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Windows 7 no more updates?

SOLVED 
5K views 35 replies 9 participants last post by  DKSTechSpt2018 
#1 ·
#3 ·
As stated. Windows 7 is no longer supported and Microsoft will not be issuing any more updates, you will be more vulnerable to attack with Windows 7. Eventually web sites will no longer give you access because your OS is out of date.
You can still upgrade to Windows 10 for free. It will use your currently installed Windows 7 Product key to activate.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10
 
#5 · (Edited)
That's what I'm a little worried about. I've had my OS for years since I bought my laptop.
Just by the way, you don't even need any product key to do an in-place upgrade from Windows 7 (or 8 or 8.1) to Windows 10. The installer takes care of converting your existing Windows key into a Windows 10 key for the corresponding edition. (And this is just meant to expand on what was stated earlier).

Windows 7 Pro or Ultimate will become Windows 10 Pro. Windows 7 Home will become Windows 10 Home.

Doing a Windows 10 Repair Install or Feature Update Using the Windows 10 ISO file . As I note in the instructions, the only difference between the steps for a Repair Install or Feature Update on a system that already has Windows 10, and an in-place upgrade from an earlier Windows, is that the steps up through and including kicking off setup.exe are going to occur under the earlier version of Windows.
I've never done an upgrade in my life. I thought Windows 10 cost money? Cool I hope its free I'm gonna do it now.

Guys, I've actually going to start transferring it to my new SSD. If I upgrade now can I still do fresh install or Windows 10 iso once I'm ready to switch over? I just need to know how it works if I upgraded to my old HDD but soon I will have to put it on my new SSD.

P.S. I'm a little sceptic but I hope it erases everything on my Windows 7 except my videos and important files.
 
#4 ·
Just by the way, you don't even need any product key to do an in-place upgrade from Windows 7 (or 8 or 8.1) to Windows 10. The installer takes care of converting your existing Windows key into a Windows 10 key for the corresponding edition. (And this is just meant to expand on what was stated earlier).

Windows 7 Pro or Ultimate will become Windows 10 Pro. Windows 7 Home will become Windows 10 Home.

Doing a Windows 10 Repair Install or Feature Update Using the Windows 10 ISO file . As I note in the instructions, the only difference between the steps for a Repair Install or Feature Update on a system that already has Windows 10, and an in-place upgrade from an earlier Windows, is that the steps up through and including kicking off setup.exe are going to occur under the earlier version of Windows.
 
#6 ·
You can do your drive upgrade either pre or post Windows 10 in-place upgrade.

Windows 10 license keys are tied directly to the motherboard in a system, and stored on Microsoft's servers, which is what allows you to reinstall Windows 10 on a system that had it at any point in time, even if you've, say, installed Linux on it for a while.

Personally, and it's just a preference, I'd do the Win10 upgrade first, then do the drive upgrade.

However, all of that is really dependent on your hardware meeting the minimum specs to handle Windows 10, and you've never mentioned the specifics. Posting a Speccy Snapshot would be helpful.
-------------------------------------------
Using Piriform’s Speccy to Collect Your Computer’s Hardware & Software Specifications
1. Go to the Piriform Speccy Download Page and download the program.
2. Run the installer you’ve just downloaded.
a. Note: The Speccy free installer may now come with Avast and the Google Chrome browser bundled with it (or something else, what’s bundled has changed over time). Make sure that you UNCHECK the options to install any bundled software when you see the checkboxes during the Speccy install sequence. When you reach the end, uncheck the View Release Notes checkbox, then activate the Run Speccy button.
You will then be presented the Speccy Main Window:


3. From the File Menu, activate the “Publish Snapshot” item [or press ALT+F,B]:


4. You will now be presented with the Publish Snapshot Dialog:

You will, of course, activate the Yes button.

5. Finally, you will be presented with the Snapshot URL Dialog:

on which you will activate the Copy to Clipboard button so that you will have the snapshot web address to paste into your message.

Note: If you want to save your system specs to a text file, at step 3 choose the Save as Text File option at step 3. This can be handy if you need to e-mail your specs.
 
#7 ·
You can do your drive upgrade either pre or post Windows 10 in-place upgrade.

Windows 10 license keys are tied directly to the motherboard in a system, and stored on Microsoft's servers, which is what allows you to reinstall Windows 10 on a system that had it at any point in time, even if you've, say, installed Linux on it for a while.

Personally, and it's just a preference, I'd do the Win10 upgrade first, then do the drive upgrade.

However, all of that is really dependent on your hardware meeting the minimum specs to handle Windows 10, and you've never mentioned the specifics. Posting a Speccy Snapshot would be helpful.
I started the upgrade and it look like its working. Yes I was thinking that too I want to upgrade to old HDD first then eventually will upgrade to new SSD. Yes it is upgrading and almost done. Wow that makes sense I never knew that's how license worked? Amazing, so you can install OS to as many SSD/HDD but it can only register to your own motherboard?
Very interesting :thumb:

Here is specs: https://www.manualowl.com/m/Toshiba/L500-PSLS6C-00F005/Manual/487378

I shouldn't
 
#8 ·
If you have the option of upgrading memory to a minimum of 8GB, keep that in mind.

Win10 will function with 4GB, but it's a lot less fluid and slick at times with that little RAM. I recommend 8GB as the minimum, and it doesn't hurt to have more.
 
#9 ·
Yes that was the first thing I did 8gb RAM upgrade, and lastly would be my SSD.

Upgrade was successful guys! Thanks heaps I wouldn't of known about the Free upgrade I thought I had to buy the Windows 10 for $200? I only misunderstood when MS said 'If you don't have a license then you need to buy..." but I didn't know it was implying to those non MS-OS :rofl:
I think I should of done a clean install and wipe everything instead of keeping files and apps.

Apart from that, I think I will get use to Windows 10 now after so long being with my wife W7. W10 a bit longer to load though compared to W7? That will be solved once I reinstall to SSD and will install W10 only so I can manually reinstall certain apps. That was a cool experience constantly learning, and less than a day out of my time with no hassles came with it :grin:
 
#11 ·
Definitely. I'm regretting not doing the first time :facepalm: but now I have a complete knowledge on why and how to do it. Feels good when you realise something wasn't as hard as it looked :cool:

Do you guys recommend Migrate OS Cloning i.e. MiniTools? I originally was going to go that way but now I feel confident easier to start fresh.
 
#15 ·
And I'll be the contrarian here about doing in-place upgrades as opposed to completely clean installs.

If you have nothing to lose, including time and the effort of reconfiguring a machine from scratch, then a clean install is the way to go.

If you have years of data and tons of programs already in place under Windows 7, 8, or 8.1, then an in-place upgrade is the way to go, at least initially.

I've done way more in-place upgrades on existing systems than I have completely clean reinstalls, and have had zero problems afterward. This is a process that Microsoft seems to have gotten quite right. Three of the five machines in my household started out life either on Windows 7 or 8.1, and were in-place upgraded about 6 months after the initial release of Windows 10. All have worked without a hitch afterward and kept on keepin' on with Windows 10 and updates to it since then.

Between that, and the data points I have from clients, I do not find that the in-place upgrade fails often nor proves to be problematic in any way after it succeeds. And it the couple of cases where there have been issues, they've been on machines that "had issues" prior to having the in-place upgrade applied (which, of course, was revealed well after the fact). You can't build a house on a foundation of quicksand, and you shouldn't do an in-place upgrade on an unstable system and magically expect everything to work properly. You've got to fix the foundation before building on it.
 
#16 ·
Thanks guys! I really appreciated the help.
I watched the youtube vid and that was a lot easier than expected.

#Update:
- I went with a caddy case for the extra Hard drive, and manage to put my new 1TB firecuda by replacing my DVD drive and now it is working. Had to format it first before I could use it. I also copied back all my files to the new firecuda drive.
- My External closure was delivered today which I will now use my old HDD as a spare External HDD and once I complete the Windows iso installation to the new SSD. However, before I could that I am waiting for my USB Stick to be delivered then will put Windows 10 iso on it and make it a bootable disk drive (I should of went into the shop to buy it lol) for the new SSD.

Almost done so far so good. As for Windows 10, it is a lot better.

Guys, I was thinking about my other Apps i.e. MS Ofiice2010. Are they free upgrade as well or do I have to buy it separately? I got a notification MS Office 2010 is no longer going to have support exactly like W7?
 
#17 ·
I got a notification MS Office 2010 is no longer going to have support exactly like W7?
First, burning an ISO to a flash drive as bootable is dirt simple. You can use a utility called Rufus or any one of several others. Every tech seems to have their favorite, Rufus is what I've been using for years.

If Office 2010 is not already out of support, it is going out of support very, very soon. I believe it is already out of support. You do need to buy a new license to upgrade to one of the later versions, and at this juncture Office 2016 is the earliest among those that has a reasonable support period still ahead of its end of life.

There now exists a cottage industry in the EU of reselling software licenses from decommissioned hardware, and that is entirely legal. It's how I've obtained my MS Office 2016 licenses and the Windows 10 Pro license for the machine I'm typing on. When it comes to the Grey Marked, every individual has to do their homework and decide whether they want to go that route or not. My little treatise on the topic: On the Grey Market.

There are many techs who are now saying that Office 365 is the only way to go, and there are advantages, but I did not want a subscription service.
 
#19 ·
As an alternative there are free substitutes for Office.
And for anyone looking for a replacement for office, and who only needs the equivalents for Word, PowerPoint, and Excel, I can very highly recommend SoftMaker Free Office. It's the closest analog to MS-Office in look and feel I've ever encountered.

Libre Office and Open Office are good alternatives, too, but they are not nearly as similar in look and feel as SoftMaker Free Office.
 
#20 ·
Finally completed everything. Windows 10 on the new SSD, 1TB firecuda for storage using the DVD caddy, and the old HDD in the new External Enclosure. Wow, loads up heaps quicker than before, loving it :D

I will worry about MS Office later on but thanks again guys! [SOLVED]
 
#22 ·
Just a note to thank you guys for your expertise and this service you provide. I believe I initially joined this forum (or it's predecessor) years ago when an old XP machine picked up a bad virus. At that time, to show how long ago, the team recommended Kaspersky and I was walked through a couple of hours of posting, cleaning, posting, until the machine was sterilized. Then a couple of years ago I signed up for this "trending" digest, and I check it out each week. Last fall when MS began to pull the plug on Win 7 I began following all the ups and downs of updating to Win 10. There seemed to be a lot of bad outcomes and complicated issues over the months, so I decided to just stay with 7, knowing the risks involved, but partly because I'm still using Kaspersky (mostly because it still has a couple years on the subscription). Anyway, to make a long story a little longer, when I saw this latest post about how easy (and free) it would be to go from my 7 to 10, I decided to take the plunge.

So for anyone out there still following this issue, it was amazingly easy to download and update my old Dell. You probably should know my OS has been updated regularly and was originally purchased with a new Dell desktop--no copies or shenanigans--and I have 8 MB RAM with Intel Core i5 3340 @ 3.10GHz. I kept all apps and files and so far so good. I don't do anything that complicated--mostly just a lot of writing with Word, Excel, etc., and Gmail, of course. Not a lot of Internet use beyond the usual major retailers, Carbonite, on-line banking, etc.

One remaining question: I understand Windows Defender seems to now do the trick and you're no longer recommending any add'l anti-virus software. Are there any pros / cons for my continuing to use the installed Kaspersky, or is it time to just retire it.

Thanks again for your info.
 
#23 ·
One remaining question: I understand Windows Defender seems to now do the trick and you're no longer recommending any add'l anti-virus software. Are there any pros / cons for my continuing to use the installed Kaspersky, or is it time to just retire it.
Were it me, I'd run to Windows Security and never look back.

That being said, you should solicit opinions on this in a venue where the majority of the participants are well versed in security issues and current antivirus/security suites. On this site, that would be the General Computer Security Forum.

Because it's a PITA to copy and paste URLs on this site, I will refer you to my standard things to reference, posted elsewhere. Just take a read through the materials to help to form your opinion as well as the advice you receive on the General Computer Security Forum.

https://win10.groups.io/g/win10/message/44625
 
#26 ·
Thanks for the detailed answers--that's what I needed to make the decision. One reason I was reluctant for a while to upgrade to Windows 10 was the number of times people had problems when 10 updated. So I'm fine with chucking Kaspersky at this point, before the next 10 update comes in. I assume it's best to uninstall it rather than just stop it and start Defender? It's been on my wife's Dell Win 10 (updated from 8 five years ago), and on my HP tablet, which came with 10. I haven't had any problems come up with those two machines with Kapersky for several years with updates so maybe I should leave well enough alone there.

Also remembered something else I was going to bring up about the Win 7 I just updated to 10. A few weeks back, for the first time I got a little popup ostensibly from Dell that they wanted to update the Win 7 bios. I thought that was a little suspicious, and possibly asking for trouble, so declined. Just curious if you've seen that. I don't think it'll come up again since the upgrade to 10.
 
#28 ·
Also remembered something else I was going to bring up about the Win 7 I just updated to 10. A few weeks back, for the first time I got a little popup ostensibly from Dell that they wanted to update the Win 7 bios. I thought that was a little suspicious, and possibly asking for trouble, so declined. Just curious if you've seen that. I don't think it'll come up again since the upgrade to 10.
If you like Kaspersky and are comfortable with it, it also is OK, in my opinion, to keep using it unless you encounter problems with it. I would not, however, renew any subscription and would change to Windows Security when the subscription is expired (or before, your choice) by uninstalling Kaspersky with the uninstaller they supply with the product.

As to BIOS updates, in this day and age they are essential. You need never respond to any pop-up, and unless you have the Dell Service Station (or whatever they call their driver/bios/etc. monitoring software) running I would never respond to a pop-up. But you should know what's running on your system, and if you're using a service station type product you should make yourself familiar with what their actual notifications look like. In any case, you can always check the Dell support page, under Drivers & Downloads, for the latest BIOS/UEFI updates. When you next boot your system, if this happens slowly enough for you to see it, make note of the BIOS Version number. If it doesn't, trigger entry into BIOS and get the number. Then go to the Dell Support Page for your model and check to see what the most recent version is. If you are not on the most recent version, download and run the BIOS updater that's sure to be there.
 
#30 ·
I have not had a BIOS/UEFI update go south in well over a decade.

Given that a very great many BIOS/UEFI updates are done to address security issues, they are ignored at the user's peril.

There was a time, long ago, that I almost adamantly insisted on the, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," rule in regard to BIOS/UEFI updates in particular. Those days are long gone since the updater packages aren't any more complex than, "start it and let it do its thing," and are nearly bulletproof. I've never had one fail, and I can count on less than one hand the number of reports I've read on tech forums of a modern BIOS updater failing. It's so rare that worrying about it is unwarranted compared to the risks involved in using old BIOS/UEFI versions.
 
#31 ·
Thanks again for the advice. It's also helpful to get different opinions or issues to think about. With Kaspersky I think I'll uninstall it on this machine with the just-done Win 10 update from 7, and leave it alone on my other two machines that have 10 and have been doing updates regularly for several years with Kas in place (until the subscription expires).

Re the Dell bios update, I just checked the on-board Dell app and had it check for updates, and it reported everything is up to date, including the BIOS. So not sure why the little Dell notice box came up a few weeks ago, for the first time ever, but it seems to be moot.
 
#36 ·
I just meant uninstall an existing Kaspersky program after I had updated the machine from Win 7 to 10, as it's largely not needed with 10's built-in AV Defender. I just used the uninstall / remove all files within Kaspersky. I decided to uninstall Kas so there would be one less program starting / running. The only problem I encountered is, I forgot that I had used the encrypted storage bin feature for a place to store passwords, acct numbers, and other personal ID info. So that was wiped out with the rest. My mistake. But I had been printing and filing a hard copy for history and in case the machine imploded some day and that was fairly recent.
 
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