Don’t Forget To Upgrade To Windows 10

Some of you out there might still be using Windows 7. You might have heard all of the negative reviews of Windows 8 and never bothered to upgrade to that or you are comfortable with the ins and outs of it and don’t want to change. At this point you are used to using Windows 7 and for many of you change is not something that you relish. It is something else that you have to deal with in life and the changes in terminology and placement can be a time-waster for you. Well, it might be time for you to make the change and finally upgrade to Windows 10 as Microsoft’s extended support for Windows 7 has now ended.

Support For Windows 7 Ended

Support for Windows 7 ended yesterday (January 14). If you are running a Windows 7 machine you have probably been warned of that for some time and now the day of reckoning is here. You need to make a decision, do you upgrade (for free mind you) or do you continue running an outdated operating system?

There comes a time for every piece of technology when it becomes obsolete. Extended support for Windows XP ended in 2014 and mainstream support for Windows 7 ended back in 2015. Extended support (with few exceptions) for Windows 7 has now also ended. What this means is that no more security patches will be created for the operating system by Microsoft, with only major security flaws being an exception and there is no guarantee of that. That means when a major flaw is found you are on your own.

Now of course you might be arguing that Windows 7 has been used since 2009 and any flaw should have been found by now and for the most part you would be right but there are still issues that can potentially be exploited. Issues like this one were still being found with Windows XP after support ended

Upgrade To Windows 10 For Free

If you are running Windows 7, you have an opportunity right now and it will not last forever. You have the opportunity to upgrade to Windows 10 for free. It is easy to do and did we mention that it was free yet? Microsoft launched the Get Windows 10 Initiative in 2015 with the commercial flop of Windows 8 and it never went away. The process takes about one hour to do and if you are still running Windows 8 it will work for you too.

Why Do This?

Why should you do this? It is very simple besides just the fact that security issues will not be patched. When support ends for a Microsoft product other vendors who make software that is compatible with that product end support for it as well. If you need help and call technical support you will probably be told that you need to upgrade your operating system. They are not doing this because they are being mean and don’t want to help, they are doing this because there does come a time when upgrades need to be done and this is Microsoft’s way of forcing it to happen.

That means that your antivirus software may no longer receive updates so you may now be vulnerable to malware, viruses and spyware. It means that your accounting software may no longer receive updates. It means that if something does receive an update and breaks something else there is no guarantee it will be fixed. Essentially it means that everything on your computer is out of date. Your computer is now more vulnerable to an attacker exploiting a vulnerability and stealing all that you hold dear. 

How To Do This?

So, how can you get Windows 10? Visit this website to get started, Microsoft’s page to download Windows 10 and click here to view the system requirements. You will have to download a media creation tool and that will run you through the upgrade. Uninstall any third-party security software and disconnect any external media before upgrading. Again it takes around an hour to complete so you will need to work on another machine or find something else to do. If this upgrade does not work for you, you will need to purchase another computer as soon as possible as yours is too out of date. It had to happen at some point. You’ve had plenty of warning (and that warning telling you will not go away, even if you click don’t show again).

Good cyber security is everyone’s business. Keeping your computer clear of infections and keeping it up to date makes everyone safer. If you access your Nicely Done Sites website from that computer you run the risk of potentially allowing something into your site. If it can infect your site it could infect others as well. You don’t want that to happen and you would be very unhappy if someone else caused this, so make sure that your machine is as up to date as possible.

If you haven’t already, upgrade to Windows 10! Just don’t upgrade to Windows 9.

Comments are closed.

Scroll to Top