After 14th of January 2020 Windows 7 will no longer receive security updates, meaning it will not be able to defend against the latest threats. As the threats that face an operating system change, it is important that the operating system changes to deal with them. The cyber-threat landscape is ever-changing and becoming more advanced. More information on these updates can be found in the Microsoft article below: A potential problem with these extended updates is that you will be in the same situation three years from now when the extended support comes to an end.

Aimed at businesses with a Windows 7 and Server 2008R2 based infrastructure, these updates incur a per-device charge, meaning that the total cost can be eye-watering, however, may be cheaper than the total downtime of a computer or the cost of replacing hardware if it does not support Windows 10. However, just because these Extended Updates are available, does not mean that they should be used in every situation. After the various issues that were encountered by home and business users following the EOL of Windows XP (the WannaCry ransomware attack on the NHS has often been credited to their large use of Windows XP and Server 2003), Microsoft is making Extended Support Updates available for customers that are willing to pay. The long answer is slightly more complicated.

Three weeks on, this blog post will aim to answer as many of these questions as possible that may be stopping you from finally updating.

Questions like: Is it time to update? What will happen if I don’t update? What if the update breaks my computer? What if my computer doesn’t support Windows 10 or I can’t update? As one of the most popular Home and Server Operating Systems (some estimates place Windows 7 as the operating system on 26% of PCs as of December 2019*), many people will now have questions about the state of the Operating System. On the 14th of January 2020, Windows 7 and Server 2008R2 reached end of life (EOL).

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