Windows 7 is coming to an end of life support in 2020, more precisely on 14 January 2020,
but what does that mean exactly and what to expect after that date, and even more importantly
what do you need to do? Stick with Windows 7, upgrade to Windows 10, switch over to Linux
or even consider joining Apple’s exclusive club; my answer might surprise you, let's
tech it out?
Hey nametags welcome this is Ash from HealMyTech. On this channel I want to help you develop
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So this is part of an email I received which I will respond to in a future video in more
detail, but the first part of the email is to do with concerns about Windows 7 end of
life support in January 2020.
First let’s break down what it actually means. A lot of this information is available
on Microsoft’s website, but we will try to read between the lines.
End of support doesn’t mean end, Windows 7 will still continue to work but with reduced
features, but that’s for the general public.
In the enterprise sector, it will be up to individual organisations to continue with
Windows 7 or not, and that would depend on the deal they have directly with Microsoft.
Any deployment of Windows 10 upgrade would have already been decided by management at
this stage.
As for embedded devices like ATMs or gas pumps which are running with Windows 7, their life
cycle are usually different to versions of Windows on personal computers.
Here is what's not going to work any more for the general end user.
No more security updates, and your Windows 7 PC will not be protected by Microsoft Security
Essentials (MSE); so yeah your computer might become vulnerable.
Windows 7 updates have been a problem in my experience way back since 2015/2016 coincidentally
when Windows 10 was being offered as a free upgrade. I remember spending quite a few week
ends trying to fix Windows 7 updates for clients computers, but in the end I gave in to Windows
10, it just wasn’t worth the time.
However security on a Windows PC isn’t just about updates and antivirus software, but
rather a common sense and good administration, so if you were using your pc irresponsibly
in the first place, you probably wont see a difference much.
Microsoft customer service will no longer be available to provide Windows 7 technical
support. If you are anything like me, I’ve never actually benefited from their support,
so I don’t see how that would change now.
Related services for Windows 7 will also be discontinued over time, for eg certain games
such as Internet Backgammon and Internet Checkers as well as Electronic Program Guide for Windows
Media Center are scheduled to be discontinued in January 2020.
Support for Internet Explorer on a Windows 7 device will also be discontinued. The only
reason I ever used Internet Explorer on a Windows 7 machine was to go download Google
Chrome or Mozilla Firefox, and sometimes I didn’t even do that if I had the installation
app on a pen drive.
There will no driver updates or support or even existence of drivers for some newer devices
that you may want to connect to you PC. Then again this isn’t anything new, since Windows
10’s infiltration, manufacturers have not really been maintaining drivers for Windows
7 as much.
What will continue to work
You can still install and activate Windows 7 after 14 January 2020, in theory.
You can still install all other applications like Google Chrome, VLC media player and others
but don’t expect a flawless experience as time goes by.
Microsoft Office will still work depending on the version you are using.
As for gaming, Microsoft brought DirectX 12 support to Windows 7 in August 2019, 6 months
before its end of support, against first common logic. So I’m guessing game coders will
still be supporting Windows 7 for a while, if its anything like Windows XP as it may
take a while before users of Windows 7 completely dissipate
Talking about Windows XP, here’s history repeating itself, well sort of. This is close
to my heart as it was thanks to mainstream axing of Windows XP which brought me into
the tech world, and more precisely introducing me to Linux.
So the big question, what do you do? Stick with Windows 7, upgrade to Windows 10, or
try another OS like Linux or MacOS, my answer might surprise you.
The first big difference to Windows XP end of support situation is to still being able
to upgrade to Windows 10 for free, despite what Microsoft says on their website. We didn’t
get this offer with Windows 7, you had to buy the license or go with piracy. Although
Windows 10 free upgrade officially ended in June 2016, you can still upgrade for free
as long as you have a valid Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 license key. I have done 2 in the last
week; video tutorial anyone?
The more important question is, should you upgrade to Windows 10? The answer is, if you
want to stick with Windows platform, then yes, unfortunately, but only if you want to
stick with Windows. But do not pay for full price license, that’s madness, you can still
get a free upgrade, or get it cheap on Ebay and the likes, shop with caution.
Next question, can you upgrade your existing old pc which shipped with Windows 7 to windows
10, the answer is it entirely depends on your hardware. There is no telling which hardware
will still work, specially for drivers. If you have a 10 year old desktop or laptop,
especially if it still has a traditional hard drive and 2GB of RAM, do not upgrade to Windows
10. Do yourself a favour, put Linux on there, or upgrade the hardware first before you upgrade
the OS if it is financially viable. At the very minimum an SSD upgrade for the OS, there
is no excuse unless if you are so poor you have no money for food and shelter, in which
case you got bigger problems in life.
What about a more recent one like a 5 year old computer? Then its worth upgrading. My
previous main computer the AMD FX8350 was built 5 years ago and it happily ran Windows
10 since 2016 without ever requiring a wipe and reload. Its still here and I am using
it as a secondary PC and test PC, future videos will include comparison video editing and
gaming tutorials. However, do this Windows 10 upgrade with caution. Backup all your personal
data before you do an upgrade or fresh install, and If you can, create a disk image of your
Windows 7 system and keep separate. Do not blindly trust Windows automatic in house upgrade
or restore back to Windows 7 feature!
What about MacOS? Well if you have money to throw away and join the all exclusive Apple
club eco system, why are you watching this video? Do I hate Apple? Hmm, good question,
video topic to be covered!
Because you should know by now we like to encourage people to try Linux on this channel.
Especially if you all you do is browsing, there is not reason to stay on Windows if
you are a general user.
Unlike the average person, I am blessed to be able to use any Operating system I wish,
as I have access to more than 1 machine at any given time. So right now, I have dual
boot with Windows 10 and Linux Mint on most machines, some of them on separate drives,
and some on the same drive which I do not recommend for beginners, and even a triple
boot OS with MacOS on my main current computer in the One Pc To Rule Them
All challenge.
This is not to gloat but to say that it is really difficult for me to give you advice
on what to do as I have options and you may not. Luckily for you though, I was in your
shoes when Windows XP was being axed as a complete tech noob, so I can pull from that
experience.
Final thoughts. If you only have one machine, and limited funding, right now install a virtual
machine like Oracle Virtual Box, and test a few different OS including Windows 10 and
Linux. If you do not know how to do this, I will gladly do a tutorial if you request
below.
Even better, you can get a pen drive and create a Linux Installation Drive, video up here,
and live test a Linux distribution of your choice.
If you can afford a backup drive, you should be backing up anyway, create a system image
and backup you data, and test Windows 10 or Linux on there, not as dual boot on the same
drive though.
If you can afford a second computer, even better, use the older one for Linux and the
newer one for Windows 10.
And if you do have access to funding and hardware, time to build that PC and start experimenting,
watch the whole series up here,
And also watch this one if you are struggling with any PC hardware troubleshooting issues.
Consider subscribing, and click the bell icon, and use my amazon affiliate links, and I will
see you in the next one, peace out!