R.I.P. Windows 7 on 1/14/2020

[trs96]

Here's the full screen "pop up" MS will be annoying all Windows 7 users with starting now through 1/14/20.
It's not just a one time occurence on that date. It will keep bugging you until you upgrade or disable it altogether.

Maybe that last sentence should say "Microsoft strongly recommends that you try Linux," It's really lightweight and runs quite well on your older hardware. Is not susceptible to all the Windows malware you'll run into all over the internet. It actually puts you in control of your OS. Best of all it's free to use. You don't pay for it by giving up your personal privacy online. You won't be tracked and have all your data mined and sent back to our servers.

 

[Jamesbond007]

Here's the full screen "pop up" MS will be annoying all Windows 7 users with on 1/14/20
It's not just a one time occurrence on that date. It will keep bugging you until you upgrade or disable it altogether.

View attachment 440501

Maybe that last sentence should say "Microsoft strongly recommends that you try Linux," It's really lightweight and runs quite well on your older hardware. Is not susceptible to all the Windows malware you'll run into all over the internet. It actually puts you in control of your OS. Best of all it's free to use. You don't pay for it by giving up your personal privacy online. You won't be tracked and have all your data mined and sent back to our servers.

I shall check later whether this screen can be dismissed permanently. It was introduced as a part of the December 2019 Security Rollup and Security Only update. If I find later it cannot be dismissed permanently, then I shall just refuse to install the December 2019 and January 2020 updates on my Windows 7 systems.

 

[Going Bald]

I have always disabled auto updates and my Win7 systems do not even check to see if updates are available.
I did recently upgrade free a Win8 system to Win10 (I hate working with Win8 and got tired of having to mess with it), but I de-bloated it and turned off every bit of spyware the system allows, as well as uninstalling as many of the worthless installed apps as it would allow. The ones I could not remove I disabled. Since this machine (belongs to 70YO member of the family) only goes on-line to check CVS and Walgreens photo printing discounts and email, I am not too worried about it. Between the System Defender AV and Malware Bytes it should be relatively secure. Auto updates are turned off and I check it monthly for problems or whenever she calls me with a problem.

 

[Jamesbond007]

I have always disabled auto updates and my Win7 systems do not even check to see if updates are available.

Likewise. All my Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 systems have updates disabled ever since the Windows 10 "free upgrade" mess. (I especially hate it when Microsoft forced Windows 10 by "assuming" people will accept 10 when the click X to close a certain screen in Windows 7 or 8.1.) I manually install the Security Only updates only.

 

[trs96]

Have a look at Chris Titus's alternative to running Windows 7 unpatched in 2020 and beyond.

TLDW: If you don't have time to watch the whole video watch for 1 minute from the 11:12 timestamp. Gives you most all of what you'll need to know. The whole video lasts over 28 minutes.