Windows 7 End of Support

What Human Rights Defenders need to know:

As most of us might not be aware that Microsoft made a commitment to provide 10 years of product support for Windows 7 when it was released on October 22, 2009. The 10 years came to an end officially on the 14th of January 2020. If you are still using Windows 7, your PC will still work perfectly, except it will be more vulnerable to security risks and viruses. Your PC will continue to start and run, but will no longer receive software updates, including security updates, from Microsoft.

Microsoft has discontinued Windows 7 support so that we can focus our investment on supporting newer technologies and great new experiences.
Microsoft strongly recommends that you move to Windows 10 to avoid a situation where you need service or support that is no longer available.

From Microsoft

With this end of support, customer service and technical support are no longer available to Windows 7 users and other related services for Windows 7 will also be eliminated over time although the system will keep running just like Windows XP still runs today although its support ended on April 8, 2014.

What this means for HRDs:

This means support has ended for Windows 7 operating system hence the legendary OS will not be receiving technical assistance and software updates after end of support and this put machines using the operating system at RISK!

What HRDs need to do:

We recommend you upgrade to a newer version of Windows like Windows 10 which still releases latest security updates that should make you feel safe in the world of prominent cyber-attacks.

Some windows 7 machines might not be able to upgrade to windows 10 although HRDs can also upgrade to later windows, especially Windows 8.1 which still has extended support’ (security patches) until 10 January 2023.

For most Windows 7 users, moving to a new device with Windows 10 is the recommended path forward (in case they are unable to upgrade to neither Windows 10 nor windows 8.1). 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.

Please refer to the table below which shows Microsoft’s lifecycle support clearly.

You can find out more about End of support for windows 7 from the Microsoft Official Website