I’ve been running Win7Pro for since around 2015 and I am immensely satisfied with it. It has gotten corrupted by malware a few times but been restored to saved points, and still runs nicely. It’s a 64 bit I5 processor, 8GB Ram, SSD system drive and lots of USB and SATA storage available and runs about how you’d expect something like this to run, especially consider it got seriously damaged at least twice and recovered. So the question is: why should I upgrade? And to what? I can’t say I’m nuts about the user interface in any of the Win8-10 versions, Win 11 is way too new to move to, so what’s the opinion here? Is there something serious to be gained by moving to 10? I think it’s slower than the Win7. I’m leaning more towards a fresh Win7 install instead of an upgrade to Win10. Some thoughts, please?
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Patch reliability is unclear, but widespread attacks make patching prudent. Go ahead and patch, but watch out for potential problems. |
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I need a reason to move off Win 7
- This topic has 68 replies, 20 voices, and was last updated 3 months, 2 weeks ago.
Viewing 29 reply threadsAuthorThe main reason to stop using a MS Windows OS is when MS stops supporting it and other software companies like Mozilla get the jitters and may stop supporting Firefox.
I personally used Windows XP Pro until 2014 even though it was no longer supported by MS and I had to use an older version of Firefox. I didn’t have any problems but I wouldn’t recommend that everyone do that. Things have gotten worse since then.
I’m sort of doing the same thing with Win 7 although I’m converting over to Linux as it becomes increasingly necessary. Linux is a good alternative and gets the job done for me, but like you, I love my Win 7 much more. Good luck!
Have you seen the price of Tums? It's enough to give you heartburn.1 user thanked author for this post.
Anonymous #2437816 wrote :” Many businesses and companies still use Windows Xp and Windows 7. Windows 8-10 are very unstable and do no work well for many businesses and companies. Windows 11 is total mess that was garbage in and garbage out. ”
Quite true, the part about business and companies still using XP and Win 7. I can’t opine on the rest, as I have no hands-on experience with those other systems. I only know that many people complain about them.
But when it comes to XP and Win 7, I know of such cases myself. However: Business and companies have IT departments, or employ IT consultants to take care of the maintenance and security of their networks to which the PCs are connected and, if necessary, take care of the ones infected with malware.
One user on his or her own is a different story.
I understand well the dilemma of someone running Windows 7 and not being sure for how much longer or how safely, as one may expect that developers of needed applications gradually became less concerned with maintaining their applications so they can run well on an operating system past it’s “Best By” date when that, rightly or not, is how many see it.
So, in the case of Windows 7, it is really a question of how longer luck will hold and one will be able to keep using it comfortably. In the past, this was quite a long time. Things are changing, not for the better, so there is more of a question mark on this now.
Good luck, Caribconsult and all those that want to stay on Windows 7: may you keep on using Win 7 for several more years yet.
Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).
MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV1 user thanked author for this post.
I have still memories of Win95 and Win98, all users was wasting significant amount of personal time at upgrading all day long, several third-party small utilities to their latest version, including the antivirus database.
WinXP Pro along Win7Pro, both are now mature versions as operating system. They do not need any advertising 🙂 The ones with Microsoft training and bonded with industrial or wider range of software applications, they are well aware of the why, about them sticking to their choices.
The OP which started this topic, belong to home users. Home users which has significant amount of paid software this compatible up to Win7, it is best for their wallet to stick longer at Win7. We should never forget when we talk about Microsoft, that the conversation its all about money.
Win7 Pro (Blue Retail Box) i7 4770 - 16GB DDR3 2400XMP - GTX1060 6GB - Professional Workstation
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I am the original poster who started this topic, and I have to tell you, I am anything but a ‘home user.’ In fact, I was a full time computer consultant for over 20 years in the San Francisco Bay Area, and by the time we left, I was one of the guys who got called to fix messes made by other low-rent consultants, so I think my opinions on O/S’s carry a bit more gravitas than home users…I’ve been at this since DOS 3, through every windows up to Win10, Windows Terminal Server, Novell, Quarterdeck, you name it, I’ve probably tried it as some point, and I wouldn’t abandon my Win7 for any price. It works well, it is bug free, I’ve NEVER gotten a virus from anywhere (using Kaspersky for several years, as well as Avast and several others) and I haven’t paid for any ‘special update’ programs, just the ones MS pushes out for Defender and their other built-in protection schemes. I always advised clients to not upgrade themselves into oblivion and that continues to be my guiding principle. Call me ‘old school’ because that’s what I am. And from the frequent newsletters I see from this site, Win10 and 11 continue to have glitches, bugs, updates that don’t work correctly, bluescreens, etc. Who needs that?
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Upgrading to Windows 10 works well on a lot of Windows 7 hardware. An SSD helps. The first install of Windows 10 should be an upgrade install, to make sure it activates Windows 10 online. A clean install is not really necessary. Even 8GB or 4GB of ram can run acceptably, although 2GB is no good. Make a full image or clone backup before changing anything, so if you don’t like it you can go back.
1 user thanked author for this post.
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With Bitdefender and Firefox both pulling the plug on Windows 7 support in January 2023, the time has come for me to make a considered move to Windows 10 while I still have the time to figure the best transition out.
You may not need to give up on Windows 7 just yet.
I haven’t found any official announcement from Mozilla/Firefox to the effect that they will stop supporting their browser on Win7 machines. So right now, the question of how long we’ll be able to keep using up-to-date browsers is up in the air.
Bitdefender’s announcement of end-of-support next January is unwelcome, especially as earlier this year I’d taken out a subscription to it for my Windows 7 systems. However, that’s not the end of the world: no doubt other AV vendors will continue to support Windows 7 for the foreseeable future. Last year, Norton announced end of support for Vista and then they reversed their decision, so even EOS announcements are not etched in stone.
Still, it’s prudent to have a plan in place to transition off Win7, in case you need to put it in motion.
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I haven’t found any official announcement from Mozilla/Firefox to the effect that they will stop supporting their browser on Win7 machines. So right now, the question of how long we’ll be able to keep using up-to-date browsers is up in the air.
From Mozilla support:
Firefox Releases work fine on Windows 7 now so why would it not after Jan 10, 2023 ? Unless there is something OS dependent there is no reason for Firefox web browser to stop supporting Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 anytime soon.
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1373038
(This has been posted in at least one other thread)
Have you seen the price of Tums? It's enough to give you heartburn. -
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Good point DrB. I guess we will see. I was under the impression that Firefox will still get updates as long as it has SHA-2.
Have you seen the price of Tums? It's enough to give you heartburn.1 user thanked author for this post.
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Chrome has announced they will no longer support Win7, but Firefox (which I prefer) continues to work well.
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There comes a point in time that something will demand a certain browser that will no longer work on that 7 or the XP for that matter. As long as you have a ssd I consider 10 faster than 7.
That’s the bottom line. If you want to, or are required to, run a current browser, that pretty much determines your need to upgrade your OS.
For example, my Dad had a computer some years ago that he only used for online banking. One day the bank support line told him his browser was no longer supported, and that unless he upgraded that he no longer had online access to his account. I checked around, but no supported browsers were available for his OS version. Had to order him a new computer just to go online with.
I still have one Windows 7 Pro (Intel Ivy Bridge Core 3rd gen) computer running, and fortunately both the Firefox and Chrome browsers are still supported, and Avast AV still is too. But I’m not sure what the outlook for that is beyond next year. I rarely go online with it, but one day I’ll probably upgrade it to Win 10 (before that becomes end-of-life) just to remain compatible with current browsers and applications, as needed.
My daily driver PC is on Win 10 and it runs great! 🙂
Windows 10 Pro 22H2
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An SSD will speed the OS up in many ways, including the Page File. It’s incredibly fast at random reads & writes, much more so than a spinning HDD.
It will also speed up any app, such as a browser, that frequently needs to access its cache.
The old wisdom that frequent writes will wear out an SSD prematurely just are not true. There are many articles on the net to support that fact. And a personal example is my Samsung SSD EVO 850 that I have used for over 6 years and nearly 23,000 power-on hours is still at “Good” health, per Samsung and CrystalDiskInfo diagnostics.
Endurance Test of Samsung 850 Pro Comes To an End after 9100TB of writes https://www.guru3d.com/news-story/endurance-test-of-samsung-850-pro-comes-to-an-end-after-9100tb-of-writes.html
Wear Leveling https://www.techtarget.com/searchstorage/definition/wear-leveling
https://helpdeskgeek.com/reviews/everything-you-need-to-know-about-ssd-wear-tear/
Windows 10 Pro 22H2
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And my results here are with 34.4TB written so far to my Samsung SSD. Still cruising along! 🙂
*always back-up your data*
*SSD drives can die suddenly without warning, unlike typical HDD failures. I had a friend who installed the same drive as me, and it just totally bricked in two years when he was on vacation. Probably due to a power surge, but nobody knows for sure…
Windows 10 Pro 22H2
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Not sure if this is of any interest – but my ESET AV/Security program is up for renewal and I emailed ESET support to be sure that they were still going to be supporting Win 7. Anyone running Win 7 with ESET might find this useful.
Here’s ESET’s reply:
If you are on Windows 7, and want to continue using your ESET product, you must upgrade your operating system with the Windows 7 service pack 1 (SP1) and update it. If your system is already on SP1 and updated, and your ESET product is version 10 or later, you do not have to do anything and your ESET product will continue to function properly.
If your Windows 7 operating system is updated as described above, your ESET product will continue protecting your computer against malware even after Windows 7 stops receiving updates from Microsoft. However, without security updates from Microsoft for Windows 7, your computer will be more vulnerable to new malware and exploits.
For more information about Microsoft Windows 7 end of support and ESET products, visit our KB article: https://support.eset.com/en/microsoft-windows-7-end-of-support-and-eset-products
Thank you for using ESET security products,
ESET Technical Support
At Newegg, the ESET versions do not list Win 7 as a supported OS, thus my question to ESET directly.
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When I installed Win 7 on my then new computer in Dec. of 2012, the disk had Win 7 and SP1 already on it. I only had to run the updates. (Yes, I actually got a disk back then).
Have you seen the price of Tums? It's enough to give you heartburn.1 user thanked author for this post.
I agree that the need to use an updated browser will most probably determine whether or not you need to upgrade the OS. You may also need to consider software compatibility apart from browsers before deciding to upgrade.
As for the present I think there is no need to switch off Windows 7 yet as major browsers still support it.
And I don’t buy the opinion that “Windows 10 is faster than Windows 7” at all as my experience tells me otherwise. At best they run at the same speed.
Personally I still use Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 myself, still resisting Windows 10 (and don’t talk to me about Windows 11 as I consider it rubbish). I do have Windows 10 1809 LTSC on one of my partitions on my disk and I will probably switch to it some time after Windows 8.1 goes out of support. My most important application apart from the browser is VMware Workstation 15.5.2 and I have already determined it is supported on Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 1809 LTSC.
Hope for the best. Prepare for the worst.
1 user thanked author for this post.
I really don’t understand this fuss about patches and updates and security vulnerabilities at all. I have been using Windows 7 Starter over 10 years now. Blogged all MS updates years ago and have really old version of Comodo firewall. Never had any problems: no viruses, troyans, hijacks, malware. Zero security problems ever and my laptop runs smoothly with very small RAM. I think many ordinary people use far too much money buying new computers and programs all the time. Advertising and this created vulnerability fear work well and rich guys get richer…
3 users thanked author for this post.
Thanks to everyone who took some time to offer their sentiments and experience on this topic. I have decided to ride the horse as long as it’s living, i.e., I’m staying on Win7. It has worked reliably for years, I have revived it several times from crapware that either got past the Kaspersky or I might have unwittingly installed, and it supports the two most important programs I use. The main one is an older version of Quicken, the kind that lives on your computer and gets installed from a disc, not the rental version on-line. My Q has years of financial data and works perfectly and I haven’t found anything to replace it. The second important program is the Thunderbird email program. I see nothing to be gained by moving up to W8-9-11. I still get security updates from MS, and other updates to FFox.
1 user thanked author for this post.
A wee update: As I mentioned, staying on Win7Pro seemed like the way to go, but just last week my hardware developed Alzheimer’s or something similar. It looked like the POST was not running right and the unit would sometimes not go to the boot loader on the SSD. It would go into a shutdown/restart loop and the only way to get it to boot right was to clear the CMOS via the jumper and unplug the power. Then it would boot right. It started to look like my BIOS was scrambled or something along that line and, with some help from the motherboard manufacturer GIGABYTE, I got the BIOS upgraded to a more current version. The unit now booted correctly but, most important of all, the Win7Pro was totally undamaged and booted up perfectly. A bit of an improvement over earlier versions of Windows, which could get irretrievably damaged from this sort of screwed up booting.
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Might be time to replace the CMOS battery on the motherboard.
Windows 10 Pro 22H2
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That was one of the first things I tried but that wasn’t the problem. Apparently the BIOS had gotten scrambled, I have no idea how. How would you scramble the BIOS code? It needed either an unscrambling, if that was possible, or perhaps some component on the MB had failed, in which case it was new MB time. Neither option very appealing. Our power here is very steady with no surges. How could that happen? The tech support folks at GIGABYTE (MB manufacturer) were extremely helpful finding the right update for a 64bit system, and how to install it, and that resolved the boot up issues. Now you can access the BIOS via the DEL key on boot, as is normal, and make whatever changes you need, and it will remember that and reboot correctly, and a hardware check verifies it’s on the more recent BIOS version, the best one for my setup according to GIGABYTE. They were very responsive via messages and without them I probably would have screwed something up.
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So it’s bite the bullet time and I think a refurbished Dell or HP laptop with Win10 might not be far off.
I love my refurb Dell Latitude! Got a good deal on one with Win 10 Pro installed on the HDD. Cloned that to a spare SSD, and it’s fast enough for my needs!
Windows 10 Pro 22H2
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I’m inclined to go that route when my existing desktop blows up, which it will, one day. They all do, sooner or later!
1 user thanked author for this post.
I’m inclined to go that route when my existing desktop blows up, which it will, one day. They all do, sooner or later!
I am like you with Win 7. If it isn’t broken I’m NOT going to fix it with a new OS. We have 3 machines running Win 7 Sp1 with no problems. Our requirements for another OS is that they would have to be able to run Microsoft Works (used to make data bases for our personal information.), Microsoft Streets & Trips (Used for mapping and Laptop GPS.), Microsoft Money (Used for our personal accounting.), Quilt Motion (For controlling our quilting machine.). We are running Vipre Internet Security (Antivirus protection.) on the 2 machines that DO access the internet. The one machine that runs the quilting machine will NEVER have internet access. We were lucky a LONG time ago to get Vipre for free for lifetime with ALL updates included (They no longer give this out.).
For US, these computers are broken, so they will NOT get replaced. And that is the way they will stay for the rest of our days (We are both mid 70’s and going strong.)
Dave.
4 users thanked author for this post.
I’m inclined to go that route when my existing desktop blows up, which it will, one day. They all do, sooner or later!
I am like you with Win 7. If it isn’t broken I’m NOT going to fix it with a new OS. We have 3 machines running Win 7 Sp1 with no problems. Our requirements for another OS is that they would have to be able to run Microsoft Works (used to make data bases for our personal information.), Microsoft Streets & Trips (Used for mapping and Laptop GPS.), Microsoft Money (Used for our personal accounting.), Quilt Motion (For controlling our quilting machine.). We are running Vipre Internet Security (Antivirus protection.) on the 2 machines that DO access the internet. The one machine that runs the quilting machine will NEVER have internet access. We were lucky a LONG time ago to get Vipre for free for lifetime with ALL updates included (They no longer give this out.).
For US, these computers are broken, so they will NOT get replaced. And that is the way they will stay for the rest of our days (We are both mid 70’s and going strong.)
Dave.
In 2nd paragraph I miss stated the my computers are broken. It should read that they are NOT broken.
Dave
Well, a big thank you to everyone who has contributed their knowledge and experience in this thread. The general agreement seems to be that those who continue to use Win7 plan on staying that way until forced by gunpoint to change, and I’m in that school, for sure. I personally don’t see any serious advantages from spending hours installing a new, questionably better O/S, learning the ins and outs of what MS calls an upgrade, which usually means they’ve moved stuff around and you have to go hunting for what you used to know exactly where it lived, and so forth. One day my current hardware will die and I’m thinking a nice refurbished Dell or HP with a clean Win10 install like my wife’s ACER is as far as I need to go. Thanks again to everyone here.
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Online banking should not be done on Windows 7
Random surfing should not be done on a Windows 7. Too risky and too many sites are starting to not work.
Go back to Windows NT and see how much technology has changed and how much we have evolved. If my Dad can go from mechanical 10 key calculators to using an iphone on a regular basis, everyone can learn and change.
Depending on your needs a nice Kindle may be your next tech.
Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher
1 user thanked author for this post.
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I don’t know what sort of problems you’ve run into, but I’ve been doing my on-line banking, including autopay, statements, deposits, transfers, etc with Win7 for years and have had no problems with any of the brand name banks such as Chase, Citi, etc. I also access investment accounts the same way and no problems, I haven’t caught a virus since I can’t remember (Kaspersky). I don’t know what your specific experience has been or why you make such blanket statements. I used NT years ago when it was the best thing out there but huge improvements have been made and Win7 offers many of the same advantages but it no longer gets trashed if you don’t shut it down correctly. I agree, people can learn new technologies, but I reject the idea of changing just for hte sake of change. Perhaps newer Windows protect you better from various asaaults but so will user awareness and not downloading everything you come across.
3 users thanked author for this post.
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I’m dual-booting between Linux Mint & Win 7. No issues at all. I only do a few things on W7 now, however, and there’s nothing of note/use to anybody on it.
Otherwise, Windows is but a mere speck in my rearview mirror. Good riddance.
Group B for WIN7 w/ ESU, plus trying out Linux builds in dual boot.
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