For those of you who are still using Windows 7 Operating System, there’s a few things you should know. The most important one is that Microsoft ends support in January 2020.
1. Microsoft ended support for Windows 7 on January 14, 2020
Microsoft launched Windows 7 in 2009 and they did a really good job. A pretty good job, provided that there are still hundreds millions of people still using it.
Experts estimate there are 1.2 billion Windows PCs in the entire world and most of them are now using the latest version. This means almost 70% are using Windows 10, about 25% are using Windows 7 and the rest of them are Using Windows 8 and XP.
According to statcounter.com, statistics say there are 26% users still using Windows 7.
This means there are roughly 250 million PCs in the world using it.
2. How does this affect you?
Of course this news does not affect all users, but there’s still a significant number of people affected. That is +250 million.
You might be one of those users. Maybe your company’s desktop is a Windows 7, which is even worse.
As of January 14, 2020, Windows 7 computers will still work, however their users will become more vulnerable to security risks. This is because Microsoft no longer provides security updates or fixes.
3. Ransomware attacks
If you consider Malware Attacks and how this industry works, you would rather take some steps to protect your personal information or even your company’s data. If the business is down it is also bad for you.
A short example would be “WannaCry” ransomware attack which took place in May 2017, infecting more than 230 000 computer systems in 150 countries. This caused $4 billion in losses across the world. A staggering cost.
Computer users became victims of the “WannaCry” attack because they had not updated their Microsoft Windows operating system. Microsoft had a security patch released before this attack happened, so the damages would have been less.
4. You can still upgrade for free to Windows 10
The guys from Cnet.com just tested this yesterday and found that if are currently running a licensed and activated copy of Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 Home or Pro there is a chance you can still upgrade free to Windows 10.
Our advice is to try this after you perform a backup on all of your data. In case it does not work for you, we don’t want you to blame anyone.
Here are the steps: https://www.cnet.com/how-to/windows-10-yes-you-can-still-upgrade-free-from-windows-7-heres-how
5. What you can do to keep your data safe?
Now, installing Windows 10 or any other Operating System on your computer does not guarantee in any way that you won’t be hacked. It brings more security, but we all know the story of the “trojan horse”.
If you want the most secure Operating System you should try Linux, as you can use one of their free versions: Linux Mint, Ubuntu, Fedora or Elementary OS. Here at CodingHeads, most of our programmers use it or have used it before. But, again, this might not give you the same ease of use that you’ve learned from Windows or MacOs
Whatever you chose, here are a few tips on how to keep your data safe when browsing on the Internet.
- Always keep your valuable data on external hard drives or on Cloud storage.
- Make sure to upgrade to an up to date Operating system. Such as Windows 10, Linux and MacOs.
Windows 10 comes by default with the Automatic Updates turned on. You should keep it like that and don’t delay their updates for to long. - Install an Antivirus security software to keep your computer protected against many types of attacks. It costs less than 30 euro / USD for 1 year subscription (multiple devices).
- Try not to click on suspicious links – Clicking some links could trigger a ransomware download.
- Never click on unsolicited email attachments.
- Do not download from untrusted websites.
- Make sure you avoid using unknown USB drives.