I’m still on Windows 7 – what should I do?
0Reported today on The Guardian Technology
For the full article visit: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/askjack/2020/jan/16/im-still-on-windows-7-what-should-i-do
I'm still on Windows 7 – what should I do?
Support for Windows 7 has ended, leaving Marcy wondering how they can protect themselves
I do a lot of work on a Windows 7 desktop PC that is about five years old. I'm a widow and can't afford to run out and get a new PC at this time, or pay for Windows 10. If I do stay with Windows 7, what should I worry about, and how can I protect myself? I have been running Kaspersky Total Security for several years, which has worked well so far. Marcy
Microsoft Windows 7 – launched in 2009 – came to the end of its supported life on Tuesday. Despite Microsoft's repeated warnings to Windows 7 users, there may still be a couple of hundred million users, many of them in businesses. What should people do next?
To begin with, Windows 7 will not stop working, it will just stop receiving security updates. Users will therefore be more vulnerable to malware attacks, particularly from "ransomware". We saw how dangerous that can be when WannaCry took over unpatched PCs in the NHS and other places. It was so bad that Microsoft released a patch for XP, even though it was out of support.
There are reasons to be fearful, because of the way the malware industry works.
On the second Tuesday of every month, Microsoft releases security patches that should be installed automatically by Windows Update. The malware industry analyses these patches to find the holes, and then looks for ways to exploit them. A lot of the code in Windows 10 goes back to Windows 7 and earlier versions. As a result, some of the security holes in Windows 10 will also be present in Windows 7, but they won't be patched.
Malware writers don't normally target out-of-date operating systems, because they don't usually have many users. In