Microsoft is Finally Done With Windows 7 and 8.1
Microsoft Is Finally Done With Windows 7 and 8.1:
Windows 7 has had a long life, and even though Windows 8 and 8.1 were less popular, there are still many people who haven't updated to Windows 10 or 11. Microsoft is now saying goodbye to both 7 and 8.1.
[...] Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 were all significant milestones for Microsoft, and the entire PC industry. Windows 7 fixed many of the rough edges that kept PC buyers away from Vista. Windows 8 was a radical departure towards a tablet-friendly design that not everyone was happy with — including some people here at How-To Geek. Microsoft followed it up with 8.1, which re-introduced some desktop elements and fixed a few issues, and later fully merged the two design principles with Windows 10. The varying problems meant many people simply stayed on earlier versions — StatCounter reports that 11% of PCs worldwide are still on Windows 7, while 2.59% are on 8.1.
If you're still using Windows 7 or 8.1, you should really upgrade to Windows 10, or Windows 11 if that's even an option. Switching to Linux may be an alternative, though many modern distributions will struggle on most Windows 7-era hardware. Debian still supports 32-bit x86 PCs, among other distros.
Sorry, Microsoft Has Finally Stopped Support for Windows 7, 8, and 8.1
Poor, beleaguered Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 are now officially strolling the Elysian Fields of dead operating systems as Microsoft that the end of its support for them finally arrived on Tuesday. [Jan. 11]
[...] Of course, both operating systems will still run on computers, but a lack of software patches does open up plenty of vulnerabilities. The last patch Windows 7 received for ESU customers was back in December.
[...] In the meantime, adoption of Windows 11 has been pretty slow for Microsoft's tastes. Analytics firm Statcounter reported at the tail end of last year that the latest OS accounts for just under 17% of Windows market share. It barely beat out Windows 7, which claimed 11%. Last year, the company included a host of new features for the OS, including new accessibility and security features, but that still hasn't made enough of a case for the 68% of Windows 10 users to finally make the switch.
(Score: 5, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Saturday January 14, @08:17AM (5 children)
That's simply nonsense. It has been noted in many places that Linux is less demanding of older hardware than any Microsoft product. Most definitely, if you have a machine that Win10 or Win11 doesn't want to install on, give Linux a try. If it ran Win7, it will almost certainly run a Linux distro. If it ran WinXP, I'll still give better than even odds that it will run almost any Linux distro available. Go ahead, throw the heaviest, most bloated Linux desktop environment at it, and see what happens. (TBH, I'm not sure what DE that would be - maybe KDE?)
If your computer actually balks at a "heavy" DE, then check out the lightweight competition.
https://www.tecmint.com/lightweight-linux-desktop-environments/ [tecmint.com]
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Saturday January 14, @08:43AM (1 child)
FUDD = Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt, D???
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 5, Touché) by WizardFusion on Saturday January 14, @08:43AM
Dishonesty
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Saturday January 14, @01:06PM
And if you run something like i3, it will breeze along.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by corey on Saturday January 14, @11:01PM
Ahh you beat me to it. This howtogeek website has lost some cred in my opinion now. Call themselves geeks but then say MS mouthpiece crud like that? It’s exactly FUDD.
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Sunday January 15, @01:06AM
I only acquired a PC that ran Windows XP when my Windows 98 PC bit the dust. I only acquired a PC running Windows 7 when my PC running Windows XP (XP2, never did go to XP3) died. I use Linux for every day use, my Windows PC's for the past 19(?) years have not been allowed to connect to the internet. I only use it now for a few legacy programs, the number of which continually shrinks. If the Windows 7 PC ever dies, well, that will be the last time I use Windows at home.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by sigterm on Saturday January 14, @11:54AM (2 children)
Translation: Microsoft's operating systems are so buggy that even after 10 years of security updates, there's probably still plenty of vulnerabilities left to be discovered.
Translation: You may not like the Windows 10/11 UI, or the fact that both are significantly slower than Windows 7, or the fact that both send massive amounts of telemetry back to Microsoft, or the fact that Microsoft insists on pushing ads in your face via the Start Menu(!), or the fact that Microsoft wants to force everybody into using a "Microsoft Account," but Microsoft isn't going to give you a choice in this matter.
Either continue using a buggy, unsupported OS, or switch to a buggy, slower, supported OS that's really an advertising platform.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Saturday January 14, @02:57PM
>Translation: Microsoft's operating systems are so buggy that even after 10 years of security updates, there's probably still plenty of vulnerabilities left to be discovered.
Translation: whack-a-mole maintenance is a bad approach, except for job security.
I can honestly say: I have zero impact from these EOLs, personally, professionally, Atlas yawned.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Saturday January 14, @08:59PM
I have an old Windows 7 laptop. I'm not the least worried about its security, I've disabled networking and move files with a thumb drive. I wish its DVD and headphone jack still worked...
Carbon, The only element in the known universe to ever gain sentience
(Score: 4, Informative) by turgid on Saturday January 14, @12:04PM
Slackware still comes with a 32-bit x86 build [slackware.com] (and no systemd). If you know how to partition a disk, you should be able to install it. I have some 20+ year old 32-bit hardware lying around running Linux. My K6-2/500 (from 1999) wouldn't boot Slackware 15.0 though. The kernel is compiled for i686 nowadays, which has the cmov instruction. The K6-2 doesn't have it. I think I got Gentoo running on it.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 4, Touché) by jb on Sunday January 15, @03:15AM
Now if the headline had ended after "Windows" (without limiting the axe to fall only on version 7 and 8.1), that would have been good news.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 15, @05:46AM (1 child)
If I never run IE, how much should I worry? I disabled Windows Update way, way back when the whole GWX thing started, so I'm still on 8.1, un-patched and nothing has happened. Check the firewall settings, keep FireFox up to date, never run IE. Am I just lucky?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 15, @12:43PM
Similar approach here, turned off updates in Win 7 years ago, I guess I'm also lucky(grin).
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Monday January 16, @05:15PM
Server 2008R2 (Win 7 server) is set to stop receiving security updates in 2024. I genuinely have to ask if this is long enough. It feels like forever for consumer hardware but industrial equipment can have lifetimes of decades. It looks like Microsoft does not have a long-life version of their OS, and given their size it is a bit disappointing.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by hendrikboom on Tuesday January 17, @07:33PM
I recently acquired a Windows 7 (or maybe 8) computer that someone else was no longer using.
(No, I'm not likely to switch it to Linux; I already have Devuan Linux on my three daily-use machines, and don't need yet another. I've been using Linux for about 25 years now.)
I was hoping to use this machine to play occasional games, including some that phone home for copy protection. And to test if any of the software I write could actually run on Windows.
Is it safe to actually do this now? If so, how?
Do I need to shut off automatic Windows updates? How?
Is there an easy way to tell if I've got a 32-bit machine or a 64-bit one?
If necessary, is there any likelihood that I could actually move this thing to Windows 10?
I haven't used Windows in a decade and a half, and am a complete newbie in this domain. Can anyone advise?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 18, @02:39PM
If you're still using Windows 7 or 8.1, you should really downgrade to Windows 10, or Windows 11 if that's even an option