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Windows 7 and Server 2008 end of support: What will change on 14 January?:
It is remarkable that Windows 7 is reaching end of support on January 14 2020 while maintaining something approaching 27 per cent market share among Windows users, according to Statcounter.
This is down from 35 per cent in December 2018 but still substantial. Windows has a share among desktop users of around 77 per cent, so that is around 20 per cent of active desktop PCs.
"End of support" means no technical support, software updates or security fixes from Microsoft. Of these, the significant piece is the security fixes. Without regular patches, flaws that are discovered in the operating system will put users at greater risk from things like ransomware attacks, perhaps triggered by an email attachment or malicious web link.
Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 also go out of support on the same day. Although it is less likely that users will be browsing the web or clicking attachments on Server 2008, it is still risky if these servers are exposed to the internet – as appears to be the case with Travelex, currently suffering a ransomware attack – or if they are used for remote desktop services.
Another curious feature of this "end of support" is that Microsoft will still be providing security updates for both operating systems, for three further years. So the real end of support date is in 2023. That said, you can only get these "extended security updates", or ESU, in certain ways:
- Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) users get free ESU until January, 2023
- You can purchase Windows 7 ESU by subscription from Microsoft Cloud Solution Providers, which means most IT support companies signed up as authorised Microsoft suppliers.
- Windows 7 ESU is free for a year to customers who subscribe to Windows E5 or Microsoft 365 E5. Details are here
- Only Windows 7 Professional and Enterprise are covered by ESU.
- Windows 7 embedded can be supported through an "Ecosystem Partner Offering" support contract.
- The scenario for Windows Server 2008 ESU is similar to that for Windows 7.
[...] There is a degree of artificiality about this key "end of support" date and ways to keep old stuff patched, but the security risks are real.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 11 2020, @05:16PM (5 children)
If you managed to avoid getting forcibly upgraded to Windows 10 then you've already shown yourself to be a computer expert and thus the majority of issues are nonstarters. The vast majority of security vulnerabilities require some degree of stupidity on the user's part that is, at the minimum, visiting an exploit hosting site - but more generally it involves running a program locally. I expect like most folks I often wonder why I even use a virus scanner when I haven't managed to get one in about 2 decades. Because I don't use my computer like an idiot - and that is the minimum requirement to be running Windows 7 today.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Sunday January 12 2020, @10:49AM
Also, given that the alternative ("among Windows users") is Windows 8 or Windows 10, what's remarkable is that it's only 27%, I would have expected it to be much higher.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 12 2020, @10:54AM
If you're competent you SHOULD NOT be using a real-time virus scanner on your systems. Because AV vendors are more likely to make a mistake and mess up your system.
Basically what are the ways in nowadays? Browsers and running downloaded stuff.
So:
1) Keep your browser sandboxed and up to date
2) For running downloaded stuff (which should be kinda rare), use virustotal to scan stuff and then run/test it in a suitable VM.
You'll still do better than the rest of the sheep running Windows 10.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 12 2020, @05:20PM (2 children)
If you managed to avoid getting forcibly upgraded to Windows 10 then you've already shown yourself to be a computer expert
Most of the ones I have come across there was some driver that was blocking it. Usually something with some USB drive or other. Last one was a wireless usb drive.
Just run the upgrade util (which still works). Pull out any hardware blocking the update. Put in new hardware to replace it. Move on. There just saved you 300 bucks and a pain in the ass 2 years from now.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 12 2020, @07:39PM (1 child)
If and when Microsoft chooses to start making their dev tools (visual studio in particular) Windows 10 only then I'll be headed over to Linux. Running Windows 10 is, in my opinion, just an unacceptable option. It being spyware is already close to a nonstarter, but really puts it over the edge is opaque bundled updates that are surprisingly frequently completely broken. Microsoft's always had some degree of issues with technical competence but they seemed to be getting their stuff together, at least to a relative degree, prior to Windows 10. Now it's like they're partying like it's 1999 again. Seriously feels like they just chose to fire their entire dev team and outsource everything to India on the lowest bid.
All games I play are already mostly Linux compatible, natively or through Proton. Only thing keeping me tied to Windows is Visual Studio. And that attachment has been growing weaker over time since their technical incompetence has also been hitting on the dev tools side, though to a much lesser degree. Just small things like the IDE freezing up or crashing - never used to happen.
(Score: 2) by jasassin on Tuesday January 14 2020, @01:26AM
You are close! This guy explains [youtube.com] why Windows 10 has so many bugs (he worked for MS for 15 years).
jasassin@gmail.com GPG Key ID: 0xE6462C68A9A3DB5A