Security support for Windows 7 is ending January 14, 2020.

[Mr_Pea]

After 10 years, support for Windows 7 is coming to an end. The two best things you can do to prepare for the transition are, back up your files, and then get ready for what’s next. We have tools to help you with both.


Is this an issue ? Not looking to upgrade, any advice ?

 

[Geoff_S]

Well, I was Windows 7 back in the day, bypassed Windows 8 and went straight to Windows 10. Mind you, that took over 48 hours to upgrade! I thought it was stuck and it was just as well I had a hissy fit, stomped out, but forgot to unplug the laptop. Came back 2 days later and it was just finishing! It worked just fine for a few years until the laptop died, so I went out and bought a new laptop, obviously more powerful than my very old one, but Windows 10 on it? Just fine.

So, if I was going to do it again, just my personal opinion, I would go Windows 10 ready loaded on a new, up to date machine.

But as you're not intending to upgrade, just keep your data backed up as you suggest. But ready yourself for what could be inevitable :wink:

 

[Nelsun]

The main motivator is that, as new exploits are found by ne'er-do-wells, Windows 7 machines will be vulnerable as they won't receive any fixes from the mothership.

There have been some doozies that could be spread without someone doing much of anything they shouldn't... but they are rare and have been plugged. In theory you should be fine with common sense approaches to how you use the internet. But you'll never be 100% certain of that as there's always the chance of someone somewhere finding something they can use to ruin your day / week / year. That's the scare story Microsoft use to get you on to their all knowing new OS and PC manufacturers use to get you to buy something shiny and new from them.

Last time I looked a Windows 10 Home Edition license was ~£120. There's little point buying one of those for an aging machine when a modern laptop can be had for another £300 to £400.

 

[sunnybob]

Dont panic captain manwaring!
My now almost 12 year old laptop running vista is just now starting to have problems, and I suspect most of that is due to me not knowing enough to spring clean the damn thing. :roll:
It has run for literally thousands of hours without support from microsoft or even chrome.
I only dumped my 20 year old tower running XP because i just did not use it.

 

[Mr_Pea]

Thanks you've talked me out of doing nothing.

Had a look on a certain auction site and found windows 10 very cheaply, seems a bit fishy but some have sold thousands of copies so must be legit ?

Also mentioned above, buy a new machine with windows 10, never liked laptops but plenty of refurbed machines for under £100 online.

Will have to do some research into what windows 10 needs to run well and then decide new machine or just new software.

Thanks again.

 

[whatknot]

In a nutshell, Windows 10 is a better operating system but you do need more memory than under W7

I upgraded to W10 when it was free two or three years ago, I was reluctant to do so having got used to W7 over a long period, but was glad I did

I gather W10 can still be had for nothing but have no links for same, its just from a conversation in a mailing list this week

As has been said, it may well be a better bet to get a preloaded W10 on another machine

Laptops are a different animal to years ago, I wouldn't worry if thats what was on offer

Although the minimum RAM required for W10 is 1gb or 2gb (32 bit or 64 bit) personally I would say that 8gb RAM is preferable