, I used classic shell.
Let me ask this question: Say from now in the next 10 years will Microsoft make another Windows then having Windows 10 on your devices, will Microsoft then end Windows 10?, if this makes sense.
This is a option that Microsoft could have if people are wanting to use their software. Have a software called "Microsoft Windows Forever", so you won't need to say go through the number of "windows" like Windows 7, 10, etc
Matt
Get your credit cards ready!
How? you may say, let me explain like this pick up an old reliable piece of software lets say MAGIX music studio 3.0 which was one of the best music mixers and recording studio software packs around, it will not run on any OS after windows NT and 95 so what happens UPDATE out with the old efficient easy to use best software and in with the new replacement but not just one program three new one`s none of which are as simple or efficient as the original and cost to do the same job a whole lot more. So what`s the big deal lets now look at industry an old milling machine which multi functions make it unique runs on an efficient DOS system, that programming format to cut helical gears to precision can not be upgraded which means to run a system diagnostics a computer has to have windows 98 or before. Problem is after window updated trying to get a windows 98 OS to work on a modern pc hold a nightmare of problems. Its nice to have the knowledge that when you buy something you can always use it regardless of any future software which follows unfortunately the whole MS world since registering takes that ownership rights away, if you like windows 7 or vista why should you be told you can no longer instal and use it because the company has windows 10. Old ways if you bought windows 3.1 you can still use it today but new ways if you buy windows 10 you don`t know how long you get to use it before it becomes like windows 7 obsolete.
Migrating to Windows 10 in particular has other implications that people really need to understand, especially if they have an older or lower spec computer or don't have good internet. The updates make many machines pretty much unusable i.e. the updates are huge, the computer really bogs down every time it tries to install one (I think having an ssd makes a huge difference), the updates are forced, and they frequently fail... and are attempted over and over again.
> Just like good old Micro$oft. Make a really good OS obsolete and demand replacement with a POS product
There's a conspiracy theory that all the issues with updates that do evil things like delete your files are a deliberate attempt to get people to stop using Windows because Microsoft wants to kill it off... Personally I think a simpler explanation is just that Microsoft is monumentally incompetent.
respond here. Thanks very much!
The user interface of Win10 however is the most mutated retarded abortion imaginable! I think I can see what they were trying to do, from Windows 8 on, but for gods sake, it was a poorly thought out and badly implemented design that should never have left the drawing board, let alone entered the programmers domain. Windows has been successful as a desktop operating system and somewhat successful in the server area, what the aborted Windows 8 tried to do was pretend that Windows could make it as a tablet AND that everything from here on would be done as a Windows tablet. For obvious reasons this was an unmitigated disaster, except instead of learning form this M$ have forced the really bad parts of this abortion into the Win10 user interface, instead of winding back to the popular and successful user interface and tools of the earlier versions. There are some third party add-on tools that allow partial support in Win10 for useful interfacing and tools.
Windows 10's biggest drawback is the Desktop, I downloaded a program called Classic Shell, it removes all the Tablet Garbage and gives you a clean screen, Still the side bar is pretty packed with garbage still it gives you a more manageable desktop.
However, my choice for daily use is WinXP SP3.
I use Office 2003 alongside SoftMaker's Textmaker and is totally adequate for me.
I use Visual Studio 2010 for writing my software and it's flawless. On the downside a little is Outlook Express Email not getting pictures or retrieving them on the Email page unless they are attachments and my Browsers Firefox and Chrome are struggling with video playback.
i like Win7, but staying with XP for the time being. Bought a refurbished laptop recently and replaced Win10 with Win7, then another laptop but left Win10 on it only for trialling my software.
Microsoft is not going to drag me along in it's slipstream - stick with what you are comfortable with and only update with service packs. I don't have issues with viruses or hacking and have adequate protection anyway.
Luckily Softmaker Office has native linux edition and FlexiPDF seems to run OK using Wine in linux.
I remember that Softmaker wanted to create a linux version of FlexiPDF but was probably cancelled as I did not get any news and finally decided to try the Windows version via Wine which luckily worked.
What flavor Linux do you suggest. I know I will have to switch some of them.
not a tech ninja by any means, but am one of those pesky journos that likes to spot gaps in almost anything.
Dunno what got me started on Debian, but it may have been reading a director of the Debian board questioning 'unresolved governance issues' or similar. From there, a long walk of shame towards controversies like that of "systemd". Most of which I do not pretend to understand (that's the NotANinja bit) but bits like this I do:
"systemd defaults to Google's DNS nameservers"
A big no-no for privacy concerns.
I'm currently on Q4OS after trying Arch Linux, AntiX, Manjuro, and a few others I can't recall at the moment. Going to try Devuan next, because it is endorsed by www.dyne.org, a well respected open-source lab in Europe, and does not have systemd.
Also good for low-end and old computers: see list of Devuan alternatives derivatives here:
https://devuan.org/os/partners/devuan-distros
Install resolveconf
/etc/resolvconf/resolv.conf.d/tail
add to the end of the file nameserver 8.8.8.8 or whatever nameserver detail you wish to use
this line will be added at the end of /run/resolvconf/resolv.conf
at boot. /etc/resolv.conf will now be a symbolic link to this file.
Another option would be to install unbound and set it to replace systemd-resolved as follows:
sudo systemctl disable systemd-resolved
sudo systemctl stop systemd-resolved
sudo systemctl enable unbound-resolvconf
sudo systemctl enable unbound
reboot
Open as root the file /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf
below [main] put this line:
dns=unbound
reboot again
Second step: If after the reboot the problem is still not solved, start the file manager as root, go to /etc, delete resolv.conf and create a new resolv.conf. Leave it empty and reboot the OS.
In Kubuntu 18.04, as an example,you can't start Dolphin as root, so you can first go to /etc and open the terminal from there, then type sudo su and press Enter to use it as root and then delete resolv.conf with the command rm resolv.conf. Then you can create a new empty file on your desktop, name it resolv.conf and open a terminal from there. Use the sudo su command to enter the root mode for the terminal and then copy the new resolv.conf from your desktop to /etc with the command cp resolv.conf /etc.
2 of my other 4 laptops run Linux Mint Mate 64-bit (12 years old each), while the other 2 laptops run Linux Mint Cinnamon 64-bit (4-5 years old each).
Yes, there are too many Linux distros (distributions) to think about. I have been using Linux for over 20 years and things have changed for the better. Linux Mint serves all of my PC needs, and runs flawlessly.
I would never consider a Mac OS, and Android/Chrome OS is too limited for me.
Linux Mint is super-easy to use if anyone is coming from Windows. Sure, everything takes "getting used to", even Windows in the beginning (remember?). But, Linux Mint has a "no-brainer" learning curve.
Goodbye M$ and all of your devious ways (thieves in the night).
Good luck.
Go Google
Go Linux
Amen
The main stumbling block for new Linux users is they don't understand computers but they do understand Windows (which is just what Microsoft wants). A subtle difference, but enough to make Linux seem too alien and uncomfortable for them.
Zorin is a good choice for new users. Looks like Windows, based on stable UBUNTU. https://zorinos.com/
The real problem neather is the office programs like SoftMaker's Office versions, but the software people payed good money for that is only develloped under Windoze. These softwares most often aren't available for Linux. And that's the biggest problem with switching to Linux.
-they think Linux users won't pay a penny for their work.
-developing for Linux too takes resources, and that's not worth because Linux isn't widely used, so very few will buy the product if any...
So they consider to develop only for Mac/Windows.
SoftMaker is a nice exception. Yet there are Zedonet and BMD, but I don't know more...
So the problem is: Linux is not so widespread on the desktop, because lacking really good paid apps(?), because being not so widespread...
Isn't that a catch22?
Only firms like SoftMaker can change that.
I moved to Linux (Mint) after a forced move to Windows 10. A hardware upgrade and lacking Windows7 drivers forced me to Windows 10. In only one year I had more trouble with it, than XP and Win7 caused me the last 15 years. In march this year I became a full time Linux user, and am very happy.
I honestly can encourage anyone to try Linux, but not to give up on the first distro he/she doesn't like. Just look for a different distro, or different desktop environment. Maybe it's some need to try a dozen before accepting one for everyday use...
I can't stand EndlessOS, but love Linux Mint. Others probably dislike Mint, and vote for Elementary OS, or Ubuntu...
So try, try and try!
Get used to crossplatform apps instead of Windows-only apps.
SoftMaker Office is one of them :)