End of support for Windows 7 What can I do?

Windows 7

Microsoft just said goodbye to Windows 7, one of the most popular versions of Windows in recent years, with permission from Windows XP. For a few hours, Microsoft has stopped offering any kind of support to private users of Windows 7, that is, they will no longer receive updates of any kind.

If we take into account that Windows 7 was installed on one of every four computers at the end of 2019, this news is undoubtedly a hard blow for many millions of users, a dog that at some point had to happen, as happened with Windows XP. Fortunately for everything there is a solution.

What end of support means for Windows 7

Windows 7

Home users of Windows 7 already they will not receive any kind of update againTherefore, they will be exposed to the new vulnerabilities that are detected from now on. Also, if a new bug is found that has not been detected since its release 10 years ago, it will not be fixed through an update either.

However, users of the versions Professional or Enterprise will continue to receive support until 2023, a more than ample time for companies to renew their old devices for more modern ones where they can run Windows 10 without any performance problems.

The actuality, more than 50% of computers with internet connection already have Windows 10 installed, an operating system that despite all the benefits it offers us, has not had an easy path among Windows 7 users, users who have not made it easy for Microsoft when adopting the new version of Windows.

What I can do?

As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, there is a solution for all cases, or at least most of them. With the end of support for Windows 7 by Microsoft, we have several options depending on the team, the benefits and the needs of each one.

Upgrade to Windows 10 for free

Windows 10

Depending on how old your computer is, it is likely to be compatible with Windows 10. The Windows 10 installation tool will inform us about compatibility. If we take into account that Windows 10 works just as well on a Windows 7 computerUnless it creeps on your computer, you won't have any kind of problem.

During the first year of Windows 10's life, Microsoft allowed all users with a Windows 7 and Windows 8.x license to upgrade completely free of charge to Windows 10. Once the year passed, we had to go through the checkout, although from time to time, a window would open that offered us this possibility again.

With the end of support, Microsoft has initially re-enabled indefinitely, the ability to upgrade your Windows 7 computer to Windows 10 completely free of charge. Of course, the first and foremost thing is to make a backup copy of all the content that we have stored on our computer on an external drive, since If we want Windows 10 to work like a charm from day one, we must format the computer.

Once we have made the backup, we must download the update tool that Microsoft puts at our disposal and follow the steps that we detail below:

Upgrade to Windows 10

  • Once we have downloaded the Media Creation Tool installation tool, we run it on our computer.
  • The application will show us two options: Update this computer now / Create installation media (USB flash drive, DVD or ISO file) for another PC.
    • Update this equipment now. This option will allow us to update our equipment by talking about all the information that we have stored in the equipment.
    • Create installation media. Through this option, we can make an installation medium to install Windows 10 from scratch on any computer, an option that we must select to erase all the content of our computer and do a clean installation.

Update this equipment now

In order to upgrade our equipment to Windows 10 from Windows 7, our equipment needs at least 8 GB of free space to download Windows 10 and proceed to install it. Once we have downloaded it, it will take more or less time depending on our connection speed, the wizard will ask us where the files we want to chat are located.

Once we have indicated the path or paths where the files are located, the installation process will begin. Once finished, we will have available the same applications that we already had installed on our Windows 7 computer. We must bear in mind that the installer will download the same version that we have installed (32 or 64 bits) so it is advisable to do a clean installation and forget about the 32 bits version.

Create installation media

The first thing to do is select the 10-bit version of Windows 64 to download, in order to be able to take full advantage of our equipment, especially if it has more than 4 GB of RAM.

The process to create a Windows 10 installation medium also requires free space on our hard drive, specifically 8 GB. Once the installation file has been downloaded, the wizard will unzip it in the drive that we have selected for perform the subsequent installation from scratch.

Once we have created the installation media, we just have to turn off our computer and change the boot values ​​of our team through the BIOS so that it starts with the unit we want to use.

And what about the license?

Upgrade to Windows 10

If we update our computer from Windows 7 to Windows 10, the new version of Windows will recognize the license that we have in Windows 7 and it will use it as if it were Windows 10. This information will be stored on Microsoft's servers, so we will be able to use it as many times as we want on the same computer if we are forced to reinstall Windows 10 at any time.

If we do a clean installation, we must enter the Windows 7 license number that we have when the program requests it. Once we have installed Windows 10, we just have to go to Settings (Windows key + i)> Update and security> Activation

In the right column it will be shown if the password we have used is valid. If it is not an official license, logically you will not be able to take advantage of the free opportunity that Microsoft offers us to upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10 completely free of charge.

Renew your equipment

Windows 10 laptop

If your team already saw them and wanted them when using Windows 7, you don't have to bother to check if Windows 10 is compatible. It is time to renew your team. Depending on our needs, we can find different cheap laptop or desktop computers on the market from about 200 euros, more than enough equipment if our needs are to see our social networks, check the mail, write a document ...

Change operating system

Obviously, this is the option that users ask least, especially if we talk about an option based on Linux. Although the user interface is very similar, depending on the distro that we select, we will be forced to look for different alternatives to the applications that we have become accustomed to using, especially if they do not have a version for Linux.


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