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It looks as if Microsoft could extend Windows 7 Support by another three years (from ghacks)


legacyfan

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Microsoft ended support for its Windows 7 operating system in 2020 Microsoft's initial plan was to limit extended support to three years after support ended, but it appears that the company could extend support by another three years, making it six years in total.

Our colleagues over at Deskmodder report that the July security updates KB5015861 and KB5015862 include the required ESU licenses and keys to extend support beyond the first three years. The second extension would guarantee support of Windows 7 until January 2026. 

Microsoft creates updates for the following Windows 7 editions as part of the extended security updates program:

Windows 7 SP1 Enterprise

Windows 7 SP1 Pro

Windows Server 2008 R2

Windows Embedded Standard 7

Windows Embedded POS Ready 7

Microsoft released the monthly and security-only cumulative updates for Windows 7 ESU systems as part of the July 2022 Patch Day. ESU updates can only be installed officially on licensed machines. Bypasses exist to install Microsoft's official updates on Windows 7 Home devices, including Windows 7 Home and Professional.

Microsoft has not confirmed or denied the extension of Windows 7 ESU. Windows 7 holds a sizeable share of the desktop operating system market. Statcounter, one of the third-party companies that is tracking usage statistics, sees it at 11.54% of the Windows market share. Windows 11, Microsoft's newest operating system, sits at 10.96%, which makes Windows 7 the second most used version of Windows according to the company.

It makes sense to extend support if the numbers are close to real usage numbers. Organizations may require more time to move to a new version of Windows, or another operating system. The extension gives organizations that time. Organizations who have devices with ESU can protect the devices for another three years.

Microsoft announced earlier this month that it won't provide Windows 8.1 customers with a similar offer. Windows 8.1's usage share is less than 3% according to Statcounter, even though it is still officially supported.

If Windows 7 support is extended by another three years, it would mean that the operating system will be supported for longer than its direct successor, Windows 8.1, and even Windows 10. Both operating systems will run out of support before 2026. Microsoft could offer support extensions for Windows 10, the most used version of Windows at the time of writing.

Now You: what is your take on this? (Taken from an article by ghacks)

Edited by legacyfan
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NOTE After January 10, 2023, Microsoft will no longer provide security updates or technical support for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1. We recommend that you upgrade to a later version of Windows.

 

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/november-8-2022-kb5020000-monthly-rollup-e0044ab3-5798-4622-973f-149e662d8b6e

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This would be nice if it were true, but still this doesn't guarantee that programs and software developers will choose to continue to support Windows 7 for much longer, which is what I, at least, consider to be the primary concern in the most recent coming of years. σ( ̄、 ̄〃)
If these updates exist, I would also assume they would be purely security updates targeting POS systems, ATMs, etc. that still run 7, and that Microsoft might not offer them up to the public, making it a purely enterprise kind of thing. Truth be told, most people with Common Sense™ (and an antivirus if you're paranoid) would probably do just fine using Windows 7 nowadays anyways, security-wise at least.

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4 hours ago, マホウ said:

This would be nice if it were true, but still this doesn't guarantee that programs and software developers will choose to continue to support Windows 7 for much longer, which is what I, at least, consider to be the primary concern in the most recent coming of years. σ( ̄、 ̄〃)
If these updates exist, I would also assume they would be purely security updates targeting POS systems, ATMs, etc. that still run 7, and that Microsoft might not offer them up to the public, making it a purely enterprise kind of thing. Truth be told, most people with Common Sense™ (and an antivirus if you're paranoid) would probably do just fine using Windows 7 nowadays anyways, security-wise at least.

I guess the best approach to using windows 7 would be not visiting bad websites and using a good antivirus (and keeping windows up to date

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1 hour ago, legacyfan said:

I guess the best approach to using windows 7 would be not visiting bad websites and using a good antivirus (and keeping windows up to date

In theory this seems like a good idea. But keep in mind that any backdoors or other exploits not patched will keep you vulnerable. Your IP address is still public and even though you stay off of bad websites, rogue code can still make your system vulnerable to attack. Today's web is great at linking so much of you together. It's sort of like when you do a Google search of something...say cars...then you log onto Facebook and all of a sudden, you're seeing ads for cars.

A couple of things that can help a bit better would be using a VPN even though that's not 100% absolute either. You can also use a hardware firewall like pfSense to help block external traffic from infiltrating your network. But you have to make sure you have it set up correctly so that it filters out what you don't want while allowing what you do want to flow into your network. It's an extra piece of hardware such as a thinclient PC or their proprietary devices, but it's definitely worth it because you can also set up something such as pfBlockerNG with it and block many rogue sites and IPs from getting through to your network in the first place. But that's getting way beyond the scope of Windows 7 support, but rather using these things are better alternatives if you're going to use an outdated operating system on the modern web.

One last thing about internet security is that you'd be shocked at just how much internet activity goes on behind the scenes without your knowledge so things can happen without you even realizing it until it's too late.

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Although I don‘t think that Microsoft will extend the ESU Program for Windows 7 or make one for Windows 8.1, you could bypass ESU (not explaining how) and install PosReady 7 Updates on Windows 7 till October 2024 (similar to XP and PosReady 2009) and Server 2012 R2 ESU Updates on Windows 8.1 till October 2026. Due to legal reasons I‘m not recommending this, only mentioning its existence. 
 

EVEN Windows Vista AND Internet Explorer 9 (which many forget) can still receive Updates till 01/2023, by installing Server 2008 SP2 ESU on it. However, as my predecessor already said: Does Internet Explorer 9 even count as a liable browser in 2022? It can‘t even load basic websites now, so that extending it with further Security Updates was kind of unnecessary. 

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i really don't understand why is everyone so obsessed with these "security updates" ?

i use 7 sp1 with patches untill 2015, later when they started integrating telemetry i didn't install a single update
and my OS runs perfect ...

why all the paranoia ?

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 12/7/2022 at 2:08 PM, vinifera said:

i really don't understand why is everyone so obsessed with these "security updates" ?

i use 7 sp1 with patches untill 2015, later when they started integrating telemetry i didn't install a single update
and my OS runs perfect ...

why all the paranoia ?

Taking proper cybersecurity measures is not "obsessed" nor "paranoia." Windows 7 from 2015 is absurdly vulnerable, to the extent of WannaCry being able to ransomware your machine, and any piece of software being able to take full control of your PC with administrative rights, especially on Nvidia with over 29 bugs. Updated Windows is significantly less vulnerable.

That's what you do not seem to grasp in full power, the paramount importance of security. Like, makes me think that until you'll be wrecked by malware extremely badly, get own experience, you'll think "Why should I update? It runs perfect." Do you not install fire alarms with sprinkles against fire too, will you not call firefighters, would you close the eyes in "ignorance is bliss" & drink the tea surrounded by the hungry flames? I was like you too, a long time ago, didn't listen, thought wrongly. Saying "Why should I install counter-fire measures? The house exists perfectly." will never save you from fire in a wooden house, for example. Anyone who have survived through the misfortune of a deadly scary event of having their old electric grid self-fry the wires due to overload,—like, causing fire in the house in the time when their Android phone discharged, left without any help from neighbours, alarms or firefighters, were alone enraging flames,—will always 24/7 remember how actually critical is taking proper measures before fire strikes, how horribly threatening this is when it happens. It's a miracle I survived! If I haven't done the right thing in noticing it in another far-away room in time, in acting fast to water the fire down, or if it had happen at night, I could be dead.

Edited by statsfantasm
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14 minutes ago, statsfantasm said:

That's what you do not seem to grasp in full power, the paramount importance of security. Like, makes me think that until you'll be wrecked by malware extremely badly, get own experience, you'll think "Why should I update? It runs perfect." Do you not install fire alarms with sprinkles against fire too, will you not call firefighters, would you close the eyes in "ignorance is bliss" & drink the tea surrounded by the hungry flames? I was like you too, a long time ago, didn't listen, thought wrongly. Saying "Why should I install counter-fire measures? The house exists perfectly." will never save you from fire in a wooden house, for example. Anyone who have survived through the misfortune of a deadly scary event of having their old electric grid self-fry the wires due to overload,—like, causing fire in the house in the time when their Android phone discharged, left without any help from neighbours, alarms or firefighters, were alone enraging flames,—will always 24/7 remember how actually critical is taking proper measures before fire strikes, how horribly threatening this is when it happens. It's a miracle I survived! If I haven't done the right thing in noticing it in another far-away room in time, in acting fast to water the fire down, or if it had happen at night, I could be dead.

And don't forget, other reasons why you could be dead, a short, non exhaustive list:

floods

lightnings

meteorites

wars

trains derailing

drunk drivers or more generally traffic accidents

robbers and rapists

other crazy people with weapons

slipping in your bathroom

falling from stairs

poison in your food or environment

lethal viruses and bacteria

...

It's a tough world.

jaclaz

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