Goodbye Windows 7

Dec 23, 2019 | Consumer Technology, Operations, Security

If you aren’t already aware of it, Microsoft has announced that the end-of-life date for Windows 7 is January 14th, 2020. That means that support for Windows 7 is over.  Anyone running Windows 7 will no longer receive security updates and patches. That’s a bad thing.

If you’re running Windows 7 on any of your company’s computers, you’ll need to upgrade to Windows 10. At the least, that means purchasing Windows 10 licenses and going through the software upgrade process. That assumes that your PCs are capable of running Windows 10.  If they aren’t, you’ll need to purchase new devices. That’s costly, but at least the new devices will already have Windows 10 installed!

What happens if you don’t upgrade? Windows 7 will continue to work, at least for a while. Without security and other updates your computers will be increasingly vulnerable to malware and other attacks that can result in exposure of your information or customer information, leave all of your data encrypted and inaccessible, and potentially cause an extended outage where you and your team can’t work. This can be devastating for small and mid-sized businesses.  Don’t kid yourself that because you have anti-virus software or a firewall that you’ll be protected, either. Both of those technologies are important, but they rely on you also having an up-to-date operating system for them to be effective.

Beyond the security implications, fewer and fewer applications will work on Windows 7. If you have to upgrade an application for any reason, you’ll likely find that it requires Windows 10. In short, the longer you delay, the more difficult and dangerous it will be to keep running Windows 7. Eventually, you’re going to experience a serious problem. When you call someone to help, the first thing you’ll be told to do is upgrade to Windows 10.

While keeping your operating systems up-to-date is important, it’s also a distraction for you. Time spent performing upgrades, sourcing new equipment, and setting up devices is time away from your business. It’s also a capital expense  — one you may not have anticipated.

There’s a better way. With Brightworks Group’s CompleteCloud, powered by Avatara, we can eliminate all of the hassles of this upgrade.  We can even eliminate the capital expense of new computers and licensing.  If you’d like to get off of the upgrade treadmill and learn more about how to treat you IT as a utility, contact us. We’d love to make your life easier!

[sc_fs_faq sc_id=”fs_faqzcjnkg69o” html=”true” headline=”h2″ img=”” question=”Can I still use my Windows 7 computer?” img_alt=”” css_class=”” ]Microsoft announced that effective January 14, 2020 Windows 7 will no longer be supported, meaning it will no longer receive updates and patches. Your Windows 7 computer will continue to work, it will just become more vulnerable to malware and other attacks without the security support, updates, and patches from Windows. It is strongly recommended for office computers to be updated to Windows 10 as soon as possible.[/sc_fs_faq]