It is undeniable that Windows 7 It was one of the best operating systems we ever had on PC, and proof of that is that even today 3.72% of PCs are still using it (according to StatsCounter). However, no matter how attached you are to this version of Windows, it’s time for you to consider retiring this PC or at least update itand in this article we will give you the main reasons.
Go ahead, we have no particular interest in you using this or that operating system, but we do have a vested interest in that our readers have a secure PC with the best performance for their hardware; Unfortunately, today Windows 7 no longer provides you with either of these two things.
Windows 7 has more security risks
Like it or not, if you have Windows 7 on your PC, you will be more exposed to security risks than if you are using other more modern versions of the operating system. Remember that Microsoft has stopped publishing security patches in January 2020, which means that your PC will not be protected against the latest threats that have appeared since then.
And that’s it, it can touch you: in the last few years, hackers and cybercriminals have increased their presence by 600% (or at least the data indicates that cybercriminals have increased this percentage), and they are always looking for ways to “slice themselves”, so vulnerable systems are always potential victims.
On the other hand, the fact that this version of Microsoft’s popular operating system has reached the end of its life cycle is that it has also been left without customer service: in other words, even if you have a original and lifetime license, if you encounter any problems, Microsoft technicians will no longer be able to help you and their answer will always be to update to a more modern version, no more, no less.
No software updates and “technical debt”
In the same way that you will not receive security updates, you will not receive improvements to the functionality of the operating system itself. But that might not be the biggest problem…the biggest problem is that software developers adapt their programs to the latest versions of operating systems, and that means you’ll find that newer versions of programs that you usually use will no longer be compatible with Windows 7.
Similarly, you might run into a so-called technical debt: imagine you want to upgrade your PC to modern hardware but want to continue using Windows 7…you will find that there are no more drivers for this release, and that in fact some features (especially processors) require newer versions of the OS to work (e.g. with Alder Lake Intel released Thread Director technology, which only works on Windows 11).
Of course, you can always physically disconnect your PC from the Internet directly and avoid problems…after all, many people use older PCs for tasks that don’t require an Internet connection. But if you use the PC regularly and have it connected to the Internet, it is of course recommended to update the operating system to at least Windows 10. For your safety.