Newsletter Archives

• Microsoft agrees to clean up a small Win7 mess

  Posted on February 3, 2020 at 01:05 CST by Tracey Capen • Comment in the Forums

  PATCH WATCH

  By Susan Bradley

  The NSA might have rained on Windows 10’s patching parade in January, but most of the attention was focused on the demise of Windows 7.

  You’d think Microsoft would get the last batch of free Win7 updates right — but apparently not. January’s Patch Tuesday fixes broke Win7’s wallpaper. If you used the “Stretch” option for background slide shows, you ended up with just black! Microsoft’s initial response? The fix would be offered only to those who had purchased Win7 Extended Security Updates (ESU) keys.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.5.0 (2020-02-03).

  Patch Watch AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Chromium Edge, Win7 extended security updates, Windows Updates

• Yes, there’s a crack to enable extended security updates on all Win7 machines. No, you shouldn’t count on it.

  Posted on December 8, 2019 at 07:06 CST by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Martin Binkmann on Ghacks.net has some cracking news about the Win7 Extended Security Updates — the ability to install Win7 security patches from Microsoft after Win7 hits end of service in January:

  Someone discovered a way to enable Extended Security Updates on all machines running Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system.

  That’s really big news for several reasons, but one point that intrigues me is that it offers hope for Win7 Home and Ultimate users that they might be able to get security patches after January.

  All in all, it’s a clever hack from some brilliant folks on My Digital Life that flips the proper bits to make any Win7 system pass Microsoft’s eligibility check for Extended Security Updates. We don’t yet have even one Extended Security Update, so it’s impossible to tell if it’ll work on the Real Thing.

  It’s also about 99.999% likely, in my opinion, that MS will plug the hole before January.

  That won’t keep people from trying, of course.

  Meanwhile, I’m sitting with bated breath, wondering if Susan and Amy will be able to find a way for normal people like me to pay $50 and get an extra year of security patches.

  Windows 7 Win7 extended security updates

• MS to give small/medium businesses access to Win7 patches after January

  Posted on October 1, 2019 at 12:50 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Chip, chip, chip.

  Jared Spataro, MS corporate VP for Microsoft 365 (note the title) has just posted a reprieve, of sorts:

  today we are announcing that, through January 2023, we will extend the availability of paid Windows 7 Extended Security Updates (ESU) to businesses of all sizes. (Previously, Windows 7 ESU was only available to Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Enterprise customers in Volume Licensing.) The Windows 7 ESU will be sold on a per-device basis with the price increasing each year.

  Starting on December 1, 2019, businesses of any size can purchase ESU through the cloud solution provider (CSP) program. This means that customers can work with their partners to get the security they need while they make their way to Windows 10.

  Mary Jo Foley at ZDNet has pricing:

  The price of the ESUs goes from $25 per device for Windows Enterprise users in year one, to $100 per device for year three. For Pro users, ESU pricing goes from $50 per device in year one up to $200 per device in year three.

  I don’t participate in the Cloud Solution Provider program, so I don’t know the precise details. But I have a feeling we’ll find out soon.

  Windows 7 Win7 extended security updates