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Microsoft Quietly Cuts Off Windows 7 Support For Older Intel Computers (computerworld.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: If your PC doesn't run Streaming Single Instructions Multiple Data (SIMD) Extensions 2, you apparently won't be getting any more Win7 patches. At least, that's what I infer from some clandestine Knowledge Base documentation changes made in the past few days. Even though Microsoft says it's supporting Win7 until January 14, 2020, if you have an older machine -- including any Pentium III -- you've been blocked, and there's nothing you can do about it.

8 of 383 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Who cares? by Tyger-ZA · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...if you're not an idiot and don't go to random sites/click "run" on downloaded files, you're reasonably safe...

    Excellent, using your idea, we don't need to patch anything ever again. The answer has been right in front of us all this time, we would have never figured it out if you hadn't come along. I won't even need to help older relatives when they fuck up their PCs, I'll just print out your post and stick it below their screen

  2. Windows 7: The Best Windows by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Windows 7 is the Best Windows. , better than all versions which came before it and after it. The only thing it lacks is out of the box USB 3.0 support. The drivers not on the install disk but you ca add it.. That's all. It's everything you need.

    Windows 8 was a stupid movie. "Let's change the UI, because, fuck it, let's change the UI." Nothing else.

    And Windows 10 with its intrusive spying and adverts truly sucks ass. It didn't add anything of value either.

    Microsoft is pushing out new versions because no one has gone for their subscriptions so new versions is how they make money. That is all.

    > b0s0z0ku : Also, if you're not an idiot and don't go to random sites/click "run" on downloaded files, you're reasonably safe.

    Wow. You really are an idiot. Precisely the sort of idiot who needs to be protected with security patches.

    1. Re:Windows 7: The Best Windows by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Funny. I always thought Win2k was the best version. The UI stayed out of your way, it was fast and super stable with no extra BS.

  3. Re: Who cares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So, if a company just decides they don't want to honor the promises they made, they should be able to walk away whenever they want? That's incredibly moronic and you know it. Microsoft led customers to believe they would receive support through the EOL date. Prematurely ending support is going back on their word, and it shouldn't be legal for them to do this.

  4. Re:Good thing there is Linux... by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Or just buy the newest hardware that can run Windows 7, patch it as much as possible, and keep good anti-malware software installed after the drop-dead date of 2020. Assuming this date isn't extended for critical patches.

  5. Re:Good thing there is Linux... by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Win 7, even updated, doesn't attempt to shove "Microsoft accounts" (vs local or domain) and OneDrive down users' gullets.

  6. Re:Who cares? by hyades1 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You're far from alone in that, my friend. A bunch of people I know got the same kind of treatment. I stayed with Apple and Microsoft for business reasons. I might finally start looking at Linux again soon. It won't be because I think the fanbois' manners have improved, but because I really don't like the "you don't own it, you only rent it" approach to software the big boys are taking.

    --
    I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
  7. Re:EOL is EOL... by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    As long as windows 10 is spyware, changing to it is not "upgrading" or "modernizing". It's acceptance of abuse. And your insistence that it is something else is assistance of abuse.

    When I can no longer run windows 7 on my PC, I will move the installation into VMware and run Linux on my PC. I will never run any newer version of Windows. Microsoft is now nothing but a malware distributor, and anyone proposing you use Windows is aiding criminal activity.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"