Advice Request Is Windows 7 Really Outdated?

[Exterminator]

Microsoft is trying to convince everyone to upgrade to Windows 10, and after offering the operating system free of charge in the first 12 months of availability, the company is now trying a different tactic aimed directly at Windows 7 users

The firm says that Windows 7 has “outdated security,” explaining in a blog post that only Windows 10 can deal with today’s security threats and no matter how hard you’d try, you still can’t make Windows 7 just as secure as this latest Windows version.

The post was made on the company’s German blog, which is a bit surprising given that no English version was published, but it still shows that Microsoft is already preparing its arsenal for moving users off Windows 7.

“Windows 7 is based on outdated security architecture,” Microsoft says. “Companies and users who won’t upgrade from Windows 7 within the next three years are facing enormous dangers.”

Windows 7 end of support
Judging from third-party data provided by market research firms, Windows 7 continues to be the number one operating system on the desktop, despite the aggressive push for Windows 10.

Windows 7 is now running on nearly 48 percent of PCs worldwide, while Windows 10 is the runner-up with about 24 percent. While Windows 7 indeed lost market share because of the arrival of Windows 10, it’s still the dominant operating system on the desktop, running on nearly 1 in 2 PCs across the globe.

With Windows 7 support coming to an end in January 2020, Microsoft doesn’t want to experience another Windows XP moment, so it’s starting the struggle to upgrade users a lot earlier. Although Windows XP no longer receives updates since 2014, it’s still running on 9 percent of the world’s PCs.

 

[DC47561]

There is noting really wrong with Windows 7 but I would take security precautions such as many of them mentioned in these very forums. Limited user accounts - keeping up with your windows updates - antivirus of choice etc.

 

[bluemind7x]

I am using Windows 7 Home Premium ,feel happy and safe with it,no issues at all,maybe i might upgrade after 2020

 

[Rolo]

10 is a better performer than 7. It's like the lightness of XP but without the criminally-insane UI 8 has.

 

[Stas]

10 is a better performer than 7. It's like the lightness of XP but without the criminally-insane UI 8 has.

Are you serious? Try to run 10 on very old pc and see how light it really is. 10 is a better performer in terms of security but not in lightness.

 

[shukla44]

No i might upgrade sometime before January 2020

I started using windows 7 in 2012, & not planing on changing it. But there is no option to say 'no & not upgrading'.
I tried upgrading when the free upgrade offer came but my hardware was not supported (video & sound cards). So, if i get better hardware or a new computer assembled, then wouldn't mind moving to win10 but not a moment sooner.

 

[Deleted member 178]

Are you serious? Try to run 10 on very old pc and see how light it really is. 10 is a better performer in terms of security but not in lightness.

are you kidding me ?! that is the most nonsense post i ever read...ROFL

Win10 was made for modern hardware (which can handle it) , not obsolete one...you have obsolete hardware , use the OS available at that period.

It is the same saying " oh awesome ! XP is faster on my i7 & 32gb Ram than on my Pentium 2 & 1gb Ram...XP is the best..."

 

[Stas]

are you kidding me ?! that is the most nonsense post i ever read...ROFL

Windows 10 was made for modern hardware (which can handle it) , not obsolete one...you have obsolete hardware , use the OS available at that period.

It is the same saying " oh awesome ! XP is faster on my i7 & 32gb Ram than on my Pentium 2 & 1gb Ram...XP is the best..."

So if it can't handle it doesn't that mean it's not as light as 7 or XP?
I was making a point that 10 is not as light as 7 or XP like Rolo said.

 

[Rolo]

Are you serious? Try to run 10 on very old pc and see how light it really is. 10 is a better performer in terms of security but not in lightness.

Is a 2006 Conroe (Core 2 Duo, 2.4GHz), 2 GB RAM, 965 chipset old enough for you? These do Office work, presentations, and video/multimedia (Kodi) on a projector.

How about Dell PCs from 12 years ago, the refurb ones you get for $100?

What about those cheap notebooks with the 1.2GHz processors?

Windows 10 has the same system requirements as Win7 (1GHz, 1GB, DX9--except it requires NX, SSE2, which go back 13+ years, Dothan IIRC); it does not have the eye-candy bloat Win7 has and it does have better memory management, which is more relevant for old 1 or 2GB systems than it is for contemporary 8 or 16GB ones.

I help non-profits with their IT and they typically have ancient hardware and little-to-zero budget. I upgraded dozens of these during the free year and the results are counter-intuitive: faster, more secure, easier to maintain.

The herd will say, "You have to spend thousands of dollars to update your IT; have a nice day." and I come after them and make the most of what's available and in testing and observing Win10 for 2 years now, it is a far better performer than 7 is, especially on old hardware.

The only driver issue I've encountered is the inability to run an ATI X1xxxx due to WDDM requirement that's also a problem for Win7.

 

[Deleted member 178]

So if it can't handle it doesn't that mean it's not as light as 7 or XP?
I was making a point that 10 is not as light as 7 or XP like Rolo said.

what is light for you?

I have a mini-laptop (AMD A4, 1gb ram) , shipped with win8.
I tried both Win10 and Win7 on it, both made it crawl but guess which is the one standing? Win10 , sure it uses more RAM than Win7 but the overall responsiveness difference is minimal; if this mini-laptop had more RAM ; im sure i won't feel much difference.

 

[Azure]

No i might upgrade sometime before January 2020

I started using windows 7 in 2012, & not planing on changing it. But there is no option to say 'no & not upgrading'.
I tried upgrading when the free upgrade offer came but my hardware was not supported (video & sound cards). So, if i get better hardware or a new computer assembled, then wouldn't mind moving to Windows 10 but not a moment sooner.

Is that what the Get Windows 10 app said? The application should have been able to tell you if your computer was compatible with Windows 10

 

[Rolo]

I tried upgrading when the free upgrade offer came but my hardware was not supported (video & sound cards). So, if i get better hardware or a new computer assembled, then wouldn't mind moving to Windows 10 but not a moment sooner.

Look for your specific drivers for Win10 or for people who got your hardware working properly on Win10. Often, Win8 drivers will work just fine (not unlike some Vista drivers working on 7). Additionally, some manufacturers took a while to release Win10 drivers (e.g. Creative Labs).

My point is: don't let software tell you as it's only going to base its recommendation on the user not having to do anything, not whether your hardware won't work effectively at all.

 

[Stas]

Is a 2006 Conroe (Core 2 Duo, 2.4GHz), 2 GB RAM, 965 chipset old enough for you? These do Office work, presentations, and video/multimedia (Kodi) on a projector.

How about Dell PCs from 12 years ago, the refurb ones you get for $100?

What about those cheap notebooks with the 1.2GHz processors?

Windows 10 has the same system requirements as Windows 7 (1GHz, 1GB, DX9--except it requires NX, SSE2, which go back 13+ years, Dothan IIRC); it does not have the eye-candy bloat Windows 7 has and it does have better memory management, which is more relevant for old 1 or 2GB systems than it is for contemporary 8 or 16GB ones.

I help non-profits with their IT and they typically have ancient hardware and little-to-zero budget. I upgraded dozens of these during the free year and the results are counter-intuitive: faster, more secure, easier to maintain.

The herd will say, "You have to spend thousands of dollars to update your IT; have a nice day." and I come after them and make the most of what's available and in testing and observing Windows 10 for 2 years now, it is a far better performer than 7 is, especially on old hardware.

The only driver issue I've encountered is the inability to run an ATI X1xxxx due to WDDM requirement that's also a problem for Windows 7.

Win 10 will run good on (Core 2 Duo, 2.4GHz) 2GB RAM I have 4 Lenovo laptops with same specs but 4GB Ram and running Win7 x64 and not planning to upgrade.
I wouldn't run Win 10 on 1GB RAM and single core CPU but win7 can, I have old HP NC8000 laptop 1.8 ghz 1GB RAM running on Win7 no problem.

what is light for you?

I have a mini-laptop (AMD A4, 1gb ram) , shipped with Windows 8.1.
I tried both Windows 10 and Windows 7 on it, both made it crawl but guess which is the one standing? Windows 10 , sure it uses more RAM than Windows 7 but the overall responsiveness difference is minimal; if this mini-laptop had more RAM ; im sure i won't feel much difference.

Well if your old laptop can run on Win 10 with 1GB RAM smoothly no lag or slowdown or drivers problems or windows updates problems then keep Win 10 it's up to you, I know that only browser alone can eat more then 1 Gb RAM in fact my browser using 1 Gb RAM write now

 

[Rolo]

I was making a point that 10 is not as light as 7 or XP like Rolo said.

I didn't say that at all.

I said Win10 is like having the lightness of XP...

(I think Win3.1 is about the only thing lighter than XP.)

(And GEOS; that's definitely lighter than XP.)

And I said 10 is lighter than 7.

 

[Stas]

I didn't say that at all.

I said Windows 10 is like having the lightness of XP...

(I think Win3.1 is about the only thing lighter than XP.)

(And GEOS; that's definitely lighter than XP.)

And I said 10 is lighter than 7.

If you are on limited resources like 1 Gb Ram and Win 10 use more than Win 7 how can it be lighter? This is only an illusion, when you start running programs and your ram disappear Win 10 will crawl like a snail.

 

[Marko :)]

Are you serious? Try to run 10 on very old pc and see how light it really is. 10 is a better performer in terms of security but not in lightness.

I did on old Asus Eee PC 1001HA. It was very laggy and the only browser I could use is Microsoft Edge. Other browsers were really slow and often not responsive. Windows 7 works good but when I run few more programs you can feel slowdowns because of 1 GB RAM. Currently on this laptop is Windows XP because I don't know what to install on it.

I don't think Windows 7 is outdated because it still receives security updates. Once Microsoft ends support for it (in 2020.) I'm going to install Windows 8.1 or maybe even 10 (if they fix it till then) on three of my computers (I have five but one is mentioned Eee PC and the other one, desktop PC, is currently without HDD).

 

[Rolo]

I did on old Asus Eee PC 1001HA.

There is a driver issue on those that would make it constantly hitch; make sure that's not the problem you're having.

If you are on limited resources like 1 Gb Ram and Windows 10 use more than Win 7 how can it be lighter? This is only an illusion, when you start running programs and your ram disappear Windows 10 will crawl like a snail.

You base this claim on what? Win10 (and Win8 but 8 is an abomination) is leaner than 7; they deliberately made them that way.
cf. Faster booting, smaller footprint make Windows 10 an easy upgrade for old PCs

You speak in hypothetical and conjecture; I'm telling you my actual, repeated experience over the past 2 years.

To answer the OP, "Is Win7 really outdated?": Since there is a leaner, contemporary drop-in replacement for it, yes, it is.

 

[Marko :)]

There is a driver issue on those that would make it constantly hitch; make sure that's not the problem you're having.

This laptop doesn't have drivers for Windows 10 so I had to install drivers via Windows Update.

 

[Stas]

I did on old Asus Eee PC 1001HA. It was very laggy and the only browser I could use is Microsoft Edge. Other browsers were really slow and often not responsive. Windows 7 works good but when I run few more programs you can feel slowdowns because of 1 GB RAM. Currently on this laptop is Windows XP because I don't know what to install on it.

I don't think Windows 7 is outdated because it still receives security updates. Once Microsoft ends support for it (in 2020.) I'm going to install Windows 8.1 or maybe even 10 (if they fix it till then) on three of my computers (I have five but one is mentioned Eee PC and the other one, desktop PC, is currently without HDD).

If you want Win 10 to run smoothly you should upgrade to at least 2 Gb Ram so your other programs have enough Ram to run properly.

 

[Marko :)]

If you want Windows 10 to run smoothly you should upgrade to at least 2 Gb Ram so your other programs have enough Ram to run properly.

No need, I purchased new laptop year ago. Besides that, RAM for Eee PC is pretty expensive here.

 

[Deleted member 178]

If you are on limited resources like 1 Gb Ram and Windows 10 use more than Win 7 how can it be lighter? This is only an illusion, when you start running programs and your ram disappear Windows 10 will crawl like a snail.

RAM usage has nothing to do with light or not. This the typical mistake common/beginner users makes.
RAM is supposed to be used, because it is faster than writing on Pagefile or Swap (aka the portion used on the HDD to recuperate the excess datas if you run short of RAM ) . You can see it with ESET which load all his signatures in RAM instead of the HDD, that makes ESET footprint very light.

This is the same behavior as users who put the whole Windows into RAM Disk , Windows becomes faster.

RAM Disks are logical storage volumes created from a computer’s RAM. RAM is the ultrafast storage medium that a computer uses to temporarily store data while in use, dramatically speeding up the overall performance of a system. Because RAM is so fast, the logical drives we can create in RAM operate at several times the speed of even the fastest modern solid state and mechanical hard drives. This means that any task that is traditionally limited by the speed of a computer’s drive, such as muxing large video files or manipulating complex databases, can gain huge performance boosts when run from a RAM Disk. But it’s not quite that simple; there are some key caveats to consider.

How to Create a 10 GB/s RAM Disk in Windows - TekRevue

Lightness is based on the speed of accessed and computed datas.

Window,s to operate properly, must have at least 50% or more RAM free , what makes Windows sluggish isn't windows itself, but all the applications/background tasks devouring the RAM needed by Windows. It is why i disable many Windows' services on low end machines. Less process eating RAM , faster Windows is; and WIn10 is quite better in managing resources usage compared to Win7.