Windows 7 still holds over 40% of the marketshare 3 years after EOL.

Impressive! Windows 7 is looking like its the new Windows XP!

Impressive indeed.

But, Windows 7 did not reach EOL (End Of Life) 3 years ago. It reached end of mainstream support on January 13, 2015 and extended support ends on January 14, 2020 which will be EOL (no more updates, including security ones) Just over 2 years from now.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/...cle-fact-sheet

But, I'm sure many people will continue to use Windows 7 long after EOL. Myself included, probably.

My hope is that by W7's EOL, Windows 10 will be polished enough to merit a transition.

Hellriser said:

My hope is that by W7's EOL, Windows 10 will be polished enough to merit a transition.

Same, and hopefully they remove all the over excessive telementry. I understand basic error collection but my keystrokes? Thats a little much.

CarlSD said:

Impressive indeed.

But, Windows 7 did not reach EOL (End Of Life) 3 years ago. It reached end of mainstream support on January 13, 2015 and extended support ends on January 14, 2020 which will be EOL (no more updates, including security ones) Just over 2 years from now.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/...cle-fact-sheet

But, I'm sure many people will continue to use Windows 7 long after EOL. Myself included, probably.

My bad, but yeah its still going strong.

Have you considered Linux mint?

I came to a decision about a year ago that I would need to make a change from Windows 7 to something else in a few years (January 2020). Linux seemed like the logical choice -- it's free, public domain, and it has come a long way over the years. So I decided to take the plunge.

I started by putting Linux in a virtual machine inside of Windows 7. I then went with dual boot. Now, I have Windows in a virtual machine inside of Linux.

I started with Ubuntu, moving through the various Ubuntu flavors, finally settling on Xubuntu. I wasn't totally happy with that, so I ended up on Linux Mint.

I am thoroughly pleased with Linux Mint:
* It is fast.
* It has a solid feel through and through.
* It is extremely easy to install and uninstall a whole lot of free, good-quality software.
* I have total control over updates.
* I have never had to reboot after installing updates.
* The Linux Mint folks aren't gathering my personal information.
* Linux Mint is a whole lot less vulnerable to malware than Windows.

On the negative side:
* I can't get my scanner to work!
* There isn't much high-quality anti-virus software or backup software. Sophos AntiVirus is available, free, and highly-rated. But it isn't as easy to install or use as the Windows stuff.

For those things that I can't do in Linux, I have installed VMWare Workstation Player and set up two virtual machines: one with Windows 7, and the other with Windows 8.1. I installed my scanner software in both VMs; it works without a hitch in both. I plan to install Microsoft Office in the 8.1 VM.

The reason I have a Windows 8.1 VM is because Windows 8.1 will be supported by Microsoft till January of 2023. (In other words, there is a very long time before it goes out of support.) I use Classic Shell, so it's just like Windows 7. But I don't use the VM very much; I'm mainly in Linux. The VM is there only as a necessity, so it doesn't bother me that it's Windows 8.1.

Lady Fitzgerald said:

Look into a program called VueScan. I has drivers for pretty much every scanner out there and has versions for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

VueScan does work. But I'll have to pay to get rid of the watermark. However, I have found what is for me a better solution: I installed Windows 8.1 in a VM, and I scan from there. So not only can I now scan, but also I can run any other programs that I can't get to work in Linux. Best of all, it didn't cost me anything to set things up this way.

Thanks for the suggestion.

BlockOfIce72 said:

Same, and hopefully they remove all the over excessive telementry. I understand basic error collection but my keystrokes? Thats a little much.

MS will never move "BACK" towards more privacy, always towards being more invasive. It makes them much more money and they don't give a darn about a right to privacy.

W7 is the end of the road for me as far as MS goes. I will ride this ride as long as it is usable, (I imagine another 10yrs is possible before I might need programs that won't run on W7), then I have my eyes on ReactOS, an open-source Windows-clone OS, to take its place. ReactOS runs Windows software without the Big Brother code of MS. By the time I have to switch, I am hoping it runs ALL Windows sftw. It's still in its infancy (though been around a few years at least now).

I have Linux Live Drives and they're handy in situations, but Linux is not user friendly for Windows power users who don't know or want to learn UNIX commands, imo.

That's why ReactOS is so promising. Looks like Windows, operates like Windows, runs Windows software, without being Windows.