Microsoft has recently announced that they will officially begin the Windows 7 end of life phase on January 14, 2020. Microsoft will stop supporting Windows 7 on laptops and desktops, and will no longer supply patches or upgrades with security updates.
The chart below describes the life cycle for all of Microsoft’s operating systems.
What is End of Life?
“End of life” is the date after which an application is no longer supported by the company that makes it. After Windows 7 end of life, you can continue to use it, but at your own risk. New computer viruses and other malware are developed all the time and, without the security updates to fight them off, your data and your system are vulnerable.
In addition; you will eventually have issues with certain software not running properly – this is particularly true if you use Microsoft 365. Using Office 365 ProPlus on older, unsupported operating systems will lead to performance and reliability issues over time. As newer programs are released they will not be coded to work on older operating systems at all.
If you are one of the remaining Windows 7 users (or any of the other unsupported operating systems) who chooses to not to upgrade to Windows 10, you should understand that using an unsupported operating system poses some very serious security risks. Hackers will target Windows 7 machines as new vulnerabilities are discovered.
To better help its users, Microsoft has supplied this guide for determining whether your Windows 7 version is coming to its end-of-life period. Please review this chart and upgrade before support of your version of Windows 7 ends.