Windows 7 is near the end of its life—on January 14, the ten-year-old operating system will reach its end of support. This means that the operating system will stop receiving security patches and updates, and thus will be “more vulnerable to viruses and malware” over time, according to Microsoft.
Starting January 15—the day after support ends—the company will also push out another full-screen window alerting users that their operating systems are officially “out of support.” Unfortunately, the intrusive pop-up won’t go away on its own—you’ll have to dismiss it with one of the three options: remind later, learn more, or never remind.
Microsoft highly recommends businesses to switch to Windows 10 to continue receiving security upgrades and feature updates. In January, Windows 10 finally surpassed Windows 7 in marketshare, according to NetApplications.
While this may be an inconvenience for some, Microsoft does recognize that upgrading for many businesses might not be as easy. The company is offering Extended Security Updates available for smaller and medium-sized businesses to purchase to avoid the pesky pop-ups and continue receiving vulnerability patches.
What do you think is the best upgrade path going forward for your business—making the full upgrade and working out the issues later, or purchasing the Windows 7 ESUs to ensure a smooth transition later?
