Reminder: Microsoft Support for Windows 7 Ends On January 14, 2020
This is a reminder for those of you who are running Windows 7. After January 14, 2020, you won’t receive important security updates, patches or emergency vulnerability patches from Microsoft. And, over time, this will have a serious impact on your Internet safety and privacy.
The good news is — you can upgrade to Windows 10 free of charge. Go to this Microsoft page and click the”Download tool now” button. Once the file has downloaded, click it to run it and follow the onscreen instructions. And when prompted click “Upgrade this PC” now. It will take from two to five hours for the upgrade to complete.
We will continue to offer our Windows 10 Transformation Service after January 14, 2020
We will continue to offer our Windows 10 Transformation Service after January 14, 2020. With our Windows 10 Transformation Service, we’ll help you download and install Windows 10. After Windows 10 is installed, we’ll come back and make your Windows 10 computer work and look much like the Windows 7 computer you’re used to using. Our Windows 10 Transformation service is available here.
Whether you upgrade you Windows 7 computer yourself or have us help you with it, it’s important that you upgrade. As time passes your Windows 7 computer will be less and less safe to use.
And we want you to be safe… always!
I have Windows 7 Professional with many older graphics programs that I am still using for my business. I am afraid that once I install Windows 10 most of those older programs will no longer work and then I will be stuck. Would it be a better idea to buy a new Windows 10 computer, install all from Windows 7; and then keep my older Windows 7 as a workable back up in case something goes wrong with Windows 10?
Hi Renee. You are asking something that no one can answer.
But I can tell you this. If you buy a new computer and you try to transfer incompatible programs from Windows 7 to Windows 10 you’re going to have a much bigger mess than you would if you just upgraded your computer to Windows 10. Transferring incompatible programs does not make them compatible, it just creates a huge mess.
As a general rule – and I cannot guarantee anything – if a program works on Windows 7 it will work on Windows 10. Darcy and I are both using Jasc PaintShop Pro 7 (circa 1998) on our Windows 10 computers. I use it just about every day.
We upgraded over 100 computers to Windows 10 and only one time did I see a problem with a program and that was Windows Live Mail which is not supported and has not been updated since 2012 – and as program with which many Windows 7 users have had many problems with including the loss of all settings, accounts, and email. And we’ve been warning Windows Live Mail users of the problems that come with using it.
Remember too, if you upgrade to Windows 7 and your programs do not work, you have 10 days to go back to Windows 10.
While backing up your programs is futile, backing up your personal files is always a good idea – upgrading or not.