when Windows 10 launched in 2015 pc
users were confronted with a dilemma microsoft had in many enthusiast eyes
been making blunder after blunder in their efforts to turn what we all
thought was a perfectly functional operating system into some kind of idiot
friendly touch screen fisher-price looking nonsense
and on top of trying to fix what a broke microsoft wanted unprecedented access to
their users data and resolved to just
force system updates when you're right in the middle of something and all for
what directx 12 so many power users ended up sticking
with Windows 7 and are still using it today
but they have a problem if you're one of these individuals you
now have less than one year before microsoft cuts off Windows 7.
you may not want to risk an upgrade but as aragorn said to fiden in the great
hall of ederas upgrading is upon you whether you would
risk it or not wait i don't think that's quite what he said it's close enough you know what
else is close i can almost smell it so close
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now you might not realize this but in spite of microsoft practically giving
away Windows 10 even to those with pirated installations
most users stuck with Windows 7 rather
than upgrading either to 8 or 10 something that only finally changed late
last year in december net market share reported that Windows 10 installations
rose above Windows 7 for the first time
and now account for nearly 41 of the user base compared to Windows 7's 37
now hopefully that number is going to continue to go down as we get closer to
january 14 2020 the day that Windows 7
dies because otherwise we we're gonna have some serious problems because yes
yes okay Windows seven it's not gonna die it's not like you just
turn on your computer and it doesn't turn on anymore it's just going
to stop receiving feature updates bug fixes and most importantly security
updates which are pretty important if
you want to i don't know continue oh say
using the internet now as it did for previous versions of
Windows microsoft is offering extended
security updates or esu issue
for Windows 7 enterprise and pro editions up until january 2023 but
this extended update service won't come
cheap and adding insult to injury the price will double each year so three
years of support is going to cost 175 bucks for enterprise licenses and
350 for Windows 7 pro
ouchy also if you're a mega ball or pc gamer
thinking yeah no problem 350 bucks that's like what mid-tier graphics card
sorry i've got some bad news for you too esu is only available for volume license
subscriptions which are usually held by companies or schools
so businesses running Windows 7 machines on microsoft says your cloud as part of
the Windows virtual desktop program those folks get esu for free
but again baller gamers i would imagine that
scenario doesn't apply to you so then if
you're just a regular Windows 7 user with a personal license
what can you do well before we get too deep into your
options let's take a look at why people want to hold on to Windows 7 like that
grudge against their brother for stealing the last piece of their birthday cake even though they told them
that they were saving it for later and hit it away way in the back of the fridge so you wouldn't know it was there
Windows 7 was is
kind of fantastic it's mature stable and
reliable and offers a great amount of control over the way it behaves its
interface is functional familiar and extremely customizable and it's got all
your settings just the way that you like them
i mean furthermore i wouldn't be surprised if anyone upgrading now has a
program or two that would either require a new not to mention costly license to
run on Windows 10 or that isn't available for it at all
and there's other little creature comforts typing in the search bar retrieves
results that make sense instead of a Windows setting you weren't looking for
or a web result from bing Windows 7 doesn't incessantly ask you to
send more of your personal information to microsoft or decide on its own when
it's time to update whether you like it or not
updates are available oh uh sorry you know what i'm actually
kind of in the middle of something kind of roger that updating now
but as awesome as Windows 7 is there are
quite a few cons to staying with it past the end date for extended support
besides lacking the latest antivirus protections Windows 7 won't have Windows
10 features like device guard UEFI secure boot and Windows hello which
offer higher overall security for your system and while gaming performance is
about the same some things like system boot times are slower in Windows 7
compared to Windows 10 so it turns out microsoft software engineers weren't
just sitting around playing beer pong for the last seven to eight years
also if you're worried about future proofing at all which you should be at
least a little bit Windows 7 is not a great bet as software and even hardware
makers eventually do stop providing support for legacy operating systems
so even if you pay for esu support only lasts for three years and costs more
than a Windows 10 license and you might be able to upgrade for free anyway
yup even though microsoft officially ended their offer for a free upgrade to
Windows 10 from Windows 7 or 8 many users have reported successful fully
activated upgrades by using microsoft's official upgrade utility and even if you
have to pay bear with me for a moment here Windows 10 might not be as bad as
you think there are a lot of happy users out there who appreciate its combination
of the efficiency and customization of Windows 7 and the modern design of
Windows 8. and despite microsoft's best efforts there is actually a fair bit
that you can do to minimize their data collection and postpone system updates
until absolutely necessary or at least until it's convenient so we're going to
have some resources for you guys for this linked in the video description
but let's say you draw the line at Windows 10. fine you say i'll stop using
Windows 7 but hashtag never Windows 10.
whoa i can tell you guys are serious because that hashtag there well for you
guys there are other options first up there's Windows 8.1 i mean
i doubt that you guys have stuck with Windows 7 for this long just to give in
to the os that gabe newell called a catastrophe
and its data collection and update system are kind of similar to Windows 10
but at least it'll be getting security updates though realistically now that
microsoft has learned from their mistake of supporting Windows xp 4 like ever
that'll probably only buy you a couple of years
so uh maybe that's not a great option so then what how about oh macOS
while apple's desktop os has come a long
way and is obviously used by many tech enthusiasts
the thing is i don't see many Windows 7 die hards willingly defecting to apple's
camp plus you would need to either buy a
totally new computer or begin the long
arduous process of trying to turn your existing pc into a hackintosh
now it might be doable but even most hackintosh enthusiasts are pretty open
about what a finicky experience that is
leaving Linux
now a couple of years ago i would have said that that's madness
but Linux is a more viable option than
ever before even for gamers
now we're planning another follow-up video on valve's proton compatibility
software but for now the main thing you need to know about it is that it makes
an ever growing list of Windows games run
flawlessly on Linux and community
reports indicate that thousands more run pretty well
as for the non-gamers popular Linux distros like ubuntu work great for
productivity focused use especially if the majority of your work is done on the
web and there are even distros that borrow heavily from Windows for their
interface like Linux mint so your home sickness will at least be suited a
little and then of course there's the last option stick with Windows 7. hold fast
as your destruction edge is ever closer say goodbye to hardware or software
upgrades and just well just don't browse the internet
after january 14th 2020.
with regards to that option i mean you know what god speed you brave bastard but needless
to say we don't actually recommend doing that what we do recommend though if you
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we're going to have that linked below so thanks for watching guys if you just
like this video you can hit that button i'm sorry it's really bad news i get it
but if you liked it hit like get subscribed or maybe consider checking out where to buy the stuff we featured
Windows 10 i guess at the link in the video description also down there is our
merch store which has cool shirts like this one and our community forum which
you should totally join we should have where you can uh buy an ubuntu cd
canonical will ship you one if you pay like a couple bucks i think you can
yeah but and don't pay for Linux either like it's free
that's kind of the point