{"id":17424,"date":"2020-01-14T04:30:04","date_gmt":"2020-01-14T12:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/2020\/01\/14\/news-11160\/"},"modified":"2020-01-14T04:30:04","modified_gmt":"2020-01-14T12:30:04","slug":"news-11160","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/2020\/01\/14\/news-11160\/","title":{"rendered":"Saying goodbye to Windows 7 isn\u2019t easy, but you must"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Credit to Author: Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols| Date: Tue, 14 Jan 2020 03:00:00 -0800<\/strong><\/p>\n

Listen, I get it. Windows 7 has worked really well. After the Vista fiasco<\/a>, you were so happy to get a decent version of Windows. You dodged the Windows 8.x sinkhole<\/a>, and, boy, were you glad! Then, you thought about Windows 10, but 7 just did the job so you stuck with it, and then you felt vindicated because of Windows 10\u2019s dodgy upgrades and patches<\/a>. Now, today, Jan. 14, 2020, Windows 7 has reached its end of life, and either you\u2019ve upgraded to Windows 10<\/a> or you\u2019re working on another Windows 7 alternative like Chrome OS, macOS or Linux<\/a>, right?<\/p>\n

I mean, you\u2019ve moved on. Right?<\/p>\n

Oh, no! What\u2019s this!? According to the most accurate survey of who\u2019s running what on the internet the running totals of the U.S. government\u2019s Digital Analytics Program (DAP)<\/a> \u2014 on Jan. 9, five days before Win7\u2019s end of life, 19% of Windows users were still using Windows 7.<\/p>\n

People, people, people. It\u2019s time to switch. Even the simplest update scenario, upgrading to Windows 10, takes a minimum of three hours. Moving your data and applications to Windows 10 can take anywhere from hours to days. It\u2019s long past time to move. If you want an alternative operating system, it will take you even longer.<\/p>\n

Of course, many companies are simply retiring their old PCs and replacing them with newer models running Windows 10. That\u2019s the easiest way forward. But, as DAP\u2019s numbers show, lots of people still haven\u2019t made the move.<\/p>\n

Indeed, just as in a lame action movie with a bomb countdown, as the clock ticks to zero on Windows 7, I\u2019ve met some people who don\u2019t plan on updating at all. Shudder!<\/em><\/p>\n

They tell me they\u2019ll be fine if they just keep updating their antiviral software. No! Just no! Where to begin?<\/p>\n

First, antivirus (A\/V) programs only protect you against known malware. There\u2019s a lot of new trouble coming along every day. A\/V programs don\u2019t have a great track record of keeping up with the newest and nastiest malware. One of the best, Microsoft Security Essentials, dies on the same day as Windows 7 \u2014 today, remember? Windows Defender Antivirus? It was never available on Windows 7 and it\u2019s sure not going to be ported over now!<\/p>\n

Second, as former Firefox developer Robert O\u2019Callahan<\/a> and Google Chrome\u2019s security chief Justin Schuh<\/a> have pointed out separately, there is a lot of rotten code in A\/V programs. In fact, many developers see A\/V programs as more harmful than helpful. That\u2019s because to protect a system they get so deep into it they can also be easily used as an attack vector.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s also not forget that if something goes wrong and you call for help, it\u2019s doubtful that you\u2019ll get a helping hand for troubleshooting problems on an obsolete operating system.<\/p>\n

Last, but not least, when new security holes are found in Windows 7 \u2014 and they will pop up \u2014 you\u2019ll be wide open to attacks.<\/p>\n

If you really, really must keep running Windows 7, I can only suggest you run it on a virtual machine (VM) without networking on another operating system. I recommend using Oracle VirtualBox<\/a> on Linux Mint<\/a>. It\u2019s what I use for dodgy operating systems. That way you can still run your old apps and be relatively safe.<\/p>\n

Of course, the really smart thing to do if you refuse to leave Windows 7 is to bite the bullet and pay for Windows 7 Extended Security Updates (ESU)<\/a>. If you can get it.<\/p>\n

First, it\u2019s only available for those with Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Enterprise or Windows 7 Ultimate. Windows 7 Home? So sorry, you\u2019re out of luck.<\/p>\n

If you have a small business, you can get ESU, right? Sure! That is, Microsoft claims you can get it via a Microsoft cloud service provider (CSP). In practice, users are saying CSPs don\u2019t want their business<\/a>. They don\u2019t want your custom because if you only need 30 or fewer ESU units<\/a>, they can\u2019t make a profit.<\/p>\n

The bottom line is Microsoft really wants you to move off Windows 7 to Windows 10 right now<\/em>. I know, I know, Windows 7 still works and it\u2019s going to be a major headache to upgrade or migrate, no matter what you do. It always is. Nevertheless, the time has come. Move off Windows 7 today or feel a lot of pain tomorrow.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.computerworld.com\/category\/security\/index.rss<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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Credit to Author: Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols| Date: Tue, 14 Jan 2020 03:00:00 -0800<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Listen, I get it. Windows 7 has worked really well. After the Vista fiasco<\/a>, you were so happy to get a decent version of Windows. You dodged the Windows 8.x sinkhole<\/a>, and, boy, were you glad! Then, you thought about Windows 10, but 7 just did the job so you stuck with it, and then you felt vindicated because of Windows 10\u2019s dodgy upgrades and patches<\/a>. Now, today, Jan. 14, 2020, Windows 7 has reached its end of life, and either you\u2019ve upgraded to Windows 10<\/a> or you\u2019re working on another Windows 7 alternative like Chrome OS, macOS or Linux<\/a>, right?<\/p>\n

To read this article in full, please click here<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[11062,10643],"tags":[714,10525],"class_list":["post-17424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-computerworld","category-independent","tag-security","tag-windows"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17424\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}