Getting Ready for Windows 7’s Exit

The day that many people are dreading is fast approaching: Microsoft is ending extended support for Windows 7 as January 2020, which means that it will no longer be providing updates and fixes to the extremely popular and widely used operating system. What you may not have realized was that Microsoft actually ended mainstream support for 7 back in 2015, which was when it stopped developing new features for the OS, and stopped taking support calls from users about Windows 7. It’s a testament to the stability and relative security that it’s still in wide use essentially on the eve of it’s retirement, but like all good things, it has to come to an end.

Don’t panic. You have options, but inaction is not one of them.

The primary question I am asked when briefing clients about retiring Windows 7 in their organizations is whether they should upgrade their existing machines, or buy new ones. The simple answer to this, though definitely not the one they necessarily like to hear, is that buying new computers built for Windows 10 are, dollar for dollar, a better investment than upgrading older PCs. Of course there are exceptions, but keep in mind that most PCs that still have a factory-installed Windows 7 OS are likely 3-4 years old at this point, as computers started shipping with Windows 10 mid-2015.

If you’d like to evaluate whether or not your computer is worthy of upgrading versus replacing, consider these factors:

• If your computer is still covered by a warranty, it’s worth considering an upgrade over replacing it.
• Is your computer older than 4 years? Definitely consider replacing, as many of the hardware parts are actually approaching physical end of life and are more likely to fail, regardless of OS.
• Is your CPU an Intel processor 4th generation or higher? Older CPUs will not fair well with Windows 10.
• Do you have at least 4GB of RAM? No? Don’t bother. Four GB is the bare minimum, and 8GB is recommended.
• Running a lot of older applications that you can’t update or upgrade? Upgrading to Windows 10 will likely break those apps. If your business depends on apps that are unsupported on Windows 10, you and I need to have a different discussion.

Even though it’s technically possible to upgrade just about any computer running at least an Intel Core processor (i3, i5 and i7) and 4GB of RAM, there is still a certain amount of work involved in going through this process (which I will detail in next week’s blog). Even if upgrading to Windows 10 results in a functional computer, you are only delaying the inevitable replacement of the device. Still, this is an acceptable path if your short-term budget cannot cover an immediate replacement and you have a longer-term plan to replace the device. On later model PCs, installing Windows 10 can result in some performance gains as well as definite security improvements, but PC’s 4 years and older rarely improve in performance, and the short-term gains are typically overwhelmed the longer that PC is used in any business-critical environment.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay