Windows 7 support ending in Jan 2020

[dubiousintent]

As many are aware, Windows 7 has been a very good platform for gamers, especially older Gamebryo engine games. However, free update support (primarily security updates) is ending as of 14 Jan 2020. What are your options?

Microsoft wants you to move to Windows 10. And you will eventually have to move to a newer OS of some sort if you access the Internet; in order to avoid the never ending wave of malware and exploits being released by the thousands each month (no exaggeration). So you need to start preparing for that eventuality. But this is not the end of the story.

What version you get of whatever Windows OS is current makes a big difference. By which we really mean "anything except the Home version" and assuming you have a 64-bit processor, which is most platforms these days. "Home" is the "dumbed down" version installed by default on virtually every computer delivered from the manufacturer, unless you are savvy enough to pay extra for the upgrade (roughly +$100; or for free if you had an older version Pro/Ultimate license) for the more full featured "business" versions: known as "Pro" or (per workstation licensed) "Enterprise". For the single machine user, you want the "Pro" version. ("Enterprise" is for organizations with a managed server network and multiple licensed workstations.) The "Home" version has many "features" disabled or inaccessible, to prevent the inexperienced and techno-illiterate "casual user" from creating problems for themselves. It's primary purpose is to make things easier on the Microsoft support staff.

Among the features available with the "Pro" 64-bit version is the ability to run a "Virtual Machine" with other Operating Systems (such as Windows 7 or Linux) on your Windows 10 box, which is already included. This is called the "Hyper-V virtualization platform", and it's much simpler to use than you might expect and has been available (at least as a free download) since Windows 7. See the ZDNet article Windows 10 tip: How to enable Hyper-V and create virtual machines.

So, while you still have time, take a bit to investigate if this option seems within your capabilities. (Frankly, anyone who can mod a Bethesda game should be able to handle Hyper-V.)

-Dubious-

[JimboUK]

The Pro version lets you defer updates, that alone is worth the extra money, by deferring updates you give Microsoft a chance to fix them before they inflict them upon you.

[dubiousintent]

Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 users need to have SHA-2 code-signing installed by July 16, 2019, in order to continue to get Windows updates after that date. Microsoft issued that warning on February 15 via a Support article.

Microsoft has published a timeline for migrating these operating systems to SHA-2, with support for the algorithm coming in standalone updates. On March 12, Microsoft is planning a standalone update with SHA-2 code sign support for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1. It also will deliver to WSUS 3.0 SP2 the required support for delivering SHA-2 updates.

The full cut-over timetable is available on Microsoft's support page.

-Dubious-

[leotheEliteMajor117]

Windows 7 dying at Jan 14, 2020?! Damn I gotta earn and save some money to update to windows 10( it's kinda hard to earn money in the Philippines unless you got a solid job) also I need a few answers regarding updating to windows 10 but most importantly, does it delete all my data when updating to Windows 10 though?

[dubiousintent]

Much depends upon how you go about installing it, and how you have things organized on your current system. For example, one way to get Win10 is with it "bundled" as part of a device such as a hard drive or SSD. Most "desktop" machines have an available "drive bay" where you can install an additional hard drive. (This may be an option on your laptop, but not on most.) In which case simply installing the new device alongside your current system should leave things unchanged (with the possible need to adjust the drive letters which is easy in the disk manager), except you will now use the new Win10 device as your "boot drive". Access to your old drive will be seemless, but the drive letter of installed programs may need changing. You could "dual boot" between the two versions of Windows with each in their own "primary/boot" partition, in which instance, you will want to "move" non-OS apps and files to yet another "Apps and/or Data" partition as you won't be able to see the alternate "boot partition" while in the current one. There can only be one "boot" partition active at a time. The other(s) are effectively invisible.

 

As a result of learning this the hard way, I keep my OS in one partition, and never install anything to that partition unless it absolutely refuses to let me install it anywhere else, all other apps to a second partition, and my "data" (including games) to a third partition. Every version update of the OS goes "clean install" into it's own partition, and I "dual boot" between the old and new versions until I am satisfied everything is sorted out correctly. Even then I leave the old version installed until I absolutely have to have the disk space.

 

If that isn't in the cards, then the next preferred method (to my mind) would be to install Win10 to it's own separate partition on your current drive. To do that you need to have sufficient "free space" on your drive to create a separate "primary partition". Again, moving any non-OS apps and data to a separate partition will be necessary. (There should always be old files you can delete.)

 

You will need a "disk management" program such as "Paragon Hard Disk Manager" (there are others, including Windows build-in minimalist capabilities) to create and manage these partitions, to include moving data safely between them.

 

Least desirable (in my experience) is to "upgrade" your current OS. This has the highest risk of having something going wrong (especially if you have everything installed to one partition) where your only recourse is to reformat and install "clean", losing everything. This is not by design, but happens more often than MS will admit and is always a risk.

 

If you do not understand from the above what is involved, then I strongly recommend you discuss the matter with your local computer repair shop. For a fee, they will handle it for you, but be sure you understand and clarify exactly what you want to be able to do with things afterwards. The more you can do beforehand (such as separating non-OS files from those specific to the OS into different partitions) the less expensive the process.

 

-Dubious-

[Culuf]

So (as I came to the forum only to specifically find an emoji I forgot the name of).

Switching your OS to get Microsoft updates? Pfft. Those have only ever caused me personal anguish.

Imagine! Coming home after a long day at work, and you just want to play [insert PC game here].

But Microsoft has released a TEN HOUR UPDATE.

Calling their customer service gets you an angry man with the same specific accent as every time you call.

(Might be considered racist to say, so I'll avoid that.)

After last paying Best Buy $65 to fix an update that hung on 2 of 3, wouldn't you be clearly upset?

Your time is wasted. The tech support guy is screaming at you to wait.

You don't get control of your PC back until the next day.

 

Moral of the story? Google search turning off updates! I don't get them anymore.

And after helping my parents with the nightmare that is Win 10, I'll just stick with Win 7.

Future games I would miss out on? Maybe I'll get a next-gen console. Meh.

Can still play all my favorite old titles. Malware? MalwareBytes and SuperAntiSpyware are free :wink:

 

It's not like Windows 7 is going to completely stop working to view websites, is it? Serious question, not facetious.

Edited April 28, 2019 by Culuf

[dubiousintent]

You are correct that Win7 is not going to just stop working next year. However, the end of support means there will be no more "security updates" to fix vulnerabilities to malware exploits. Such are typically exploiting previously unknown flaws in the OS (such as the "Spectre" and "Meltdown" vulnerabilities discovered late last year). Those are a serious matter which are not caught by anti-virus programs, and the rate at which new unsuspected vulnerabilities are discovered cannot be beileved.

 

My plan is to dual boot between Win7 for games and Win10 for internet. (Most systems these days have sufficient disk space to handle both versions of Windows.) Even better would be to have a separate computer for each purpose, but that is a luxury few of us can afford.

 

-Dubious-

[YanL]

I've been trying to make New Vegas work properly since 2016. I have not yet succeeded. In Win7 runs SO smoothy.

Good luck to those who do not have the option of dual boot.

edit: forget to say. Fallout 4 works well. Never tried Skyrim or Fallout 3, even having both games.

Edited April 28, 2019 by YanL

[JimboUK]

The only problems I've had with New Vegas on Windows 10 were the Directx 9 thing that Microsoft fixed and the stutter remover crashes which is easily fixed, at the moment it runs just fine.