Windows 7 was launched way back in 2009, with a promise that Microsoft would continue supporting the software for 10 years. You don’t need to be a maths genius to work out that now, in 2019, those 10 years are up. Microsoft has announced that they will cease supporting Windows 7 on 14th January 2020.

You may have already noticed that Microsoft is pushing notifications to your desktop if you are one of those affected by this announcement. Don’t ignore them, think about how you can protect yourself when support for your system ends.

This is known as End of Life, which basically means that Microsoft will no longer be providing patches and security updates (in fact they stopped actively developing Windows 7 in 2015, meaning that whilst they would provide security updates, they would no longer be developing new features). If a hacker discovers a new vulnerability in the software, they will be free to exploit that weakness and Microsoft will not issue an update to block that hole in your defences.

To best protect yourself, your best bet is to look at upgrading your system or, better still, replace old equipment with new, Windows 10 ready workstations. Indeed, this is the route most favoured by Microsoft themselves:

“For most Windows 7 users, moving to a new device with Windows 10 will be the recommended path forward. Today’s PCs are faster, lightweight yet powerful, and more secure, with an average price that’s considerably less than that of the average PC eight years ago.


Why not ask us about how we can help you deploy new systems and keep your cyber safe past January next year.

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