Is anyone still using Windows 7?

[maxseven]

Got an iPhone 16 Pro a month or ? ago and only now have noticed that it does no longer reliably connect to my W7 Pro PC. I mean, if I plug it in with a USB cable it will beep and "Trust this computer?" and appear in Explorer as a Portable Device, but then after a minute or so it just Disconnects and is no longer available to me. It seems it might have worked with iOS 18.0 and possibly not with the .1 or the .1.1 update. Anyone here experienced the same?

It's not a W7 deal-breaker for me but I'm disappointed that now Apple's drivers seem to have left us behind also.

 

[spapakons]

Apple does such tricks to discourage use using Windows and use MacOS. Depending on your hardware you can dual-boot Windows and MacOS (aka Hackintosh) but each newer version of MacOS is increasingly difficult to hack and make it install on "regular" PC hardware. More details here:

Installation | InsanelyMac

Much better option: Dual boot Windows 7 and 11

 

[maxseven]

...Much better option: Dual boot Windows 7 and 11

Thanks but do you know that W11 works i.e. recognizes Apple iPhones as portable devices? I thought Apple had only one set of Windows drivers...

You're reminding me that Wife has a W10 gizmo I should try, duh.

 

[siliconbeaver]

Have you tried?

I read many posts on Hackintosh.

no sure if any hardware requirement/limit (I can use one of HP 800 G3 to G6). besides MacOS, any software can chose to use? (Office, mail, Discord, , ,)

I don't like Windows 11 much (24H2 gets freezing up often). it's time to consider alternative as Windows 7 is going dim.

Apple does such tricks to discourage use using Windows and use MacOS. Depending on your hardware you can dual-boot Windows and MacOS (aka Hackintosh) but each newer version of MacOS is increasingly difficult to hack and make it install on "regular" PC hardware. More details here:

Installation | InsanelyMac

Much better option: Dual boot Windows 7 and 11

 

[maxseven]

...Windows 7 is going dim.

I have my days when I think I have to "upgrade" to W10 or W11 but it makes me sorta sick to my stomach TBH. I'm more inclined to change completely to e.g. the MacOS platform but I'm REALLY stuck on Quicken (Windows app far superior to Mac version) and another program called FileCenter that has no Mac alternative.

I know I can always dual-boot or Parallels or some such but then there are issues with my external hardware.

Life is supposed to get easier as one ages, not harder!

EDIT: OK so now I've tried my iPhone in a W10 computer and it's recognized immediately and sticks-around. So there's one point in favor of updating my W7 to W10 (and/or beyond) assuming I can even still do that w/o having to buy W10.

 

[SIW2]

free upgrade activation win7>win10 has ended. If you installed win10 before it ended, the activation will be stored on ms servers.

win10 will be put out to grass in Oct 2025.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/end-of-support

 

[spapakons]

If you decide to use MacOS, you can install Wine to run Windows applications. Not sure if it runs Quicken. You can install Linux on a virtual machine, install Wine and see how well it works with Quicken or whatever else. Although I would rather stick with Windows XP than run MacOS or Linux. I have used them for the experience, but I would not make either my main OS. They are too limited in terms of hardware and software support and I value compatibility more than anything else.

 

[Bree]

free upgrade activation win7>win10 has ended. If you installed win10 before it ended, the activation will be stored on ms servers.
win10 will be put out to grass in Oct 2025.

My System Two got probably one of (if not the) very last free activation on September 28th 2023. The was a brief window of opportunity between MS turning off the free upgrade path and turning off activation by changing the installed key to a Win7 key. I manage to sneak in through that gap.

While Windows 10 will be 'put out to grass' the activation will live on. There was no change to the the digital licence for Windows 11, so the same digital licence will activate either W10 or W11. I'm back to running W7 on my System Two now, but as a test it has had W11 installed and it activated.

 

[torchwood]

My old Vista machine , cracking little devil, rather short on resources, has been upgraded to 7/10/11, upgraded it back to W7, so i've no activation problems.... im running W7 on it now
>>in my opinion<< MS has moved backwards

 

[teckneeculler]

There's no reason (as of right now) that W10 can't be used for many years to come, just as W7 is still perfectly usable today, years after M$ took it off life support.

 

[townsbg]

Short of using a hack I can't install 11 on my computer but I wouldn't anyway. This is a perfectly good computer that I plan on using until it dies. It's too old though for 11 anyway. I have no choice though on my work computer. It's owned by my employer. Therefore I can't install tweaks and in fact I shouldn't even have admin access. I hope that they don't find out. :busted:

 

[sebs]

A year ago I bought a new SSD and extra RAM for my more than a decade old laptop which came with Windows 7. I took it all apart to clean it and change the thermal paste, then put it back together with the new items. I installed Windows 7 on that new SSD. It runs just like new. Of course it won't run today's programs so smoothly. But I installed Windows 7 because I want to still use it to run music production software that I bought around the same time I bought the laptop and then another one a few years later. Cubase 5 and Reason 8, they both won't work on today's laptops I would guess. I also have a sound card whose audio drivers are for Windows 7 the latest. I will keep it offline and not use it for anything other than making music.

 

[michael diemer]

I do the same with my bare-bones desktop, sebs. I use Reaper. Used to use Sonar, but they're subscription now. Reaper is better anyway. I have tried upgrading to 10, but every time I give up and roll it back, or reinstall 7. No more. it's W7 all the way now.

 

[spapakons]

A year ago I bought a new SSD and extra RAM for my more than a decade old laptop which came with Windows 7. I took it all apart to clean it and change the thermal paste, then put it back together with the new items. I installed Windows 7 on that new SSD. It runs just like new. Of course it won't run today's programs so smoothly. But I installed Windows 7 because I want to still use it to run music production software that I bought around the same time I bought the laptop and then another one a few years later. Cubase 5 and Reason 8, they both won't work on today's laptops I would guess. I also have a sound card whose audio drivers are for Windows 7 the latest. I will keep it offline and not use it for anything other than making music.

The drivers for Windows 7 should also work in Windows 8 and 10 and 11.

 

[sebs]

I do the same with my bare-bones desktop, sebs. I use Reaper. Used to use Sonar, but they're subscription now. Reaper is better anyway. I have tried upgrading to 10, but every time I give up and roll it back, or reinstall 7. No more. it's W7 all the way now.

Nice

- - - Updated - - -

The drivers for Windows 7 should also work in Windows 8 and 10 and 11.

Hmm, maybe, but I guess I'll never find out ;D
I will try it on Linux though.

 

[spapakons]

I would rather use Windows XP than Linux...

It's no secret that Linux is more difficult to use than Windows (I mean advanced using and configuring, not just typing a letter or checking your Facebook) and supports far less hardware than Windows and has much fewer applications and games than Windows. I want a general purpose PC that can do almost everything, not a smart typewriter, so I stick with Windows and stay clear from Linux. And yes, I have tried it, I speak from experience.

 

[maxseven]

I would rather use Windows XP than Linux...
It's no secret that Linux is more difficult to use than Windows (I mean advanced using and configuring, not just typing a letter or checking your Facebook) and supports far less hardware than Windows and has much fewer applications and games than Windows. I want a general purpose PC that can do almost everything, not a smart typewriter, so I stick with Windows and stay clear from Linux. And yes, I have tried it, I speak from experience.

I agree with this (except maybe "smart typewriter"?) having started myself iirc getting a number of Toshiba Magnia server boxes that run on Linux, and I've also tried it on some PC hardware. And while it sometimes comes in handy I keep coming-back to Windows because that's where all my day-to-day "stuff" is--mountains of saved documents I manage with FileCenter, a scanner that I use to make them, Quicken to manage my finances, and iMazing that helps me with our Apple iPhones & iPads.

I sometimes think to switch to a Mac platform and run Parallels or dual-boot the thing, but it feels like a lot of work especially as we have separate Summer and Winter homes and my Dell laptop easily docks to each (duplicate monitors and scanners etc. already set-up in each place).

 

[spapakons]

I agree with this (except maybe "smart typewriter"?) having started myself iirc getting a number of Toshiba Magnia server boxes that run on Linux, and I've also tried it on some PC hardware. And while it sometimes comes in handy I keep coming-back to Windows because that's where all my day-to-day "stuff" is--mountains of saved documents I manage with FileCenter, a scanner that I use to make them, Quicken to manage my finances, and iMazing that helps me with our Apple iPhones & iPads.

I sometimes think to switch to a Mac platform and run Parallels or dual-boot the thing, but it feels like a lot of work especially as we have separate Summer and Winter homes and my Dell laptop easily docks to each (duplicate monitors and scanners etc. already set-up in each place).

DON'T switch to a new Apple Silicon Mac!!!!! The only version of Windows supported in Parallels is Windows 11 for AMR64, not the "regular" Windows 11 for x86-64 CPUs! This poses A LOT of limitations to the games and applications you can use, not everything works under Microsoft's x86-to-ARM translation layer! I installed Windows 11 ARM in Parallels for a friend that bought an M3 and he cannot play all his games. There are also restrictions on the hardware you can use because it requires drivers for ARM, not "regular" drivers. STAY CLEAR FROM APPLE!!!!!

 

[maxseven]

DON'T switch to a new Apple Silicon Mac!!!!! The only version of Windows supported in Parallels is Windows 11 for AMR64, not the "regular" Windows 11 for x86-64 CPUs! This poses A LOT of limitations to the games and applications you can use, not everything works under Microsoft's x86-to-ARM translation layer! I installed Windows 11 ARM in Parallels for a friend that bought an M3 and he cannot play all his games. There are also restrictions on the hardware you can use because it requires drivers for ARM, not "regular" drivers. STAY CLEAR FROM APPLE!!!!!

Thanks for that as I only know enough about "Windows on Macs" to be dangerous.

My Mac Mini 2018 is an Intel and only an i3 which I got cuz I thought I was gonna manage an Apple library of movies on a NAS with it. Decided not to bother...

So I likely could dual-boot Windows on my Intel Mac but then I don't know I'd be happy with the performance, and then what Apple does of course is they change MacOS to not run on older platforms as they "enhance" it.

This stuff makes me crazy sometimes.

EDIT: I had to look-up ARM to realize it is a virtual RISC machine apparently. I have experience running MacOS on Windows using a VM, but not vicey-versy. So now I know (thanks again) that W11 on the new Apple chips is a different beast altogether. DID NOT KNOW THAT!

 

[ddasasdasd123]

I use Windows 7 Professional, I use it for fun and nostalgia because I used windows 7 back then. I don't pay for windows 7 updates, I don't really care about the updates.