To ask for an idiot guide to how to deal with Microsoft end of support for Windows 7 today

[Mammajay]

I just heard that Microsoft end support for Windows 7 today. We have one laptop, 7-8 years old, which we use for e online banking and emails but not much else ( no games,films). It says on Microsoft that from today it is not safe to use windows 7 for banking or emails. It says £120 to buy windows 10 but not recommended to put 10 on to older computers. It recommends buying a new laptop. So, is it safe to go online at all? Is it unsafe right now or will there be a lap over time? Is it safe just to check online banking? The lack of any notice and this expense straight after Christmas is very annoying!

Normally, desktops are commercially written off after 3 years, laptops 4. Bleeding edge machines may give you an extra year or more on top of that, but not that much more....

At home it's different, and for a desktop, if you can use a screwdriver and aren't scared of technology you can upgrade most of it, our desktop is a bit Trigger's broom. We've had it for a lot longer than three years but much of it has been replaced. Our laptop was upgraded as well while it made economic sense to do so - SSD, more memory - once it didn't I bought a new one.

From an environmental point of view it's better to keep what you have working for as long as possible. I also just like having a go fixing things and taking things apart. If they work better afterwards, it's a bonus

I can't believe that anyone thinks this is ok. We should be working towards a circular economy and ensuring appliances have a sensible lifespan.

Technology evolves so quickly, though, and to Microsofts credit, they've warned about this for years and years now. They offered free upgrades to Windows 10 for people that wanted it, too. So it's not like they were forcing people to spend more money on new OS's.

XP went out of date around 15 years ago. If people have something that has lasted that long then I think they've done pretty well out of it, tbh.

From an environmental point of view it's better to keep what you have working for as long as possible.

For the PP concerned about the environment ... well use Linux then. Comes free and can happily run a 15 year old machine with no need for any new RAM or hardware.

Anyone complaining about computer lifespan, see Moore's law. Computers are out of date within 2 years technically. Realistically, they'll have a good run for 3 years and feel old by 5.

They would be stupid to support old os', they're very generous with their current support windows really for a commercial enterprise. They're not a charity. All OS' go out of date. And security is a huge thing. Always use an up to date OS with up to date Antivirus in an up to date secure browser for any sensitive online work.

You can recycle old laptops and you don't have to ditch the whole pc. You could upgrade to a supported OS compatible with your hardware. Just don't expect it to run as well as it did when the laptop was new.

Also www.google.com/amp/s/amp.businessinsider.com/what-makes-microsoft-the-best-sustainable-company-2019-6

If you don't want to be so wasteful build your own PC, then you can upgrade parts as they become too outdated rather than the whole thing.

@PettyContractor

Windows 10 filled up the memory to the point I literally had nothing else on the machine (no files, only Word, no other programs) and I couldn't do anything with it because Windows wanted to download a 5gb update.

It's in a cupboard upstairs

Ok IT geek here. Windows release security patches every 30 days. Or ‘at whim’ if a major security issue/ bug is discovered. So essentially you’re ok for 30 days- unless there’s some new hot fix released (which would be newsworthy/ notified on MS website etc.
So from a practical perspective to say it must not check online banking today’ is madness- but you do need to sort something out pretty quickly. Parking security element aside for a minute it’s much more likely that online banking/ shopping/ applications etc begin to stop working as when new releases are riled out the won’t have to be win 7 compatible- so likely your usability will be screwed before security is unless you are very unlucky or visit dodgy/ suspect website or open iffy emails.

My machine is a Sony Vaio, not rubbish, was fairly pricey when I bought it in 2011. It worked very well with Win 7 but it doesn't have enough processing power for Win 10

My Dell was about £450 in 2008, came loaded with Vista(!) and it runs W10 fine. It's not going to win any speed or beauty prizes, but it does what I need it to when I need it to.

(I have access to several other devices now, so it doesn't get used that often either)

@LoopyLu2019 You're thinking of the 90s. These days, it's perfectly viable for a 2007 laptop with a Core2Duo chip to run Windows10. Moore's law has tapered off for CPUs, it was always an S curve not an asymptotic line upwards. That's why they come in ridiculously high core count variants now - they can't make them much faster, so they make them wider so the numbers still go up so people buy them.

Limitations on older kit running a modern OS is almost always RAM which is often easily upgraded. It's also always worth changing out an old hard drive to a new SSD for a massive speed boost.

Darko I am mystified as to how I didn't know they were stopping windows 7 support... The first I knew was a mention on late light radio news on 13th Jan.

@QuestionableMouse This is trivially fixable with a friend who knows what they're doing, a £26 240GB SSD, a spare 8gb USB stick and a free copy of EASEUS Disk Copy. Got any geeky friends?

I bought a Chromebook instead and really like it. The laptop was about £100 so not really worth putting more money into (and I kinda hated the keyboard.)

I hate windows. I cannot get it to update to the latest versions of 10 for love nor money. Sodding update is too big for my laptop. Connecting an external HDD is not solving this.

Loopylou,some of us including me, are fairly clueless. Just going to Google VPN as people have mentioned it. OK have just googled VPN and I'm none the wiser. I am far from stupid but some of this IT stuff really confuses me.

VPN is a red herring - imagine it's a pipe from your laptop to whoever makes the VPN, so your Internet connection appears to come from somewhere else.

They're useful for when you're wanting to use some public wifi but don't entirely trust the owners of the wifi, they can't see into the pipe.

They're not useful for protection from all the nasties on the Internet, they can just get into the far end of the pipe!

The most common use is to appear to be in a different country, so you can watch that country's Netflix (Netflix checks where you appear to be connecting to the Internet from).

There is no immediate problem but you should act soon.

Hackers are always trying to find new ways to break into commonly used Windows versions, and Microsoft are always trying to find the flaws and fix them. But from today, they won't be fixing the security flaws in Windows 7 any more. So as time goes on, it becomes more and more likely that your PC gets compromised. Antivirus software can only do so much - if the OS is out of date, it's like a house on a crumbling foundation.

(The same issues affect old versions of other OSes such as Linux or iOS. They also affect software you run but the impacts tend to be less serious.)

Remember the Wannacry in 2017 attack that seriously disrupted the NHS? That's what can happen when you run Windows past its end of support. That affected Windows XP, three years after end of support for that.

As mentioned, buying a new PC is the easiest solution.

If you want to upgrade, you can download Windows 10 from Microsoft here: www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10ISO . In my experience a Windows 7 product key will activate Windows 10. Or as others have mentioned you can download a Linux distribution.

Then the steps I would take to upgrade are:

If you have paid-for programs, make sure you have the product keys for them and make sure they will still activate. You can get software that'll show you the product keys for the programs installed on your PC.

Ensure you have a copy of your files, or even better a backup of your whole Windows 7 install.

Install Windows 10 either as an 'upgrade' or a clean install.

@Medievalist The iPad - as long as it's running iOS13 - is a very, very secure environment. More secure than Windows even CAN be, thanks to design choices that limit what's available to the user (and therefore an attacker) on an iPad/iPhone. There's no way to install a virus, no way to peek on your activity, and no way to remote control it.

@SpoonBlender - thanks. That's very reassuring!

@QuestionableMouse Good choice. The old one could probably be turned into a ChromeBook too, btw... www.alphr.com/google/1003319/how-to-turn-your-old-laptop-into-a-chromebook-turn-your-sluggish-old-windows-laptop

But did you know that Chromebooks have a go out of support date too? It's currently 6.5 years from a model's first release (not from when you bought it).

To answer the queries about what kind of machine runs XP....an old one, that was high spec in its day. The software still works (Corel and AutoCAD) and yes, dear sneerers, those are old too!!! Imagine...they might even have been used whilst some of you were still shitting in your nappies. Shocking.

After a confusing visit to PC world I came home and tried yet again to load windows 10and yippee I seem to have succeeded! Thanks everyone. I might now buy some backup stuff but at least I have time to think before buying. I feel like a computer wizard!

The lack of any notice? It's been publicised by Microsoft for a while now.

Glad you got it sorted, Mammajay.

I'd take the expiration of Windows 7 to do the following based on budget:

1. Get a Mac
2. Get an iPad
3. Get a Chromebook

Windows 10 is a mess and dealing with Windows is a mess.

(Yes you could also install something like Mint Linux in your current computer)

Yay! Definitely get yourself a backup device though, any data that's in only one place is going to get lost forever with a hard drive failure or drop of the laptop or theft. If that's your family photos, you're never getting them back. They're so cheap! And you can use the same drive for more than one computer.
Eg 500gig for £30, www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0771LDDCW?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

Just for reference/completeness, this article may be helpful too (repeats some pp earlier advice but sharing anyway)

www.theguardian.com/technology/askjack/2020/jan/16/im-still-on-windows-7-what-should-i-do

Definitely get yourself a backup device though, any data that's in only one place is going to get lost forever with a hard drive failure or drop of the laptop or theft. If that's your family photos, you're never getting them back. They're so cheap! And you can use the same drive for more than one computer.

I've had backup drives fail. Well worth looking to cloud-based backups these days.