Before we discuss those though, make sure all your important data is safely backed up. Your options for dealing with a device running an obsolete operating system will vary depending on the specific OS, but you’ve generally got two choices. Of course, computers running the operating system won’t suddenly stop working, but they are now unprotected and thus more likely to be targeted by hackers and malware. To be fair to Microsoft, Windows 7 is now more than a decade old, and it’s about time users started moving to something a little more modern. If a security exploit is discovered, it may never get fixed-unless the software developer deems it serious enough to go back to something that’s been abandoned, which is not likely. Nothing.Īnd it’s that last point that’s most important to you as a user, because running “dead” software can put your devices and data at risk. This means no more updates, no more features, and no more security patches. Windows 7 is the latest operating system to reach “ end-of-life,” or EOL, and become officially obsolete.
