Why Windows 7 Will Not Drop Dead.

[Geek-9pm]

MS said: After January 14, 2020, Microsoft will no longer provide security updates or support for PCs with Windows 7. Upgrade to Windows 10 now to keep your ...

Really?

Go ahead, Google it.
Why Windows 7 Will Not Drop Dead.

Just one of many:
https://www.computerworld.com/article/3304309/microsoft-plans-to-sell-post-2020-support-for-windows-7.html

Or Linux?
https://linux.slashdot.org/story/19/04/07/2111218/why-arent-people-abandoning-windows-for-linux

Here is a company that will sell your their plan:
https://www.praim.com/en/windows-7-end-of-life-3/

There are third-party firms that will provide security for windows 7 in the coming years.
Just think about it. 

OK, just one more link:
https://windowsreport.com/use-windows-7-forever/

However, you can still continue enjoying the Windows 7 OS by using certain tips and tricks.
And in this guide,  we are going to be showing you what you can do to use Windows 7 forever and never install Windows 10.
Windows 7 is somewhat the preferred OS choice of most computer users across the globe.
It is durable enough to run low-end operations, while also optimized to execute high-end functions, with near-perfection.
Its flexibility makes it ideal for all classes of computers, and many people see it as the best Windows version, with little regard for the newer versions (Win 8/8.1/10).

How about you?

[DaveLembke]

I'm sort of handling Windows 7 the same way I did XP.

I still run XP and plan to run Windows 7, but just not for anything that could bite me if there was a vulnerability that the XP and 7 systems were open to. So offline games etc I still play on XP and 7, but making online purchases and banking I feel more trust in Windows 10.

In regards to Linux... I do run a Linux Mint system with 19.2 Cinnamon 64-bit but because I game and require DirectX driver support for best performance gaming, I am on the Windows systems most of the time.

For someone who doesn't game or is happy with Linux based games, Linux might be a good alternative, however then there is the issues with printer and scanner support to scan or print documents to which the last time I went to connect a HP printer to Mint version 13 it didnt work very well. With Windows 10 able to be installed without a key required, people can stick with Windows and avoid Linux and not pay money if they don't buy an activation and don't mind some disabled personalization features of 10. It will be interesting if they ever roll out an update with activation required or system locks up tight like all prior Windows versions that weren't activated going back to at least XP with the 30-day trial without activation then no longer usable.

[Geek-9pm]

Maybe this is a joke. I am not sure.
Microsoft will start selling Windows 7 extended security updates April 1

Since some enterprise customers will find it difficult to move all their PCs to Windows 10 before January 14, 2020, To support such customers, Microsoft last year announced that it will offer paid Windows 7 Extended Security Updates (ESU) through January 2023.
Microsoft will make Windows 7 ESUs available to all Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Enterprise customers in Volume Licensing, with a discount to customers with Windows software assurance, Windows 10 Enterprise or Windows 10 Education subscriptions.

That was posted back on Mar 7, 2019. 

[pearlparadox]

I love my windows 7 computer, but until today I really struggled with printing from my HP printer for my very much older Medical Manager version 9 software program. Thanks to a great computer consultant, I was directed to  change my HP driver to PLC5 from PLC6. What a relief now! The trick was to download the HP PCL5 driver, then  "add" a dummy printer with the PLC5 driver to select this better PCL5 printer driver option. The PCL5 driver can then be selected from the already installed faltering HP printers.  From the installed printer's "advanced" options, change to the HP PLC5 driver. What a miracle! Now that I can print my medical manager version 9 reports from my windows 7 computer's attached HP printer!   I do not intend to ever let my windows 7 computer die!

[DaveLembke]

I do not intend to ever let my windows 7 computer die!

Sounds like this computer is very important. A client of mine has software made around Windows 95 that he cant do without that doesn't play well with Windows 7 or 10, but it plays well with XP.

When his computer died he had 3 options.

- Buy newer software that would work with Windows 10
- Buy a same make/model computer and migrate the healthy hard drive over to that system
- Run a Windows XP Virtual Machine environment on a refurb or new Windows 7 build.

He chose to run the software in a virtual machine environment on a newer Windows 7 laptop that supported running a Windows XP virtual machine. And I worked the magic to migrate that build to a virtual machine for him to be able to use it for his office.

Because he uses this system offline from the internet he could run it without worry of vulnerabilities which are mostly vulnerabilities that require an internet connection to get infected or compromised.

If the computer is not connected to the internet then drastically less worries with lack of security updates, because 99.9% of any future vulnerabilities will be ones that were engineered to exploit a system that is online.

You might want to have a system handy that is ready to be used in the event that the main older system dies on you. Also regular backups of data so that in the event that a hard drive dies you can restore the latest backup to that spare system and be back up and running if its critical that you have this system available to you for your work.