Get ready for the tears, MS soon to pull the plug on Windows 7

[Garzan]

" Some people have clung to Windows 7 the way Leonardo DiCaprio should've held on to that door in Titanic. Call it a work-related necessity, devotion to a legacy operating system, or just plain stubbornness, but a fair number of Windows 7 users have simply refused to update to Windows 10. They'll only be able to do that for another year, though, because that's when Microsoft will do its best Kate Winslet impression by leaving all those people behind. "

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/windows-7-one-year-to-live,38435.html

(long past time to turn off life support.)

 

[cyfruil]

I wonder if i can get hold of the extended security uppdates from work. They should be released until 2022.

[Mr Wombat]

Yes. But we have saved shit loads along the way sticking to our 10 year old laptops.

Mine still works fine. Can I upgrade to the new windows on my old machine or do I have to bury it

[Garzan]

27 minutes ago, Mr Wombat said:

Yes. But we have saved shit loads along the way sticking to our 10 year old laptops.

Mine still works fine. Can I upgrade to the new windows on my old machine or do I have to bury it

 

I have a bit of bias, but I'd say 'put Ubuntu* on it and call it new'. If there isn't some critical application you need, Firefox/Chrome under Windows is the same as Firefox/Chrome under OSX, is the same as Firefox/Chrome under Linux. 

*Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'not technical enough to be able to install Debian. :-) 555

Unless you have to have "X" specific program, that only runs on Windows and doesn't work with the Crossover emulator to run Windows apps on Mac or Linux, and there isn't a comparable non-Windows replacement, I'd just change to a less resource intensive, and free OS. And very much unlike Windows, you can try several Linux distributions on your own hardware without writing anything to the hard drive. Trying out Windows 10 isn't so easy hardware wise, and is much more expensive to do legally.

[ocka]

Pleased to say I will be retired before this one hits.  Others will experience the two years of pointless cascading miserable soul destroying drudgery that a windows platform change imposes on my workplace.  I shall be sitting by the pool having a beer.

At home I switched to windows 10 when I was finally forced to leave XP.

 

[CuppaTea]

4 hours ago, Garzan said:

I have a bit of bias, but I'd say 'put Ubuntu* on it and call it new'. If there isn't some critical application you need, Firefox/Chrome under Windows is the same as Firefox/Chrome under OSX, is the same as Firefox/Chrome under Linux. 

*Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'not technical enough to be able to install Debian. :-) 555

Unless you have to have "X" specific program, that only runs on Windows and doesn't work with the Crossover emulator to run Windows apps on Mac or Linux, and there isn't a comparable non-Windows replacement, I'd just change to a less resource intensive, and free OS. And very much unlike Windows, you can try several Linux distributions on your own hardware without writing anything to the hard drive. Trying out Windows 10 isn't so easy hardware wise, and is much more expensive to do legally.

If you're an existing Windows user, say with W7 I think you can still update to Windows 10 for free.

A friend of mine used this link to do that recently so it may still work.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

Edited January 15, 2019 by CuppaTea

[Garzan]

2 hours ago, CuppaTea said:

If you're an existing Windows user, say with W7 I think you can still update to Windows 10 for free.

You made me look. :-) So hardware wise, Windows install will still typically overwrite your existing drive and install a fresh copy. You ~may~ still be able to get the upgrade free, even though the free upgrade program officially expired several years ago. https://www.zdnet.com/article/heres-how-you-can-still-get-a-free-windows-10-upgrade/

What I meant by not so easy hardware wise is that unless you have a spare drive to swap into your old computer to try the test to see if it will run on your old hardware, you're going to overwrite your existing install. So if it doesn't want to run when you finish, you end up being screwed, and not in a fun Pattaya way. Linux has a boot from DVD/USB option. Windows doesn't. 

[davidge]

When plug is pulled I’ll dump my PC, buy my first iMac and move completely over to Apple.

Use iPad for nearly everything now anyway.

[ShaneFalco]

I still miss windows 3.11

[Taa_Saparot]

I am sticking with Windows 7.

[Garzan]

2 minutes ago, Taa_Saparot said:

I am sticking with Windows 7.

Several reasons why that is a bad idea, but of course, it's totally your choice. :-)

[Garzan]

8 hours ago, ShaneFalco said:

I still miss windows 3.11

555 I sure don't. I do sometimes miss msdos without a GUI (Windows+Icons+Menus+Pointers=WIMP) but there are current command line OS that are much more convienient than msdos ever was. :-) It would be really tough to be forced back into 8.3 for file names.

[Srirachapocalypse]

Ubuntu will let you do a dual install and keep your windows 7 untouched so you don't lose all your stuff, and unlike windows which pretends it cannot see any other operating systems on a drive, Ubuntu sees your windows partition just fine and will let you access it. Your mileage will vary, but many windows programs run just fine using one of the windows emulators in Linux, wine comes to mind as one I've used in the past. That being said, at least for me on my 10 year old POS computer, I find that World Of Warcraft doesn't run for shit using WINE in when booted up to Ubunto. I'm told that perhaps if I installed VMWare and ran windows as a guest OS it might work better, but I haven't done that as I'm maxed out with 8GB of ram on this punk, and I'm not sure I can get away with a base and guest OS plus WoW running at the same time. Actually I really need to stop being a CC and get a new windows box optimized for WoW, and then leave this one as a Linux box that will do all the other things I need a computer to do. 

[Garzan]

5 minutes ago, Srirachapocalypse said:

I find that World Of Warcraft doesn't run for shit using WINE in when booted up to Ubunto

You might give Codeweavers Crossover a try. They do allow a demo to see if it works for you, but if it does, you'll have another Frugal Charles decision to make. :-)

https://www.codeweavers.com/compatibility/crossover/world-of-warcraft

Crossover is optimized wine.

 

Edited January 16, 2019 by Garzan

[manb00]

Or you can pay the 4$ for a grayware key for windows 10 pro on ebay.  These work like a charm.

[Decrue]

I would imagine not updating would end up causing security issues, but unfortunately you don't really seem to have an option nowadays

I just wish the win10 updates weren't so irritating

[Taa_Saparot]

21 minutes ago, Decrue said:

I just wish the win10 updates weren't so irritating

Latest version, you will be allowed to delay for a week.

[Garzan]

I suppose I shouldn't mention I've been in the Windows Insider early updates program for years. :-) 555 TBH, I don't do early updates on my desktop or my daughter's laptop, but my laptop and tv box are both on the early update schedule. What is this 'delay' you talk about? 555 lol. 

[Billy Shears]

I'm running windows 7, if I update to 10 do I lose all my content, or does it get transferred over? 

[Mognam]

52 minutes ago, Decrue said:

I just wish the win10 updates weren't so irritating

yes, I've found this to be the biggest issue with Windows 10.  They take ages and usually happen when you don't want them to.  Also had updates fucking things up (e.g. using my printer) then have to wait for another update to fix the fuck up.

[Decrue]

23 minutes ago, WhiteThai said:

I'm running windows 7, if I update to 10 do I lose all my content, or does it get transferred over? 

Should do but you never know,  but I would back it up just to be safe

Plenty of free sites with free storage

[Decrue]

46 minutes ago, Taa_Saparot said:

Latest version, you will be allowed to delay for a week.

That's good to know

It's a pain especially if you don't use the laptop often 

[Srirachapocalypse]

1 hour ago, Garzan said:

I suppose I shouldn't mention I've been in the Windows Insider early updates program for years. :-) 555

Hah nice. I've been a unix admin since the late 90's and my default is to use linux unless something won't run well on it just because it's more comfortable for me than windows. Being able to avoid the family tech support "oh you're into computers, can you fix my windows 10 upgrade that went to shit?" is one of the things I'm looking forward to with retirement in Thailand 4-5 years from now. I'm not really a windows guy, and it's hard to explain that to regular peeps.

 

For me windows machines are for games as I do find for the most part games and multimedia do run best on windows, and until my killer apps don't run or the OS becomes unstable/unsupported I tend to only do things like replace video cards (3 in the last 10 years) after maxing out RAM. But I do see a need to keep a windows box around.

Edited January 16, 2019 by Srirachapocalypse

[CyberPro]

22 hours ago, Mr Wombat said:

Yes. But we have saved shit loads along the way sticking to our 10 year old laptops.

Mine still works fine. Can I upgrade to the new windows on my old machine or do I have to bury it

Check the hardware requirements or just do a test upgrade. If Win7 meets your needs, save yourself headaches by sticking with it as long as you can...IMO

18 hours ago, ocka said:

At home I switched to windows 10 when I was finally forced to leave XP.

XP (or applications running on XP) still get MS updates, whether you choose that or not. One might suggest that no one is forced to leave XP, there are just cost/risk decisions to be made. Is a known or potential security risk enough to "force" an upgrade?

15 hours ago, Garzan said:

What I meant by not so easy hardware wise is that unless you have a spare drive to swap into your old computer to try the test to see if it will run on your old hardware, you're going to overwrite your existing install.

There are users who don't have imaged spare hard drives ready to pop in for disaster recovery? How strange.

14 hours ago, ShaneFalco said:

I still miss windows 3.11

Crisp, fast, usable desktop icons. Minimal fluff slowing things down. What's there not to like? MS probably just hired some really BAD graphics designers while Apple chose a visually more attractive user interface...IMO.

2 hours ago, WhiteThai said:

I'm running windows 7, if I update to 10 do I lose all my content, or does it get transferred over? 

Unless your current OS/Applications are corrupt in some way...you should use nothing. Just to be safe, copy it off the hard drive 1st.

Edited January 16, 2019 by CyberPro

[Kahoy]

23 hours ago, Mr Wombat said:

Yes. But we have saved shit loads along the way sticking to our 10 year old laptops.

Mine still works fine. Can I upgrade to the new windows on my old machine or do I have to bury it

It's unlikely to work on the old hardware.

22 hours ago, Garzan said:

I have a bit of bias, but I'd say 'put Ubuntu* on it and call it new'. If there isn't some critical application you need, Firefox/Chrome under Windows is the same as Firefox/Chrome under OSX, is the same as Firefox/Chrome under Linux. 

*Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'not technical enough to be able to install Debian. :-) 555

Unless you have to have "X" specific program, that only runs on Windows and doesn't work with the Crossover emulator to run Windows apps on Mac or Linux, and there isn't a comparable non-Windows replacement, I'd just change to a less resource intensive, and free OS. And very much unlike Windows, you can try several Linux distributions on your own hardware without writing anything to the hard drive. Trying out Windows 10 isn't so easy hardware wise, and is much more expensive to do legally.

+1 for Ubuntu. I'd use a VM like Virtual Box before I'd consider emulators. Of course you'd need the original installable media. 

15 hours ago, davidge said:

When plug is pulled I’ll dump my PC, buy my first iMac and move completely over to Apple.

Use iPad for nearly everything now anyway.

That's a good move. I use a mac for work but I prefer Ubuntu. If you want a system that just works and doesn't fight you in upgrades them Mac is the way to go.

14 hours ago, ShaneFalco said:

I still miss windows 3.11

I'm so old I started coding on dos 2.0. Remember Leisure Suit Larry and the boss key?

6 hours ago, Garzan said:

555 I sure don't. I do sometimes miss msdos without a GUI (Windows+Icons+Menus+Pointers=WIMP) but there are current command line OS that are much more convienient than msdos ever was. :-) It would be really tough to be forced back into 8.3 for file names.

If I had to use 8.3 I'd need about 53 subdirs everywhere but I'd go mad. I deliberately make my file names descriptive otherwise I'd forget what they were for.

2 hours ago, WhiteThai said:

I'm running windows 7, if I update to 10 do I lose all my content, or does it get transferred over? 

There's about a 99% chance the hardware won't support an upgrade to win 10.

For old hardware I'd go with Ubuntu. The only caveat would be software that you need for work like Photoshop. If you really reply on such software you should be using a mac anyway IMO.

Edited January 16, 2019 by Kahoy