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Patch reliability is unclear. Unless you have an immediate, pressing need to install a specific patch, don't do it. |
So I’m working on a master listing of all the Windows 7 updates that I’ve installed on my crusty Windows 7 machines and I’ve found something interesti
[See the full post at: Patch Lady – Windows 7 documentation is showing it’s age]
Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher
Patch Lady: I’ll keep patching. Just keep taking good care of the Master Patch List, please.
Old stuff being lost to history? If my machine has not minded having it inside, ticking away, doing whatever to its inners for years now, I won’t mind either. Probably too late for that, anyhow (fatalism keeps you sane amidst insanity.)
Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).
MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV
I am wondering if KB2868623 mentioned in the main post is one of the retired (expired in WSUS wording) patches and as such no longer available. I cannot find it in WSUS where I have a script deleting expired patches, even if they were synchronised in the past.
I am not a Windows 7 user except for testing patches as a hobby, but the message for those still on Windows 7 is transparent enough. 
In answer to your final question, I honestly wish I knew. As I have posted here before, I would dearly like to update my hardware on the two PCs I have, but hate the idea of patch/update push and broken patches in Windows 10. I do not feel comfortable with Linux, both because of my reliance on Windows based software and the limits of my knowledge (and limits on the time I have to learn more).
The reality is, however, that my hardware will not realistically (and reliably) last beyond the beginning of 2020. Consequently, probably my only answer will be to buy 2 new Windows 10 PCs, pay £200 to upgrade to Windows 10 Pro solely for the ability to control patch and feature upgrades (as a home user I don’t need any other features of Pro) and put up with whatever Windows 10 chucks at me. I feel between the devil and the deep blue sea.
Chris
Win 10 Pro x64 Group A
Hey Chris B I feel your pain. I currently use Windows 7 Ultimate on my main machine but I have been using Windows 10 Pro on my Laptop (to learn the ways of Windows 10). The update policy I have come with is follows:
– first install Windows Privacy Dashboard (WPD) activate all its functionality and use it to uninstall all the built in apps you don’t want;
– set the delay for monthly updates to 30 days and version upgrades to 365 days;
– never press “check for updates”;
– download each new ISO for the newest version of Windows 10; and
– install the version of Windows 10 that came out 1 year ago, so this March when 1903 (or whatever they are gonna call it) is released I will be installing 1803.
This gives me the most stable version of Windows 10 as it has been out in the wild getting tested by free BETA testers for a whole year and I will still get 6 months of patching out of it. Also WPD will always be updated to fully handle the version I am using, giving me some semblance of control with my machine.
We don’t have to like Windows 10, we just need to find ways to wrangle it to work for us.
FYI Windows 7 will stay on my main machine until I am done with it.
Rock
If you’re in the UK (as I assume from your use of pounds sterling) then if you were to buy new machines from PC Specialist (who are highly recommended including by me and whose machines are nowadays available through PC World as well as direct) then configuring the build with Windows 10 Pro rather than Home costs only an extra £28 incl VAT.
In answer to “what are you planning to do” I’m seriously considering a Chromebook. I’ve been using Windows since the early XP days and quite frankly, am SO tired of the monthly grind of reading about the updates and then crossing my fingers and taking the plunge and hoping for the best. Without your advise and Woody’s over the years I’d have been completely lost. But as someone who not only updates my own machine, but that of an aging Mother and an “indifferent to computer issues” husband, I think I’ve had enough! I’m actually headed out this morning to look at Chromebooks. I realize they have some drawbacks as well – but I’m just so tired of the endless nonsense we’ve all been dealing with for years now.
For me, the biggest negative of chromebooks is printing. However, once I finally got a printer working with my Dell chromebook, I, too, am convinced that that is the way to go for everyday home users like me. Other than preparing my income tax (for which I have dedicated an old Win computer) I can function within the browser.
Chromebooks have regular updates, too — at a faster cadence than Windows 10 updates. Like, every two-three weeks or so for bug fixes and so on. You have to reboot to apply those updates, too…. and you CAN’T SAY NO. It’s like Windows 10 Home, but with feature updates every 6 weeks instead of six months.
Also, Google only issues updates for Chromebooks for 6.5 years after the introduction of the CPU on which the device is based. Doesn’t matter how new the device is, or when you purchased it…. it’s all about the chip.
And ChromeOS updates do have flaws, too. Look at the comments here, for instance. ChromeOS 69 disabled someone’s microphone; others complained about decreased stability; another couldn’t use any non-Google software on their device.
Hello Warren, I agree. Some of the other OS’s have even more updates. People get mad and ALWAYS say, “I am going to change to -fill in the blank-“, never had run or knowing about that OS they are going to.
I have posted this before and will again I am sure in the future.
I understand you going to another OS. I get soooo tired of hearing people say, “you need to change OS! Go to linux…” and the like. Every OS has its issues. EVERY one. The one thing some people do not like about MACs are they seem proprietary. But in being “restrictive” Apple knows exactly what hardware is in use and there are less surprises to cause a crash. MAC has updates too. MACs can have a faulty update, but they will fix it. End of Life (EOL) for MAC is shorter and more definite than MS. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8064976
With linux there are hundreds of distributions. If you pick one, then you need to find a friend that has the same one and will help you. I have seen and been around linux users for decades and even have some distros ourselves, yet every person feels their distro is the best. If you have 10 linux users you have about 7 differing distros. I have seen this first hand. They could not help the other person in need since it wasn’t their distro they had themselves. People using linux had the same update issues like windows is accused of, loosing data or a home directory and having to reinstall the OS. This was from a friend that eats, sleeps and breathes linux.
I live with windows 7 and I am happy. But we do have MACs too.
Thanks to you, other MVPs and askwoody, I can see what is happening with the windows updates for a given patch tuesday. I do not plan to go to windows 10. I have old computers STILL IN USE that are windows 95 and up. No problems. But, there are limitations on what the older OSs can do and how high a program version one can go to. So yes, there are limitations.
If the PC does the job you need then keep it. If it can not, then you need to make a decision.
I tried to post this on the Linux forum, and I was gonna provide a link here to that post, but it seems that there is no actual way to create a topic at the moment, for me at least. So, since the question pertains to what we will do as Windows 7 declines, and moving away from Windows is one of the options:
With linux there are hundreds of distributions. If you pick one, then you need to find a friend that has the same one and will help you.
It will help, but you don’t “need” that. I moved to Linux without ever knowing anyone else who uses it, other than online acquaintances. I’ve never knowingly met another Linux user in person! Not counting Android phones, of course.
If online acquaintance help is good enough, you’ve got forums full of people with that distro who probably will be happy to help. I say “probably” because I keep hearing about Linux users who are unfriendly and unhelpful, but I’ve yet to find a place where that’s anything other than an unexpected anomaly. Not saying they don’t exist, but only that I haven’t yet seen one.
I have seen and been around linux users for decades and even have some distros ourselves, yet every person feels their distro is the best.
Of course; that’s why they’re using it!
I would never say someone else’s distro is bad, though. I’d say it doesn’t work for me because [reasons], but if it works for you and you like it, then that’s great, and you should stick with it if that’s your wish.
If you have 10 linux users you have about 7 differing distros. I have seen this first hand. They could not help the other person in need since it wasn’t their distro they had themselves.
I use a small (in terms of user base) distro myself, KDE Neon, so if I were restricted to only getting help from people using that, I’d have a bit of a hard time with it. I’m still a relative beginner in Linux, having used it in earnest for only a few years and as a main OS for only about one year, and I need to read how to do this or that quite a lot.
In my time using Mint, I found that 99% of what works for Ubuntu also applies to Mint (which is based on Ubuntu), and the same has been true of Neon. The slice of the Linux pie that is made up of Ubuntu and Mint users is pretty big, and Neon benefits from that by being an Ubuntu derivative. If it’s a desktop-environment issue, KDE is KDE, pretty much, wherever you go. Some distros have different default options, but using Manjaro with KDE is pretty much identical to using Neon. It’s the admin work beneath that differs.
People using linux had the same update issues like windows is accused of, loosing data or a home directory and having to reinstall the OS. This was from a friend that eats, sleeps and breathes linux.
Mishaps can happen, yes. But did the given Linux distro force an update that did all that without the user initiating it in any way? Did the developers of the buggy distro or package go live with a forced update to that data-losing version even though the issue was reported numerous times by the equivalent of Insiders, but was lost in the noise of ninja cat memes and other clowning around in the official forum because the posts about the data loss didn’t get enough Facebook-style “likes?”
Paid QA testers are supposed to be one of the advantages of commercial software as compared to free/open source software, but you don’t get that in Windows anymore. You still pay, but now you get community testers as in Linux, but these Windows testers cannot see any of the source code, and many of them are more interested in the party atmosphere than in getting anything constructive done. MS itself has been part of this.
If there was a hypothetical Linux version that gave the user no choice but to accept upgrades to new versions every six months, and to do it whenever it wanted? I’ve never heard of such a Linux, but if there is one, I certainly wouldn’t use it. Not having complete control over updates is a serious deal-breaker. Ubuntu has releases every six months, but the user is never forced to upgrade. If that schedule is too fast, Ubuntu also has LTS editions that are now supported for ten years with no upgrading unless the user initiates it. Mint and Neon are based only on the LTS editions.
By all means, if you want to keep using Windows, then do so… but many of us have a problem with the way updates and QA are being handled. Linux (in the Ubuntu flavors at least) is close to a polar opposite of Windows in terms of control over updates. There is a level of granularity with update options that far eclipses anything Windows ever had, even in the pre-patchocalypse days, should you desire that fine-grained level of control.
In terms of user data, I’ve never heard of Linux summarily deleting a user’s files because it thought the folder they were in was in the wrong place. I’d have to know the details of such a thing before I would be able to say it was similar to what happened in Windows and not self-inflicted.
Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)
Thanks, Ascaris. You bring up a really good practical point about the problem of finding someone helpful, during one’s Linux newby days, who also knows and has experience with the same distro as the one we are learning to use.
I’ll keep this in mind and shall find someone helpful before I install Linux, to help me do it, and shall install the exact same version that person has and is familiar with. After a while, if I ever feel so inclined and have more experience, I might install some other distro, as Linux people seem to enjoy doing.
Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).
MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV
Ascaris and Oscar. Ascaris well said.
Oscar that is a smart move to find someone and be prepared before the switch.
This was an excellent conversation. I hope people (like Oscar) get good information/ideas and it helps them with their decisions.
Thank you.
“I’d much rather have you surf on a phone or a tablet than an unpatched anything.” – 99% of Andoid phones and tablets are unpatched.
“I’d much rather have you surf on a phone or a tablet than an unpatched anything.” – 99% of Andoid phones and tablets are unpatched.
And the vast majority have no option to patch them, thanks to our charming cell carriers.
A Lumia 640?
Take good care of it. You’ll have a museum piece in a month or two….
End of support is officially December 2019 – so still a few months. BTW, my 2017 flagship Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact is currently on September 2018 updates… Which one is more of a museum piece?
Just a rhetorical question – Lumia is “feature phone” since the very beginning. But update policy shows what W10M could have been, compared to Android.
I for one would like to see the advocates of patching, including Susan, address the claim made by some others here that they have successfully maintained Win7 on numerous computers, including ones connected to the internet, after having discontinued patching for many months.
On the flip side, I recall one or two malware scares since mid-2017 where those who had disavowed patching Win7 did not have an answer if the malware broke through the defenses they had erected (Bitdefender, primarily). Whether those threats materialized is another question.
These two points of view seem like ships passing in the night.
Susan, you may find my approach interesting if not useful:
CT
I plan on using Windows 7 long after EOL, at least until necessary software stops supporting it. I know how to protect myself online including sandboxing etc and if I would get a virus because of a vulnerability, then so be it.
Me too. I’ll quit using it when the software I run stops working on Win7, or the hardware fails. I’ve had updates shut off for around 3 years. If i get hit with something, I’ll reformat and install Linux Mint.
Take for example this patch. If I click on it and try to find the KB link, it says that KB2868623 is “sorry not found”.
Have you tried Wayback Machine?
https://archive.org/web/
I found these results for the expired pages you were looking for:
https://web.archive.org/web/20140105093115/http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2868623
https://web.archive.org/web/20140830201541/https://technet.microsoft.com/library/security/ms13-065
Try different dates if you can’t find exactly what you want or if you know the document has been updated.
Hope this helps.
César
Microsoft has already initiated, for-pay, extended updates for Win7 through 2023. I believe it requires volume licensing as well as the $$$. It probably won’t be cheap.
I have said all along that I would pay a reasonable amount for security updates to keep Win7 going. And I am surely not alone. It would be a small step for Microsoft to extend its volume-licensing-only Win7 maintenance plan to other customers.
The fly in the ointment is that the quality of the patches has fallen off. Oh, and the other one: The fear that M$ simply can’t be trusted to play nice.
In answer to “what are you planning to do” I’m seriously considering a Chromebook.
I realize they have some drawbacks as well – but I’m just so tired of the endless nonsense we’ve all been dealing with for years now.
Santa brought a $300 ASUS Chromebook to replace a family member’s aging laptop. So far, I think it is great for all the reasons that you mention.
I went out and bought a new Brother multifunction laser printer, usable as a copier, and it scans in color. Fax is built-in, but we no longer have a land line. That printer is “Google Cloud Ready” and it works perfectly with the Chromebook.
So far, there has been no need to learn Google Docs or LibreOffice, because one can use MS Office Online for free — it is a browser-based version of MS Office which is different from Office 365. It does not have every advanced feature, but it works fine with the Chrome browser and it saves files in the cloud as you work.
I don’t think that storage space will be a problem because the Chromebook links easily to Google Drive, MS OneDrive, Box, Dropbox. I still need to test if it works with an external hard drive and with a thumb drive plugged in to the USB port.
There is still much more to learn, but after a few weeks of use, the Chrome OS seems very promising for the average household user. I expect that it will be very cost effective, not just because the hardware is inexpensive, but because the time spent on tech support should be a lot less than the Windows OS of recent years.
I haven’t had any trouble using 500+ GB external hard drives (Adata and Western Digital) with my Chromebook. I’ve also used a couple different brands of large external monitors connected via HDMI. It’s been simply ‘plug and play’ for those peripherals.
I will continue to use Win 7 when support stops. I make a complete backup image of my system every Sunday with Acronis True Image in case of problems, infections etc. (Have done so for many years) I will also start using a sandbox application when the time comes. Sandboxie likely. but Shade Sandbox also looks interesting.
On the topic of: “I haven’t patched my computer since the fall of Babylon, and here we both are, it and me, doing just fine.”
I wonder if the reason for that is that many patches are intended to fix things that the never-a-patch users, wittingly or not, never need to use so, if they don’t, suffer no ill consequences. Something like being vaccinated against the Spanish flu now days. Or installing the infamous patch to fix the Japanese date after the ascension of the incoming Japanese Emperor after Akihito’s abdication at the end of April. Or to fix a problem with the displaying of the local civil time in some far off place one never has deals with someone there. But nevertheless labelled as “Important” or even “Critical”…
Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).
MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV
Isn’t the threat from surfing the web on an unsupported Windows 7 machine greatly reduced by using a fully supported browser accompanied by effective anti-virus and anti-malware software? That’s assuming that Chrome, MSE and MBAM, for example, continue to run on Windows 7 machines. They may not get version updates but as long as they get definition updates that’s fine for some time to come.
As for my own intentions as the user of two home desktop PCs running Windows 7 Home, I will very likely replace one with a new Windows 10 machine this year and will update that to Windows 10 Pro (very cheap to do at least in the UK if you do it as part of a custom-built package) with a view to seeing how I get on with Windows 10 (and how it gets on with my gaming and other uses). Come 1st Quarter 2020 I’ll take a view on the other machine but the concept of running Windows 7 without the threats from monthly patching (which have for some time seemingly exceeded the threats from elsewhere) doesn’t overly scare me, it’s more a question of for how long my games and other applications continue to run problem-free on Windows 7.
@seff
I’d certainly feel safer using linux than use W7 online after EOL in the hope that browsers and even AV’s will protect the OS. YMMV
Miscreants and script kiddies will be working to exploit vulnerabilities in W7 once patching stops. It is, what it is, with a great risk factor and user awareness would NEED to be 110%
Not just that, mainstream online companies, shops, banking, govt’s may reject W7 from accessing their website!
Ma’am, indeed, Good on You for maintaining a “off-line” version of the documents!
{I might ask for said list in time, if I may}
I currently just keep copies of the patches in a separate hard drive for later slipstreaming into new install ISOs. {NTLite FTW!}
And this “rot” you refer to is A-typical of MicroFlaccid, just as they did with winXP, removing aspects of the previous operating system(s), attempting to give the illusion it never existed–thus they feel free from accountability of said environment(s) /shrug
"one is Defined by their Actions, NOT their Words."
If you run virtual machines, you need a more powerful computer because it is actually running two computers at once. You have to have a processor powerful enough to share enough threads between the machines and enough RAM to effectively run each machine.
I run virtual machines and they quite effective.
I run my VMs on a Mac. See some of my posts in the MacOS for Windows Wonks Forum.
Nothing wrong with your configuration. Mine is the same running an old Dell XPS 15 which was upgraded in time.
I would assume someone making such comments about not trusting Microsoft updates to be able to explain in detail how the operating system is coded and on what basis of trust the OS was installed in the first place.
wow.
Yes crx, Microsoft is quite impressive. The conversation was a hot topic 2¼ years ago, at the time this rollup method removed the kind of granular information we had been used to. That did not yield results then, and is not likely to change much now.
You have been given good information here. At the risk of over explaining a subject, I will go a little more basic. A numbered Knowledge Base article gives a common reference point for any Microsoft related subject. Each unique number allows people to know they are discussing the same subject even when there may be other misunderstandings in language and definitions used. Many of these KB numbers are specific to patches, updates, and now rollups. You can get authentic information direct from the publisher by using a link of the following format
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/
Fill in the Knowledge Base article number after that last solidus, using the Arabic numerals only. Here for example is the accurate link for the January 8, 2019—KB4480970 (Monthly Rollup):
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4480970
You will find that Microsoft will further resolve that link to a longer url:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4480970/windows-7-update-kb4480970
But my point in this exercise is that you do not need to know the full title of the article to use the link format. So long as you give an accurate, recognized KB number as an additional path after …/help/ the system will find the article and fill in the slug for you.
Here in the AskWoody Lounge you will find many people willing to discuss and interpret the information from Microsoft. Some even have a little fun at mocking the lack of clarity in the information. But Microsoft creates the rollup, they are the source of what it contains. AskWoody contributors can only help understand it.
Will you please describe with a few more words what you seek that is not given by the Knowledge Base article?
Edited for content, Please follow the –Lounge Rules–
I for one would like to see the advocates of patching, including Susan, address the claim made by some others here that they have successfully maintained Win7 on numerous computers, including ones connected to the internet, after having discontinued patching for many months. On the flip side, I recall one or two malware scares since mid-2017 where those who had disavowed patching Win7 did not have an answer if the malware broke through the defenses they had erected (Bitdefender, primarily). Whether those threats materialized is another question. These two points of view seem like ships passing in the night.
Me and family members went Group W after the March security only update in 2017. It has been a pleasant stress free experience. Our EOL in 2020 and 2023 came and went.
I lived through both malware scares intact.
My answer if malware broke through my defenses is, in a worst case scenario, I will spend a few hours and reinstall everything, I have an excellent back up plan I am adamant about. A minor inconvenience. The odds of that happening are so slim I don’t worry about it.
Using an A/V program as a first line of defense in IMHO is foolish, that should be your last line of defense. If one’s A/V is always blocking or finding something one is doing something really wrong…
I am in the same camp as the majority of previous comments.
I shall use Windows 7 at home until the very last patch comes down. At that point, I will decide on my path, based on whether my software vendors still update their Windows 7 compatible packages.
I have a Windows 8.1 licence on standby, and if I need to, will switch to that for a further 3 years.
I would be willing to pay for further patch support for Windows 7, but since they only offer it for volume customers, that is out of my league. Well, Microsoft refusing money is their choice.
So right now my support dollar goes to the developer of WSUS Offline. Thanks to him I haven’t needed to run Windows Update for years, and can easily patch the B path when it is deemed safe. Even rebuilding a Windows 7 install becomes a doddle with this great tool (since it lets you choose Security Only updates at the tick of a box).
My other support dollar also goes for buying one of the strongest security suites I have come across. Yes, it costs more than the average, and I may get a bit more blocked from doing insecure things than I like, but I feel safe and confident.
Windows 10 will remain my absolute last choice. Hopefully by 2023, Microsoft will have been woken up by a large drop in user base to sort out their strategy. I will not be a beta-tester for their products, and I will not run a flea/ad-invested operating system that changes settings and installs apps as Microsoft deems best for me.
No matter where you go, there you are.
in reply to #312508
OldBiddy, i’m wondering the same thing, as far as XP went patch KB2934207 was sent out to machines using Windows\Microsoft update:
http://www.pagestart.com/winxpkb2934207030514.html
also received a patch to the Microsoft Security Essentials that turned my green house in the taskbar to red around the same time (March or April 2014) i did not install the XP EOL patch, however; i have been using the XP fitted with a POSReady registry change and receiving security patches since then. the “final” XP EOL is scheduled for April 2019.
so. i guess we will all get to find out how Microsoft will handle Windows 7 EOL when the time comes
The transition from support.microsoft.com/kb/ to support.microsoft.com/help/ is what took down a lot of old updates articles, not particulary Windows 7 age
i actually find this unacceptable, they could have left these articles as-is, or work harder to get them in the new article platform
Will AskWoody keep updating the Group B update list for Windows 7 until 2023 (when extended paid support expires)? I hope so…
The patches that work for extended support XP (POS Ready) do not work for regular XP. I imagine it will be the same for extended support Win7, the patches won’t be compatible with standard versions and will require volume licensing (Enterprise, Education).
Not quiet accurate, regular XP needs a simple registry key to make all (or 98%) or XP POSReady patches applicable
Windows 7 situation however, might be different, because updates applicability is more sophisticated
they may or may not, make updates exclusive to Windows 7 Embedded Standard edition (like they are doinf for Enterprise 2015 LTSB)
XP use msi style of updating, while Windows Vista and later have moved to Component Based Servicing style of updating which is entirely different and a lot more evolved.
I don’t think Windows 7 will be as easy to update beyond the EOL as XP is, unless Microsoft wants to make it easy.
I don’t think Windows 7 will be as easy to update beyond the EOL as XP is, unless Microsoft wants to make it easy.
and on the other hand..MS has an agenda to offer/push devices to W10
I’m old and hard headed are is it the other way around? In any case, I’m not leaving Windows 7 just because Micro$oft did. There will be software available that will work on 7, just as it does with XP now. Micro$oft still updates for a price, XP for Enterprise and Uncle Sam. Micro$oft isn’t losing anything on that deal.
I used Windows 98 SE until early 2010. Stole a lot of system files from Windows ME. Jumping to Windows 2000, finally going to Windows 7 Pro in 2012 because of hardware problems. Never had a incident of hacking are viruses. Indebted to Avast and Spybot for that, along with the fact I don’t keep anything on my hard drive to steal. Important info is on my phone or a usb hard drive that I use at best twice a month.
The thing I detest the most is, the dogma a software corporation be it small or large tells me I must do x y & z. I remind them very quickly, this maybe your software, but this is my computer! We can fix that software problem in less time than you microwaving a bag of popcorn. I look at this pragmatically as, Micro$oft’s problem, not mine. Windows 7 and XP are already pretty battle harden. A few more trips around aren’t going to hurt me. After that, maybe Linux Lime? For the record, I’m using Opera 12.18 to write this. Like I said, hard headed!
Anonymous, I do agree that window’s updates are getting annoying. It is also annoying to have a program say you must do xyz too.
“I used Windows 98 SE until early 2010. Stole a lot of system files from Windows ME. Jumping to Windows 2000, finally going to Windows 7 Pro in 2012 because of hardware problems.” WoW! very good!
You might to consider Canadian Tech’s method. He manages 150 computers and does not update windows.
“The really interesting aspect is that since we stopped ALL Microsoft updates of any kind in May 2017, these machines have become extremely stable and reliable. My workload in support has fallen of to well below 50% of what it was. Clearly, the age-old rage for updating is just plain wrong– at least at this point for private owners.”
https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/usage-share-blips-win7-goes-up-win10-goes-down/#post-220587
I, my friends, and others out there still have Windows XP machines and “no, the world has not stopped turning” because of us that use a non supported OS.
https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/usage-share-blips-win7-goes-up-win10-goes-down/#post-220587
I was asking about the timing, trying to determine if there was any relation between the time of the problem and the time of update installation.
But this discussion is off-topic here. Please start a new Topic in the Windows 7 Forum. Use a title reflecting your problem. You could copy/paste your original post into it to make the content easy.
Thank you, sorry for the error, I’ll do that.
Edit: This discussion has been moved to the Win7 Forum.
Check out the Linux for Windows Wonks Forum. There’s already a lot of information there.
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