Paid security updates for Windows 7 via Extended Security Updates (ESUs) expire tomorrow (January 10, 2023), so anyone running this system should upgrade to Windows 10 soon to be safe. Must upgrade. Free Windows 7 updates stopped rolling out in 2020, but due to its popularity, Microsoft decided to offer Windows 7 ESUs for a price that extended the security updates so far.
Customers who purchased Extended Support were provided updates via Patch Tuesday each month when other versions of Windows were updated. However, unlike newer versions, Windows 7 ESU only received security updates, but not feature updates due to its age. It will get its last Patch Tuesday update tomorrow but after that, you need to upgrade. With Windows 8.1 support ending this week as well, you’ll need to upgrade to Windows 10 or Windows 11. For computers that do not support these versions of Windows, running Linux is also an option. Linux Mint 21.1 came out just before Christmas and looks very similar to Windows 7 so it could be a good option if Windows 10 is out of range.
Keeping updates coming for Windows 7 is something Microsoft really didn’t want to do, as it would much rather see users upgrade to newer editions of Windows. To make it worth their time to keep Windows 7 supported, customers will have to buy Windows 7 ESU SKUs every year in 2020, 2021 and 2022 if they want the updates. Additionally, if you came with 2nd or 3rd year, you have to pay for previous years of ESU as well.
While Microsoft is ending support for Windows 7 ESU tomorrow, 0patch said last year that it would provide security updates for Windows 7 until January 2025. . YYou can find more information about pricing here..
