Win7 extended support ending soon - any options?

Chevy-SS

Chevy-SS

Limp Gawd
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Feb 5, 2007
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As everyone here knows, extended support for Win7 ends January 14, 2020.

I'm running Win7 on three computers (and Win10 on one) and Win7 works just fine, I have no desire to go through the hassle of 'upgrade', mainly because I will lose valuable (paid for) software rights.

Is there any way to get continued support for Win7, even if it's from a private vendor??

Thanks very much......................... ;)
 
why would you lose your software rights?
You can get support from Microsoft after that date, its expensive though
 
What?
I'm running XP on my laptop still, without updates for years. It works just fine.

I last updated 7 a year or two ago.. again.. it's fine.
Who cares what M$ does to try coerce you to win10.. don't fall for it. Updates are overrated if you have at least basic security external...
 
dbwillis said:
why would you lose your software rights?
You can get support from Microsoft after that date, its expensive though
Click to expand...


Well, for instance, I have the full Adobe suite that cost me over a thousand dollars about 7 years ago. I'm 99% certain that it's not transferable. The only way I could continue to get it is by paying their monthly fee, they no longer sell the package outright. So just that alone is enough to make me want to stay with Win7.

Plus Win7 works just fine. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

Thanks
 
N4CR said:
What?
I'm running XP on my laptop still, without updates for years. It works just fine.

I last updated 7 a year or two ago.. again.. it's fine.
Who cares what M$ does to try coerce you to win10.. don't fall for it. Updates are overrated if you have at least basic security external...
Click to expand...


Yes, I'm prepared to take this approach if necessary, thanks! :)
 
Just get a good AV and Malwarebytes and you should be good to go. I'm sure their will be places where you can get the updates, just like the XP hack that allowed you to get updates. In fact, I just built a XP retro gaming rig for my 62 year old brother. After installation, I applied the hack and got updates. This site "may" have future updates for both 7 and 8: https://www.askwoody.com/forums/top...-of-group-b-monthly-updates-for-win7-and-8-1/
 
Chevy-SS said:
Well, for instance, I have the full Adobe suite that cost me over a thousand dollars about 7 years ago. I'm 99% certain that it's not transferable. The only way I could continue to get it is by paying their monthly fee, they no longer sell the package outright. So just that alone is enough to make me want to stay with Win7.

Plus Win7 works just fine. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

Thanks
Click to expand...
Then why does this topic exist? This is what updates and "support" is. You don't need the support, nor do any of the end users worried that the sky is falling. Your Win7 is no less secure now than it was 3 years ago and will be no less secure 3 years in the future. What this "support" does at this point in time is give MS more chances to break a working OS, and it's even worse with Win10.

I turned off Windows updates after Win7 SP1. Haven't had a single problem since. For home use this works fine as long as you have some common sense like a secure browser, not opening email attachments, not getting warez from questionable 'sites (or anywhere for that matter unless you know what you're doing with a sandbox), using a router rather than having the box directly connected to the internet through a modem (-only, device).

It's also a great idea to have a full OS partition backup. You craft the OS environment to your liking over time and should be able to restore that in a few minutes whether it be due to an OS update, malware, HDD or SSD failure, etc.

One thing is clear, MS isn't going to provide more feature support with Win7 updates, so the eventual reason to switch is to get features you need but are lacking in Win7. That is usually something like newer software support, newer hardware/driver support, or a newer DX version for gaming. There are the minor things too like faster USB3 UASP support that Win7 doesn't natively support. Make a list and weigh the pros and cons but I don't feel that MS "support" should be on the list at all except as a negative, as a way for them to break something.
 
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Depends on how much you value security. If you don’t care, just keep running 7. It’s going to still work just fine. If you are concerned about vulnerabilities, you will want to upgrade to 10 or look at other options like OSX or Linux. Most of the items patched in security updates don’t have anything to do with your browsing or antivirus, so please at least educate yourself about the risks of not patching. At the end of the day it’s your computer and your data though, so it’s up to you want you want to do.
 
Executioner said:
Just get a good AV and Malwarebytes and you should be good to go. I'm sure their will be places where you can get the updates, just like the XP hack that allowed you to get updates. In fact, I just built a XP retro gaming rig for my 62 year old brother. After installation, I applied the hack and got updates. This site "may" have future updates for both 7 and 8: https://www.askwoody.com/forums/top...-of-group-b-monthly-updates-for-win7-and-8-1/
Click to expand...
You may get 'updates' but they are at least 7 years old and your XP box is still unpatched for all the several dozens of 0-day exploits that came after that. Your only luck is that most likely the amount of automated attacks targeting XP is diminishing because nobody (except a few banks and POS systems perhaps) uses it anymore.

Just this year several 20-year old exploits have been published and they affect all versions of Windows from that time period.
 
AltTabbins said:
Depends on how much you value security. If you don’t care, just keep running 7. It’s going to still work just fine. If you are concerned about vulnerabilities, you will want to upgrade to 10 or look at other options like OSX or Linux. Most of the items patched in security updates don’t have anything to do with your browsing or antivirus, so please at least educate yourself about the risks of not patching. At the end of the day it’s your computer and your data though, so it’s up to you want you want to do.
Click to expand...
I would recommend to keep full off-site offline backups of all the valuable data for everyone but especially for someone running an old Windows. All it takes is one ransomware attack and your computer and your backups are bricked. And attacking an unpatched box with known unpatched exploits is like handing the attacker your username and password.
 
As much as I prefer Win7 Ultimate over Win10 Pro I finally swapped when I got my Ryzen 2600x, mobo and RAM as an upgrade from my Q6600 system. Between all support ending and a distinct lack of updates and basic support for my platform and CPU features I had no real choice in order to get full performance from my upgrade. At least in regards to the things I still need to do in Windows. I run a dual boot system of Win10 and Manjaro but due to some of my still ancient hardware I moved over from my old system some things are still better under Windows such as gaming. Had I been able to afford a GPU upgrade I probably would have gone almost exclusive with Linux.

Your only real options are stick with Win7 without anymore bug fixes or exploit patches, go to Win10 and suffer along with many others or swap to Linux if it's possible to do so with the software you need to run. Just remember that the next time you upgrade with new hardware you'll probably have to abandon Win7 anyway. MS effectively forced an abandonment of support for newer hardware on Win7 a while back and that's not going to change.
 
AltTabbins said:
Depends on how much you value security. If you don’t care, just keep running 7. It’s going to still work just fine. If you are concerned about vulnerabilities, you will want to upgrade to 10 or look at other options like OSX or Linux. Most of the items patched in security updates don’t have anything to do with your browsing or antivirus, so please at least educate yourself about the risks of not patching. At the end of the day it’s your computer and your data though, so it’s up to you want you want to do.
Click to expand...
That's just it, that it has little to do with security for a home user except that new code in Win10 has NEW vulnerabilities.

The risks are primarily due to the user and environment. A corporate environment where any random stranger or disgruntled employee might attack their employer, sure, that's its own set of vulnerabilities.

I very much value my data more than anyone who wants to run the experiment that is Win10. This is always true of a professional environment, that you don't upgrade to the newest OS until all the major bugs are patched. Just in the last few months, Win10 has seen large #'s of people pretending they are doing the right thing by staying updated, yet having:

- Boot failures
- Printing failures
- Search and Start Menu Bugs
- USB and Audio Problems
- Excessive CPU Utilization
- Internet Connection Lost
- Black Screens
- Blue Screens

It's not a secure OS if you have it downloading code (aka windows updates) that can do the above things. People who run Win10 and let it do updates, have less security in a home environment, and care less about data because they put on blinders and drink the cool-aid instead of educating themselves about what the real risks are in a home environment.

Similarly, some day Win10 will be mature enough that it is the best OS to run if you turn off windows updates, say around the time Win12 is released. ;)
 
J.C. said:
That's just it, that it has little to do with security for a home user except that new code in Win10 has NEW vulnerabilities.
Click to expand...

Thats the thing though, they are actively patched. Vulnerabilities are a regular thing for any computer user. OSX, Windows, Linux.. everything is vulnerable. The thing about supported operating systems is that they are at least being patched as they come up. Windows XP has issues that will never be patched. Windows 7 will have new vulnerabilities that will be discovered and never patched. Supported operating systems at least get a fix eventually.

I very much value my data more than anyone who wants to run the experiment that is Win10. This is always true of a professional environment, that you don't upgrade to the newest OS until all the major bugs are patched. Just in the last few months, Win10 has seen large #'s of people pretending they are doing the right thing by staying updated, yet having:

- Boot failures
- Printing failures
- Search and Start Menu Bugs
- USB and Audio Problems
- Excessive CPU Utilization
- Internet Connection Lost
- Black Screens
- Blue Screens
Click to expand...

I think you are getting security vulnerabilities and system instability mixed up. None of those are issues with security, they are bugs/problems with the operating system and its hardware. Having a bluescreen of death pop up is a completely different thing than a hole that allows for remote control of your computer due to an upatched vulnerability. Printing failures is nowhere near the same level of concern as unpatched vulnerabilities that allow the system to be key-logged or used in a botnet.


Similarly, some day Win10 will be mature enough that it is the best OS to run if you turn off windows updates, say around the time Win12 is released.
Click to expand...

Well, considering Microsoft stated that Windows 10 will be the last "version" of Windows, thats going to be a while.
 
Just remember folks, as long as you don't encrypt your hard drive you never have to worry about Windows not starting. You can always boot up an alternative OS and continue to use your computer and/or rescue your data and then reinstall.
 
Chevy-SS said:
Well, for instance, I have the full Adobe suite that cost me over a thousand dollars about 7 years ago. I'm 99% certain that it's not transferable.
Click to expand...
At work we used to move legacy serialed Adobe stuff from one machine to another without difficulty.

Chevy-SS said:
Plus Win7 works just fine. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!
Click to expand...
I think genuinely believing if you upgrade your OS or have a storage failure, your Adobe products will no longer be licensed and forever forbidden from your use, indicates something that should be fixed before it breaks.
 
With XP there was a reg hack that let you get Windows XP Embedded security updates until like earlier this year when it finally went EoL.There may eventually be something like that for 7.
 
bigdogchris said:
With XP there was a reg hack that let you get Windows XP Embedded security updates until like earlier this year when it finally went EoL.There may eventually be something like that for 7.
Click to expand...

Yeah man, I used that XP hack for a long time, it worked great. I started this thread hoping that something similar existed for Win7, figuring that one of you computer Gods here would know.... :rolleyes:
 
I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft gives a little on the EOL date. At least for severe exploits. Even years after XP was deemed dead, buried and forgotten, they still occasionally issue an XP patch for really nasty stuff. And for the last several years, a high percentage of Win 7 patches were for issues with IE.

Get a real firewall appliance and limit the access your Win 7 (especally the one with the Adobe setup) have to the Internet. Default block all rules for both in and out. Only allow stuff that is really needed. Several of the recent OMG zero day exploits were only an issue if you allowed remote desktop access to/from the PC.

Get a cheap Win 10 box for Internet access and general usage. If it gets infected or a Win 10 update kills it, nothing much lost with a scrape and install.
 
Dead Parrot said:
I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft gives a little on the EOL date. At least for severe exploits. Even years after XP was deemed dead, buried and forgotten, they still occasionally issue an XP patch for really nasty stuff. And for the last several years, a high percentage of Win 7 patches were for issues with IE.

Get a real firewall appliance and limit the access your Win 7 (especally the one with the Adobe setup) have to the Internet. Default block all rules for both in and out. Only allow stuff that is really needed. Several of the recent OMG zero day exploits were only an issue if you allowed remote desktop access to/from the PC.

Get a cheap Win 10 box for Internet access and general usage. If it gets infected or a Win 10 update kills it, nothing much lost with a scrape and install.
Click to expand...

The problem was that software simply stopped being supported for XP, Chrome hasn't been supported under XP for years and I'm sure there's more software than just Chrome that no longer works under XP.

Bite the bullet and run Windows 10 or get used to an alternative, running an outdated and unsupported OS out of what is effectively spite is fairly pointless and dangerous.
 
Can't you just contact those software vendors to verify for sure if you can transfer the software to Win 10?

If you cannot, why not use dual boot? Leave win 7 for only those times when you have to use the software that can't be transferred, and boot into Win 10 for all other use cases.
 
Mazzspeed said:
Bite the bullet and run Windows 10 or get used to an alternative, running an outdated and unsupported OS out of what is effectively spite is fairly pointless and dangerous.
Click to expand...

This becomes even more problematic when you factor in all the CPU vulns out there. Newer versions of browsers have some of the mitigations built in. Running XP these days is just plain strange. Out of spite indeed :D
 
Stanley Pain said:
This becomes even more problematic when you factor in all the CPU vulns out there. Newer versions of browsers have some of the mitigations built in. Running XP these days is just plain strange. Out of spite indeed :D
Click to expand...
Most people really don't need Windows at all anymore. They just need someone to set up linux for them. It's easy to dual boot windows/linux so you can use linux online and to do your imporatant stuff and then continue to use any legacy stuff with a Win7 that is best blocked from the internet.
 
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