Windows 7 - is this the end?

[terminal7]

I have a desktop and a laptop running Win 7 - both about 8/9 years old. As many will know - all support etc will be withdrawn from early 2020.

The computers are used for fairly straightforward tasks - such as using Word, Excel and PPP. In addition, they are used extensively for financial transactions and reading news sites via the internet (wifi).

I am being 'told' that my existing hardware will not be able to be upgraded to use Win 10. The only way to be 'safe' will be to replace my tower (for the desktop) and the laptop. This involves a not insubstantial amount of money to replace equipment that is functioning well. Putting aside the environmental implications (some may want to discuss) of scrapping equipment that works, would it be foolhardy of me to continue with my existing equipment? Clearly I have noted the growing number of sites that require Win 10 or function poorly with Win 7.

All comments welcome - but go gently as I am not particularly computer savvy.

T7 (maybe I should change to T10!)

[Stonge]

I would install Raspbian Linux on the laptop and use it for Internet access.

I would disconnect the W7 computer from the Internet and use it locally. If it breaks there are loads of W7 PCs available from somewhere like Morgan or Amazon.

I am faced with similar decisions though I have already moved to Raspbian Linux (hated Mint but YMMV) on my ancient netbook, and also have a Raspberry Pi 3B which I also use as a desktop running Chromium and Thunderbird with an old monitor. Thinking of upgrading to the Pi 4b when they sort out the niggles. Sticking with the Raspbian ecosystem as I think it has a future.

My main PC is W7, which I suppose I will have to do something about soon, probably just stay off the Internet while I think about what to do with a W10 PC that I acquired last year and don't use. I haven't updated the W7 PC for ages, which is a bit naughty but I only visit a limited number of legitimate sites. I vet emails on the netbook, esp anything in the junk folder, which is everything not on the whitelist.

I mainly use the W7 for photo editing and printing, and scanning documents before shredding and sometimes printing copies of documents. I don't play games or listen/stream music or movies.

Are the latest versions of Firefox incompatible with W7? I hadn't noticed this.

I'm writing this on my Pi 3b and chromium. Raspbian desktop has a few glitches occasionally on the 3b but is perfectly usable.

[Infrasonic]

Post your PC specs, make, model no's, amount of RAM et al.

I look after a couple of PC's as old as yours with pretty humble specs that run W10 with no major problems, (I did put cheap [£25-£50] SSD's into them though which makes a world of difference to performance when compared to a traditional spinning hard drive [HDD]).

There's an entire thread dedicated to Linux (with the all pluses and minuses) over here...viewtopic.php?f=39&t=237

[Lanark]

Try installing Linux Mint on one of them and see how you get on.

^ This and then if you hate Linux its time to buy a new machine or disconnect it from the internet.

Support for W7 ends on January 14th (last patch day)
On February 11th the first security patches for Windows 10 will be released that dont exist for Windows 7 - thats the date at which it becomes super vulnerable.

[mutantpoodle]

apologies in advance BUT

above posts suggest staying off the internet....why?

just because 7 is not supported....so long as you have a good antivirus/firewall...what is the problem?

[newlyretired]

I look after a couple of PC's as old as yours with pretty humble specs that run W10 with no major problems, (I did put cheap [£25-£50] SSD's into them though which makes a world of difference to performance when compared to a traditional spinning hard drive [HDD]).

I have just moved my desktop PC from W7 to W10

Please could you elaborate on what is involved in installing an SSD

Thanks

nelyretired

[xeny]

just because 7 is not supported....so long as you have a good antivirus/firewall...what is the problem?

Because AV depends on "signatures" - it's not going to have the signature of every piece of malware in the world, and always will be behind the most recently release exploits - it's unrealistic to expect AV to catch everything.

[xeny]

I am being 'told' that my existing hardware will not be able to be upgraded to use Win 10. )

This may well be bunkum - I've yet to encounter a machine that 10 won't run on that 7 did, although I have met a couple of situations where I ended up replacing components, typically either disks or video cards, and I've now dealt with somewhere in the four figures of migrations.

I'd 2nd the poster above - what are the machines?

[xeny]

Please could you elaborate on what is involved in installing an SSD

nelyretired

Simplistically -

buy SSD
copy contents of existing drive to SSD (you may need a disk caddy to connect both drives at once if a laptop) Some posher drives come with a copying tool, some people use Macrium Reflect.
Unplug old drive
plug new drive in.
Optionally - wipe old drive and use it in external case for backup.

It's roughly 20 minutes of doing stuff, and depending on how much stuff you have an hour or two of waiting for it to copy.

[Infrasonic]

I look after a couple of PC's as old as yours with pretty humble specs that run W10 with no major problems, (I did put cheap [£25-£50] SSD's into them though which makes a world of difference to performance when compared to a traditional spinning hard drive [HDD]).

I have just moved my desktop PC from W7 to W10

Please could you elaborate on what is involved in installing an SSD

Thanks

nelyretired

Simply (and quickly) to avoid derailing the thread too much, you can 'clone' your old HDD using something like Macrium Reflect (free edition is fine), or backup your HDD and 'restore' to the SSD using Macrium (I've never done this one, others have), or 'clean Install' W10 using the MCT route (USB Flash drive) to the new SSD.
The last one will give you a pristine install but you'll have to set it all up again with your preferred third party apps. and W10 settings (unless you have them saved as part of your Microsoft account backup settings, but even that isn't a complete backup).
There's a list of relevant tutorials here covering this and other topics...https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/id- ... n_Upgrade/
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/id-Backup_Restore/

[terminal7]

Thanks all the fools who responded - though I did have a sinking feeling at times.

The tower is:

Intel (R) Celeron (R) CPU G1620@ 2.70 Ghz
Ram - 4GB
64 bit op System

T7

[Infrasonic]

Thanks all the fools who responded - though I did have a sinking feeling at times.

The tower is:

Intel (R) Celeron (R) CPU G1620@ 2.70 Ghz
Ram - 4GB
64 bit op System

T7

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cp ... Hz&id=1848

Should be fine but if you can post the actual make and model number of the tower (so we can check the motherboard specs as well), just to be belt and braces about it.

[swill453]

The tower is:

Intel (R) Celeron (R) CPU G1620@ 2.70 Ghz
Ram - 4GB
64 bit op System

FYI I'm happily running Windows 10 on a Celeron-based PC that's older and with half the CPU benchmark value of yours.

8GB memory though, and fitting an SSD did give it a zippier feeling overall.

Scott.

[Breelander]

The tower is:
Intel (R) Celeron (R) CPU G1620@ 2.70 Ghz
Ram - 4GB
64 bit op

The laptop I am responding to you with took the upgrade to W10 back in 2015 when W10 was released. It has:
Intel (R) Pentium CPU B950 @2.1 Ghz
Ram - 4GB
64 bit OS

It's still got its original HDD, but even so feels snappier under W10 than it did with W7. And its benchmark is lower than yours, 1715 vs 2576. You should have no problems running W10 - I don't.

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/In ... 1848vs1094


The upgrade to W10 is still free. Make a system image with Macrium Reflect Free before you try upgrading, then you have a backup you could restore should you not like it.

[mc2fool]

I am being 'told' that my existing hardware will not be able to be upgraded to use Win 10.

Is it the Windows 10 compatibility tool (was known as the Get Windows 10 App, IIRC) that's telling you that? If so it should list what is and isn't compatible, and so should give you an idea of what you'd need to change/upgrade....

[terminal7]

CSL computer
No model number apparent

T7

[terminal7]

Is it the Windows 10 compatibility tool (was known as the Get Windows 10 App, IIRC) that's telling you that?

No - just what I read.

T7

[Itsallaguess]

Is it the Windows 10 compatibility tool (was known as the Get Windows 10 App, IIRC) that's telling you that?

No - just what I read.

Are you able to tell us where you 'read' that your current hardware 'will not be able to be upgraded to use Windows 10' though?

It would be helpful to know this, as depending on the source of that specific information, the answers you get here might be more or less relevant with regards to your current situation.

Looking at the Microsoft site, where they do clearly explain the minimum basic requirements for Windows 10 compatibility, we can see the following items listed -

These are the basic requirements for installing Windows 10 on a PC. If your device does not meet these requirements, you may not have as great an experience with Windows 10 and might want to consider purchasing a new PC.

• Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster processor or System on a Chip (SoC)
  
• RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) for 32-bit or 2 GB for 64-bit
  
• Hard drive space: 16 GB for 32-bit OS 32 GB for 64-bit OS
  
• Graphics card: DirectX 9 or later with WDDM 1.0 driver
  
• Display: 800x600
  
• Internet Connection: Internet connectivity is necessary to perform updates and to download and take advantage of some features.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/windows-10-specifications#primaryR2

In the absence of any further detailed information regarding your PC model numbers, I think you'll need to compare each of the above line-item requirements against the particular configuration on your PC's.

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[mc2fool]

Is it the Windows 10 compatibility tool (was known as the Get Windows 10 App, IIRC) that's telling you that?

No - just what I read.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_other-windows_install/windows-7-81-10-compatibility-testing-for-windows/310e06a4-b181-45ec-ae6d-ee93a1632932

and

https://www.tenforums.com/installation-upgrade/132642-application-will-check-compatibility-all-existing-hardware.html

both seem to refer to the tool you can use to check if your PC can run Windows 10.

[Lootman]

just because 7 is not supported....so long as you have a good antivirus/firewall...what is the problem?

Because AV depends on "signatures" - it's not going to have the signature of every piece of malware in the world, and always will be behind the most recently release exploits - it's unrealistic to expect AV to catch everything.

I wondered the same thing. I have a W7 machine that is low end, and it did successfully upgrade to W10. But then it says it can no longer apply updates due to a lack of disk space.

I can't be bothered to buy a larger disk for it as the machine only cost me 200 quid, and I have 2 others anyway. But my point is that I have been running it on out-of-date software for about 8 months, and it hasn't misbehaved yet. It is secured by Window Security and McAffee - nothing else.

If it lets me down I will throw it away and buy a new one. I don't have a problem with doing that at all. It's just an appliance.