![]() ![]() ![]() Windows 8.1 is a terrible choice to migrate to. Good news for SoftMaker customers: SoftMaker Office is available for all the aforementioned platforms. Some users may even decide to ditch desktop computing altogether and move to a mobile device running Android. Another choice is to move away from Windows altogether, to an alternative operating system such as macOS or Linux. However, Windows 10 is far from being the only option. ![]() In spite of what Microsoft has claimed in the past, free in-place upgrades are still possible (or at least they were when this article was written) using the Windows 10 Media Creation Tool. Microsoft suggests Windows 10 as the obvious upgrade path. Some choose to buy extended support from Microsoft, supplying them with exclusive security patches – at prices far beyond the reach of home users and small-business owners. This situation affects hospitals and similar institutions with highly-specialized equipment. Some corporate customers may not be able to move away from Windows 7 due to legacy hardware or software. However, this approach is both cumbersome and risky – one slip-up can make all efforts futile. Extreme measures can reduce the attack surface, such as disconnecting Windows 7 machines from all networks or setting up hardware firewalls with extreme filtering rules. Anti-virus protection can mitigate the dangers, but there is no guarantee that they will be able to block low-level attacks. Home users need to make sure that they have switched away from Windows 7 well before the cut-off date. Most corporate users already have a strategy in place: If you are still using a Windows 7 machine at work, consult your IT department for their migration schedule. Get ready for changeĮven though Windows 7 is still supported until January, affected users should start planning their migration today – or yesterday. This is likely to repeat itself with Windows 7. Then they checked whether Windows XP shared the same weakness and wrote malware to exploit it, safe in the knowledge that Windows XP users would not be protected from their attacks. Malware developers analyzed these fixes to find out which issues they addressed. Ironically, Microsoft's critical fixes for newer Windows versions quickly became a security problem for Windows XP users. Anti-virus vendors gradually phased Windows XP support over the following months the developers of most other applications followed suit. Since then, Microsoft has issued only three critical patches for Windows XP. Microsoft has done this before, most notably with Windows XP.Įxtended support for Windows XP ended in 2014. From that date onward, home and small-business users will be cut off from Windows 7 security patches. Extended support means that Windows 7 is only receiving critical security fixes.Īt the beginning of 2020, even this tenuous life line will be cut. Windows 7 is already on "extended support " mainstream support expired five years ago. When Microsoft first warned users that extended support for Windows 7 would end in January of 2020, some reacted with boasts and derision: "Why should this faze me? I've never contacted Microsoft for support, anyway!" However, Microsoft has a different concept of "support."įor Microsoft, "support" means supplying their software or operating system (OS) with updates to fix issues. Let's clear up a common misunderstanding first. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |