Customers asked to change PCs as support for Windows 7 ends

Microsoft has advised its customers that are still using computers with Windows 7 to consider a change to the latest PCs that comes with Windows 10. This came as it the company ended its support for the Windows 7 operating system yesterday (January 14, 2020).

Windows 7 is a personal computer operating system that was produced by Microsoft as part of the Windows NT family of operating systems. It was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generally available on October 22, that year, less than three years after the release of its predecessor, Windows Vista.

“After 10 years, support for Windows 7 comes to an end on January 14, 2020,” Microsoft stated. The changes will affect hundreds of millions of people because more than one-third of PCs use Windows 7, according to NetMarketShare. That is slightly fewer than Windows 10, the most popular PC operating system, which is on about half of the world’s personal computers. Windows 10 is used on 900 million devices, according to recent numbers from Microsoft.

Microsoft said that Windows 7 users can still use their computers after January 14, but the company warns they will be at “greater risk for viruses and malware.”

“While you could continue to use your PC running Windows 7, without continued software and security updates, it will be at greater risk for viruses and malware. Going forward, the best way for you to stay secure is on Windows 10. And the best way to experience Windows 10 is on a new PC. While it is possible to install Windows 10 on your older device, it is not recommended,” Microsoft advised.

The company added that not only are new modern PCs fast (thanks to solid-state drives) and durable with batteries that last longer, the average price for a great PC is considerably less than it was 5-10 years ago.