Windows 7 support ends next week
From 14 January, Windows 7 gets no more free security updates. What to do with the PCs still running it.
Next Tuesday, 14 January, Windows 7 reaches end of support. After that, no more free security updates. Every hole found from then on stays open.
Lots of PCs still run it, especially the ones nobody thinks about: reception, the warehouse, the machine attached to a lab instrument or a printer.
What to do:
- Find them all. Your management tool or Active Directory knows more than people’s memory.
- Upgrade to Windows 10 where the hardware allows. Most PCs from the last few years can.
- Replace the rest on a schedule, starting with machines used for email and browsing.
- Businesses can buy Extended Security Updates for a limited time. Use them as a bridge.
- Isolate what must stay: no internet, no email, its own network segment.
Unsupported systems don’t fail on day one. They become the easy door a few months later.