This isn't like the phaseout of Win XP. Fast computers still run WIN7

[Cskully]

So I got a fastish computer about a decade ago and made it better with an SSD and other upgrades. It's also built solid because it is a good brand. Windows 7 was able to run both many of my old XP and even a couple Win98 software one of which I rely upon weekly. Tariffs and pandemic hit and have made it prohibitively expensive to reasonably buy a new pc. I was also able to avert the download-gate debacle when Microsoft tried to erase my recovery partition when I attempted to turn my PC off.

I tried one PC out in December 2023 only to discover the return policies at Microcenter plummeted from 90 days to 15 days, which is no where near enough time to test a new PC out. Turned out there was lag when using the HDMI so I had to return it. Salesman had guaranteed me to January 19 on the Black Friday deal so I returned it by the hair of my chin. After testing Windows 11 I hated it more than any other OS I have ever tried. It took me a long time just to turn the damn thing on without starting a microsoft account. And as everyone knows there was no way to turn off the privacy violating updates and whatnot microsoft has been built into the platform. I am in no way a luddite. I just hate bad technology that is designed to treat us as cattle and harvest our souls. I do not know how people have come to tolerate using devices (thanks to f'ing smart phones) which interest is more in harvesting your data, selling your identity to the next advertisers and controlling your life. A computer is meant to be a tool, not a spy machine to snoop its way into every aspect of your life.

 

[michael diemer]

Well said!

 

[Mike Lynch]

Here, here!

 

[teckneeculler]

Windows 7 is entirely controllable and trouble-free if it's configured properly. There's quite a bit to doing this properly, but the first and most basic essential is to turn OFF Windows Updates. Better still, to have turned off Windows Updates ten years ago

 

[Cskully]

Windows 7 is entirely controllable and trouble-free if it's configured properly. There's quite a bit to doing this properly, but the first and most basic essential is to turn OFF Windows Updates. Better still, to have turned off Windows Updates ten years ago

And even if not configured properly. Contrary to Windows 11 which cannot be controllable nor trouble free even if configured properly.

There isn't quite a bit of doing this properly. From a fresh hard drive format it takes me about 3 days to get all my data transferred and everything configured the way I need it to be.

After 3 weeks of using Windows 11 I could not get everything configured properly, including turning off Windows Updates.

 

[Uitlander]

XP Pro was 'phased out' via the 'security certificates' debacle, and also by ever decreasing in number (and ever more crappy) browsers. I vaguely recall that only one (Mypal? Basilisk?) ever really worked, and whoever did a hostile takeover of that one managed to sabotage it in quick order. All the other browsers would spit out security certificate errors, and Gandalf-style "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!' roadblocks every four or five sites I'd try to get to. Some could be bypassed with enough effort...others remained off limits.

Not sure what the security certificate situation is with Win 7. Never had a problem so far. The browsers (Waterfox, Iridium, Brave, & Epic work). Librewolf and Chrome are kinda crappy.

 

[Cskully]

All the other browsers would spit out security certificate errors, and Gandalf-style "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!' roadblocks every four or five sites I'd try to get to.

Are you sure you didn't imagine these things or something was wrong with your actual machine? I still run XP on a machine I use for printing and scanning and have always run firefox on it. It's fine.
I still even use it for some old software that doesn't work on later versions of windows. For example, a SUPERIOR word processor is Wordperfect. Word completely sucks by comparison. I swear I published more stuff back in the day just because of the ease of using Wordperfect.

 

[nt351]

My Pal the Racoon browser worked fine on XP until about May this year. Captcha the are you human authenticator was upgraded and started rejecting Racoon Pal, and now you can't access sites that use this improved protection. Youtube started the procedure that you have to click twice on a link before it accepts Racoon and shows you the movie. If I read it right somewhere, the man who made Racoon Pal lived in Ukraine, and who knows what happened to him in the past three years. But other than browsing sites with too much javascript, XP can go on longer than the energizer bunny, on Ivy-Bridge and Haswell machines. (no nvme, but ssd is just as good) As user "sshd guy" showed us two years ago, Win7 can be installed on "Intel Core i9-12900K" machines, if you are willing to subject yourself to much aggrevation. But soon(er) it, too, will run into the browser problem.