Items tagged with Windows 7
In case you haven't been paying attention in the world of operating systems, Microsoft's aging Windows 7 is finally nearing the end of the road with respect to official support. Windows 7 was first released in 2009 and should have long ago lost its support privileges, but Microsoft's missteps with Windows 8.x and early Windows 10 apprehension left many consumers and businesses indebted to Windows 7. Windows 7 extended support ends on January 14th, 2020, and with that in mind, users are quickly fleeing the operating system (as they should). Net Applications, which tracks the installed base for Windows operating systems (among other software), showed that as a share of PCs globally,...
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Although the Windows 7 operating system was first released way back in 2009, it is still being updated on a regular basis by Microsoft -- that is until extended support ends on January 14th, 2020) Like clockwork, Windows 7 received the usual bevy of bug fixes and security updates during Patch Tuesday. However, Microsoft is drawing suspicion over some added content with KB4507456, which is labeled as a "Security-only update". This month's update is being bundled with a Compatibility Appraiser (KB2952664), which is a diagnostics tool for systems running legacy Windows operating systems. Microsoft describes the Compatibility Appraiser, writing, "The diagnostics evaluate the compatibility status...
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Microsoft is pushing to get as many of its customers as possible to transition over to Windows 10, but that doesn't mean that the company is leaving consumers and business on legacy operating systems completely behind. Last week, the company made the surprise announcement that it was making the new Chromium-based Microsoft Edge browser available in preview builds via the Canary channel to Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 users. Microsoft yesterday announced that the Edge preview is now available for Windows 7 and Windows 8.x on the less frequently updated Dev channel. Microsoft typically reserves its best and brightest software releases for Windows 10. And by giving these...
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Goodbye Windows, hello Linux! The South Korean government recently announced that they will be switching the operating systems of all of their computers from Windows to Linux. The South Korean government has relied on Windows 7 for several years and does not plan to transition to Windows 10. Unfortunately for many users, Microsoft announced they will be ending support for Windows 7 on January 14th, 2020. Many companies and government institutions have held onto Windows 7 because of its stability, performance, and compatibility with older apps. Some businesses and organizations will be granted a slight extension, but many are moving on to other operating systems. Why is the South Korean government...
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The April Patch Tuesday update, which landed on April 9 for Windows systems, is still wreaking havoc on numerous systems. As we've previously reported, the KB4493472 has been especially problematic for antivirus programs -- Sophos Endpoint Protection was among the first to encounter problems, while Avira and Avast were other victims. We're now learning that McAfee software has also been affected by the Patch Tuesday updates. In this case, two software programs have been identified by Microsoft and McAfee as currently being incompatible: McAfee Endpoint Security (ENS) Threat Prevention 10.x and McAfee Host Intrusion Prevention (Host IPS) 8.0. According to Microsoft's updated release...
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Although Microsoft is hoping for a big browser comeback with the Chromium-based version of the Microsoft Edge browser, there’s another browser in the company’s repertoire that many people have already forgotten about. Of course, we’re talking about the “undead” Internet Explorer. Internet Explorer has a long history of poor security (which was one of the reasons for its dwindling popularity), and now a new exploit that takes advantage of the browser has been brought to light. John Page, a security researcher, has discovered an XML eXternal Entity (XXE) vulnerability that takes advantage of MHT files. The main issue is that by default, Windows-based...
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Earlier this month, we reported that Microsoft is stepping up its efforts to get customers to flee the near nearly decade-old Windows 7 operating system and upgrade to the new hotness: Windows 10. There are of course plenty of reasons to upgrade to Windows 10 from a performance and features standpoint, but the real push to upgrade comes from the fact that support for Windows 7 will come to an end on January 14th 2020. Microsoft announced this month that it will begin peppering Windows 7 users with notification pop-ups urging them to upgrade to Windows 10, and those nag screens have now started making their way to customers. As noted by Thurrott.com, the notification warns:...
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Microsoft continues to beat the Windows 10 drum, but many holdouts are still refusing to dance. Windows 10 has only recently surpassed Windows 7's marketshare, nearly 4 years into its life cycle. While we here at HotHardware like Windows 10 and its forward looking features, there is no denying the well-earned popularity of Windows 7. Microsoft is left with taking a heavy-handed approach to "motivate" users to upgrade. Microsoft's latest action is to neuter Windows Media Center and Windows Media Player for its older operating systems. The changes will not affect basic playback, navigation, or streaming. Instead, metadata services will be discontinued. The metadata service delivers information...
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Microsoft seems to be having a bad run of luck with its Windows updates as of late. By now you are probably familiar with the various issues that affected the October Update for Windows 10, such as a file deletion bug that prompted Microsoft to pause the update's roll out. Well, it turns out users are seeing problems in Windows 7 as well. Image Source: Flickr via Andrew Mason Earlier this week, Microsoft issued its Patch Tuesday updates to Windows PCs, as it does on the second Tuesday of every month. Typically those go without too much trouble, and that appears to the be the case on Windows 10. On Windows 7, however, some system administrators report a couple of annoying issues, one of which...
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During its Build conference last year, Microsoft bragged that Windows 10 had reached over 700 million active devices, an impressive milestone though still short of the elusive (so far) 1 billion devices goal. At the time, Windows 10 still trailed Windows 7 in terms of market share. Well, not anymore, if the latest data from an outside source is to believed. Microsoft is not in the habit of sharing monthly market share figures on its OSes, past and present, but Net Applications is, through its Net Market Share website. According to the latest tally, Windows 10 is on top with a 39.22 percent share of the combined desktop and laptop operating system market. Windows 7, meanwhile, was pushed to second...
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There are lots of computers out there that are still running Windows 7 even though Windows 10 has been out for a very long time and is now installed on 700 million devices globally. The reasons for staying on an old OS like Windows 7 are many and varied but some folks just feel their OS is working just fine and many end users don’t want to shell out money to replace something that isn't broken. In the enterprise realm, it can be a huge undertaking to move hundreds or thousands of PCs from one version of Windows to a new version, especially if there is proprietary software or apps that might have issues on Windows 10, though few would argue that security is paramount. Microsoft has previously...
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Starting in July, Microsoft's forum staff will no longer provide technical support or answers to questions for several of its products and services, including Windows 7 and Windows 8.1, one of the company's forum moderators announced. This applies to questions posted in Microsoft's Community forums. In essence, this is another move to encourage users who are getting by with legacy products to upgrade, and specifically to Windows 10. "There will be no proactive reviews, monitoring, answering or answer marking of questions. The forums will still be moderated by Microsoft agents to ensure participants can engage in a safe and positive environment," the moderator said. Moderation is still needed...
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It looks as though Microsoft has a bit of a security issue on its hands that affects both Windows 7 and Windows 10 operating systems. Back in July 2017, Bitdefender researcher Marius Tivadar discovered an exploit in Windows operating systems that allows anyone with physical access to a computer to invoke a BSOD by simply inserting a USB thumb drive loaded with a bit of software. He reported the issue to Microsoft, but at the time they brushed him off. Now, he's stepping out with details and a demonstration to raise awareness of this vulnerability. What makes this exploit so intriguing is that Tivadar's proof-of-concept showed that he could force a BSOD even if the Windows machine was locked....
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Just before the end of 2017, NVIDIA dropped a bit of a bombshell: it'd be soon dropping support for 32-bit OSes with its GeForce GPU drivers. Admittedly, such a move was inevitable, as x64 OSes have been available to mainstream audiences for at least 13 years, with Windows XP Professional x64 Edition having released on April 25, 2005. The end is now nigh, and NVIDIA has laid out all of the details on its support website. First and foremost, NVIDIA plans to drop all 32-bit GPU driver support on the GeForce side effective this month. Security releases will continue to be issued until January 2019. What this means for those stuck on 32-bit OSes is that they will lose access to Game Ready updates,...
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