Do I really have to stop using Windows 7?

[serendipitydawg]

I am quite comfortable using W7. I don't do internet banking. My anti-virus, presumably, isn't going to magically stop working. Can't I just hide behind a VPN & carry on, regardless?

 

Educate me please

[PeterSt]

What would force you to stop using W7, you think ?

I mean, if you seek hide behind a VPN ... why would you do that in the first place ?

[serendipitydawg]

3 minutes ago, PeterSt said:

What would force you to stop using W7, you think ?

I mean, if you seek hide behind a VPN ... why would you do that in the first place ?

 

The imminent end of support for W7. I only mentioned VPN because I thought it would hide my IP address

[PeterSt]

5 minutes ago, serendipitydawg said:

I only mentioned VPN because I thought it would hide my IP address

 

Well, it would. It would on W10 just the same. But unrelated, I guess.

 

If this is nothing about banking programs cutting you out (and you just told that you don't use that), I don't see the need. But this could be personal. I mean, I am quite self supporting, and e.g. anti-virus I don't use anyway (but as you said, that will keep on running).

 

It depends ...

 

I just upgraded the PC I am typing this post with from W7 32 bits to W10 64 bits. I did this after way too many years because literal upgrading from 32 bits to 64 bits is not possible and thus all has to be set up again from scratch. This is a total-pain and in throughput time after a month I am still working on it (but almost finished now). I knew this, and this is why it took me so long.

But the longer you wait, the worse it may get.

 

For our software we support W10 since the 10074 almost "alpha" build (this is worse than beta). Throughout the W10 years we mostly followed the upgrade path of W10. I thus quite well know what W10 is about. But, this is pure audio playback related and for normal daily home or work usage I always advised not to do it. This idea changed maybe 6 months ago. This is how I finally turned this PC into a W10 PC as well.

I can't be happier.

 

If you talk about a PC which plays audio, I would have done it 4 years ago. W10 sounds quite infinitely better than W7.  IOW there shouldn't be a single doubt in that case. For home usage or work usage, by now it is just all over better. With some tweaking you can postpone the updates or even cancel them (this is not official), but say it is merely about the (by now) smoothness of everything. Better support from all angles (support of the OS to the programs used).

 

I can try to write a book about it, but I better just say that you should do it. Even if it takes massive time I would consider it. But if it can go by means of automatic upgrading, I say a no-brainer.

 

Peter

[PeterSt]

Btw, the other answer would be: Just leave your W7 be, as I don't see why not. My general development machine for the playback software and a lot more, is W7. And as long as it is 64 bits (which it is), this is fine. But I *am* aware of the fact that in the future I could run into unsupported development tools. As long as I am not bothered with that, there is no single reason that I can see to not let that be as it is.

 

That PC does not do email or other outside communication. This could matter.

 

Talking about that ... changing of email client is what you may face with the change from W7 to W10. This usually is a pain within itself. If you make use of a cloud email client then this is obviously no issue.

[bluesman]

6 hours ago, serendipitydawg said:

I am quite comfortable using W7. I don't do internet banking. My anti-virus, presumably, isn't going to magically stop working.

 

No, it's not - but no AV can block new malware that's using a novel mechanism or isn't yet in its database.  So the only way I'd use an OS that's no longer receiving security patches and updates is if it's kept offline permanently.  As long as you're fine doing what you're doing with your system exactly the way it is,  you can continue forever or until an application fails and you can't restore it or replace it with something similar that will run on 7. 

 

If you really want to do this, clone your HD yesterday.  Assuming you have an archive of the OEM OS, you can reinstall 7 if / when the BSOD appears.  If you don't have a bootable backup, you're finished if your OS goes down and you can't resuscitate it.

[esldude]

I suppose my question is why not move on to Windows 10?  Is your machine too old to run it well?  Okay I get that.  I'd not switch to Win10 unless I was running it on an SSD.  At least upgrade to Win 8.  Win 8 was less resource intensive than Win 7. 

 

If you don't have too many compelling reasons, make the switch.  Even buy some newer computer gear.  Windows 7 is 10 years old.  You have to expect some upgrading in the computer world at least every decade.   I'd say you are better off doing it at least every 5 years so the change isn't so dramatic. 

[bobfa]

I would answer YES.  If the machine is NEVER connected to any network then less of an issue.  What can (and will ) happen is that eventually, someone will write malware that attacks the windows 7 machines and does nasty things to them and other machines around them.  Windows XP is a poster child for that problem, and it is still being used.  

You have quite a while yet,  January of next year.

 

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsforbusiness/end-of-windows-7-support

 

 

I have found that a lot of older Win 7 machines do not perform well with win10.  Make note of what you do on the machine.  What applications you are running, what data you have there.  Get that all backed up and keep it backed up!  

 

Now think of the current use cases and the future use cases and look at what else is out there for you to choose from.  Do you really need a Windows computer?  There are a lot of choices for computing these days.  You could just boot Ubuntu Linux for example, a zero $ option with a few user learning bumps.  

 

There are a lot more options but they all depend upon your use case.

 

 

[rvb]

Windows 7 will keep running, only no updates. I see this positive. My 2 w7 pc's have a hard time with the updates lol.

[bluesman]

1 hour ago, rvb said:

Windows 7 will keep running, only no updates. I see this positive. My 2 w7 pc's have a hard time with the updates lol.

 

That's fine as long as the machine is not connected to the outside world.  Those updates include many security patches that protect against new malware and other exploits, of which there is no shortage and no end.  So pull that ethernet plug and turn off WiFi if you're going to keep running 7.

[rando]

A few things not mentioned.

 

Intel 2nd gen "i" processors or older are not prone to the current scary microcode attacks like SPECTRE. They are also an example of Moore's law not holding true anymore. The recent introduction of mainstream 6 core or higher processors left a sizable time gap in hardware producing notable improvements.  This is maybe semi-related to your decision.

 

Instead of worrying about replacing W7 you might give more attention to refining it and storing a disc image.  Windows updates have always been a quagmire.  If anything more so after W10 was announced.  Forced upgrades and many other changes installed should be a consideration if not leaving the OS.  There are sites that store a repository of legacy updates etc you could harvest for a best possible copy to go forwards with.

 

W10 was actually designed to be more compact and efficient than W7.  To run on older equipment with less RAM and slower processor speeds.  Single language 32 bit version is quite usable on some rather unlikely legacy computers that struggled with Vista much less W7 netbook edition.  As noted above, this brings some long overdue improvements these machines were capable of handling in their time.

 

 

[gmgraves]

On 5/30/2019 at 1:05 AM, serendipitydawg said:

I am quite comfortable using W7. I don't do internet banking. My anti-virus, presumably, isn't going to magically stop working. Can't I just hide behind a VPN & carry on, regardless?

 

Educate me please

A friend of mine asked me the same question. No, you do not have to stop using W7 just because Microsoft is dropping support for it. Your apps will still run the computer will still send and receive e-mail, and you will still be able to browse the internet and post to Audiophile Style.

What MS means when they say that they are dropping support for W7, is simply that they no longer require that their developers maintain backward compatibility with software, and that future releases can have features that won’t work in W7 or the newer apps might not run at all under W7 because they no longer are required to do so (but the latter is unlikely for some time to come). It also could mean that MS will no longer help users running W7 except to tell them to upgrade to W10.

[sdertu]

4 hours ago, rvb said:

My 2 w7 pc's have a hard time with the updates lol.

My two computers are Windows 7 and Windows 10.

[gmgraves]

4 hours ago, sdertu said:

My two computers are Windows 7 and Windows 10.

I forgot to mention that with the withdrawal of support, MS is also saying that there probably won't be any more W7 OS upgrades or updates.