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Windows 7 users might finally decide to upgrade soon. Windows Latest today reported that a leaked build of Windows 11 suggests Microsoft plans to offer a free upgrade to the next significant update to the operating system when it debuts.A caveat: This is based on a configuration package in a leaked build of an operating system that hasn't officially been announced yet. Microsoft's plans could have changed, or it may have planned for the upgrade to be paid all along. Windows Latest said its claim was "based on the configuration keys found within Pkeyconfig (product key configuration package) in the...

Just bought a new Windows 10 PC for downstairs where I am much of the day but am still using a 6 year old Dell Windows 7 with IE upstairs in the evening . Twitter and other sites no longer support IE so I would like your advice re: a new browser . Thanks in advance .

Microsoft officially ended support for its one-time flagship operating system, Windows 7, at the start of 2020. As the year draws to a close, I ran the numbers to see how many PCs are still running this unsupported OS. Spoiler: It's a big number...With a heartfelt nod to Monty Python, Windows 7 would like you all to know that it's not dead yet.A year after Microsoft officially ended support for its long-running OS, a small but determined population of PC users would rather fight than switch. How many? No one knows for sure, but that number has shrunk substantially in...

Users rage, rage against the dying of the light (and support) It's not only end of support that Windows 7 diehards have to contend with. Late last week a new problem emerged – systems that refuse to shut down.Complaints have been widespread on Reddit, Microsoft's official Answers forum and on on SevenForums. Some users also reported other issues, such as not being able to view their documents folder in Explorer.Fortunately the problem seems to be fixable in most cases. The favourite solution is to tweak the UAC (User Account Control) settings with the Group Policy setting "Run all administrators in...

The Free Software Foundation really set the bar high there Good news everybody! The Free Software Foundation has blown through its self-imposed target of 7,777 signatories in its efforts to persuade Microsoft to make Windows 7 open source.We noted last week the GNU-gang's attempt to coax the born-again open-sourcerer formerly known as "The Beast Of Redmond" into making a surprise deposit into GitHub.The thinking was that since Windows 7 has now come to the end of the road, as far as free security updates are concerned, then perhaps Microsoft might release it as open software?We put it to the Free...

Deadlines are scary. I know. And Microsoft has thrown Windows 7 users a big one: Update to a more modern operating system by January 15, 2020, or you’ll never receive security updates ever again. Eventually, Microsoft will even start disabling key Windows 7 services—like Internet Backgammon and Internet Checkers—throughout the year. I’m being a little lighthearted about this, but Microsoft’s abandonment of Windows 7 is a cause of concern for many. Lifehacker reader Douglas recently wrote in with this question: “I was reading your writeup regarding Windows 7 and I really cannot afford to upgrade at this exact moment. Is...

I am familiar with Windows 7 and do not like Windows 10 shell, but I just switched to 10, and made it look just like 7. So now I can get Microsoft update support for many years, while the support for Windows 7 stops on January 14, 2020 making it more vulnerable to hacking after that date. The process was smooth and I like the results so far.

Here's how to successfully UPGRADE your Windows 7 system to Windows 10 for FREE! This video takes you though the process from start to finish including several obstacles to over come that you could face. This upgrade Works for ALL versions of Windows 7. And you may only have a couple of weeks to get the FREE upgrade to Windows10, as Microsoft will cease making updates available as of 14th January 2020 as part of it's Windows 7 end of life programme which could also mean Microsoft shuts down it's Windows 7 upgrade servers. So if you have been putting...

I have IE 11 in both my PCs and am finding it increasingly difficult to use some websites . Even Facebook says that my browser will soon not be usable on that site . I don't want to install Windows 10 , so , to those who are still using Windows 7 , which browser do you recommend ? Any other advice ? Thanks in advance !

I have options, but not enough knowledge.

Requesting feedback for a distribution of Linux to install on a spare PC. The PC has a 4th Gen Intel i5 processor, 8GB RAM, and a 1 TB hard drive, so I should be good to go. While I used UNIX a lot during my 30+ year career, I have minimal Linux experience.

Windows 7 support lifecycle Microsoft made a commitment to provide 10 years of product support for Windows 7 when it was released on October 22, 2009. When this 10-year period ends, Microsoft will discontinue Windows 7 support so that we can focus our investment on supporting newer technologies and great new experiences. The specific end of support day for Windows 7 will be January 14, 2020. After that, technical assistance and software updates from Windows Update that help protect your PC will no longer be available for the product. Microsoft strongly recommends that you move to Windows 10 sometime before...

So when I went to turn off my Windows7 machine last night, I got the warning not to turn it off because it was doing updates, so I left it going and went to sleep. In the morning, it took forever to start, but it did start. I looked at Dilbert and turned it off normally. Now I've come home and the startup didn't complete after ten minutes or so, so I turned it off and then turned it on again. The system suggested "Startup Repair" so I took that option and after a while, it asked if I wanted...

Microsoft says it'll offer free security updates through the 2020 election in the United States — and in other interested democratic countries with national elections next year — for federally certified voting systems running on soon-to-be-outdated Windows 7 software.

I have Windows 7. The Microsoft Office Starter 2010 stopped working last night with a pop up window - "This version of Microsoft Application Virtualization is incompatible with this version of Microsoft Office lick-to-Run. For more information, contact your system administrator."

This month's Security-only update package for Windows 7 includes an unexpected compatibility/telemetry component that has some skeptical users up in arms. As expected, Windows Update dropped off several packages of security and reliability fixes for Windows 7 earlier this week, part of the normal Patch Tuesday delivery cycle for every version of Windows. But some hawk-eyed observers noted a surprise in one of those Windows 7 packages. Under Microsoft's rules, what it calls "Security-only updates" are supposed to include, well, only security updates, not quality fixes or diagnostic tools. Nearly three years ago, Microsoft split its monthly update packages for...

I've used a computer running Windows 7 to file our federal taxes for several years. Microsoft will stop support and security updates on January 14, 2020. We always file as soon as we get all tax forms (usually early February). Wondering if we would be safe doing the same one more time. Thoughts?

Hail of notifications incoming... just be thankful 8 passed you by Updated Windows 7 holdouts have been warned to expect a notification suggesting that perhaps an upgrade might be in order.Matt Barlow, corporate veep for Windows, has promised Windows 7 users are to receive a "courtesy reminder" that support is running out for the venerable OS as 14 January 2020 looms large.Barlow also noted that Office 2010 ends its support run shortly thereafter, but for now the focus is on Windows 7.The helpful notifications will doubtless send a shiver of déjà vu down the spines of users who found themselves...

Article title: "Disclosing vulnerabilities to protect users across platforms" ... The second vulnerability was in Microsoft Windows. It is a local privilege escalation in the Windows win32k.sys kernel driver that can be used as a security sandbox escape... We strongly believe this vulnerability may only be exploitable on Windows 7 due to recent exploit mitigations added in newer versions of Windows. To date, we have only observed active exploitation against Windows 7 32-bit systems. Pursuant to Google’s vulnerability disclosure policy, when we discovered the vulnerability we reported it to Microsoft. Today, also in compliance with our policy, we are publicly...

Windows Server 2012 admins should crank it up to 11 Microsoft has warned that it isn't only Windows 7 for the chop in 2020. Unloved Internet Explorer 10 will be joining it. Finally.Internet Explorer 10 first appeared back in 2012 and in 2016 Microsoft made a concerted effort to kill the thing by focusing its support efforts on Internet Explorer 11. Anything not Edge-related or without "11" after it would no longer be supported.However, not every operating system was capable of actually running Internet Explorer 11 and Microsoft infamously restricted its Edge browser to Windows 10 (and later iOS and...