Last month, Microsoft officially ended its support of Windows 7, a decade-old operating system. The original end-of-support was actually in January 2020, so users squeezed a good extra 20 months out of it. Now it’s officially done.
While most users have long since abandoned Windows 7 in favour of various newer flavours of the Windows OS, there are still many computers running the outdated operating system. Many experts saw Windows 7 as a significant advance over its predecessor, Windows Vista, as well as more reliable than its immediate successor, Windows 8; it received positive reviews on a considerably more consistent basis than any of the others. That reason, combined with many people's and businesses' aversion to replacing a functional system ("if it ain't broke, don't fix it"), has resulted in Windows 7 continuing to run on a substantial number of devices for more than a decade after its initial release.
However, running Windows 7 today can result in many major issues, which you should be aware of.
- Windows 7 systems may suffer from vulnerabilities that will not be fixed.
- Hardware may stop working.
- Newer software packages may create conflicts, incompatibilities, and vulnerabilities.
- Questions may be left unanswered – leading to dangerous mistakes.
- New functionality will not be added.
We've had already encountered the following:
- Creating VPN and VPN connections will fail after some time.
- An upgrade to service pack 1 or 2 is required for some devices, but this will not be the case for long.
- After a certain period, services will cease to function.
- Programming icons began to vanish.
- Every time that problem arose, we had to reinstall the programs.
- The cost of servicing obsolete Windows 7 machines will be prohibitive.
This is what you should do as soon as possible:
- All PCs and laptops in an organisation that has an original Windows 7 license must be upgraded to Windows 10 Professional.
- Alternatively, they must be replaced with new devices that run at least Windows 10 Pro.
If you keep running Windows 7, it’s just a matter of time before your business applications stop working altogether or you experience a security attack. Or both. Either way, you will lose a lot of money.
Contact Salt at contact@salt.na for a discussion about the best, cost-effective solution to keep your business running smoothly and safely. Our people will enable your people.
Author: Ivan Musuuo - Field Engineer @ Salt
