Is anyone still using Windows 7?

[ShadouFox]

In reply to dg1261:

Thanks very much. I'm OK for now. I have three sites, they all work.

If it gets to the point where 7 does not work, I'll do Linux, period, and I don't like Linux because it has all kinds of flaws which are probably welcomed by people with PhD's in Digital Magic, but for normal people, it's a minefield. It's like having to learn DOS, in German. I'm happy to read this forum, with all its valuable information.

K\ve used a lot of Linuxes over the years: Mandrake, Gentoo, CRUX, Redhat, Debian, Puppy, Evil Entity, Zenwalk. I'll not try to lid you into believing Linux is perfect. It isn't. My advise is to avoid Debian and its derivatives (i.e. N00buntu) like the plague. The repositories are lousy with broken packages. This is why I've been using Slackware ever since Ought Six or so. You can get Slackpacks for installation, or download the programs in *.rpm format and convert to *.tgz package with rpm2tgz, then install as usual.

That's what I used to install Enlightenment on Slackware 15.0 and it worked just fine, and Enlightenment is a big program with ESSSSS-loads of dependencies. (I've installed from source and it ain't no fun) You can also install from source "tarballs". I've seen a very few that didn't compile. (dvdauthor was one due to a missing #iclude that led to undefined variables. An easy fix.)

Slackware is a bit geekier than usual: the installer is an Ncurses menu driven program, but not at all difficult to navigate. It's not as geeky as it used to be, and I haven\t had to hack config files in 15 years. Everything just works: the X display and networking are all set up for you and just work out of the box.

 

[watchingbones]

I have a laptop with windows 7 on it and some VMs, i use them for Roxio creator 2011 and 2012, because when i install them on windows 10 it wont boot. I browse the Net with snipe browser and edit my subtitles with snipe office. As its the most up to date i can get on 7. Its not my primary machine obviously. I use roxio for Disc authoring AVCHD which isn't available in more modern versions. Honestly the VM absolutely sucks for authoring, but it works in a pinch, i prefer the laptop even if it was a 2009 model.

 

[spapakons]

If you create an AVCHD compliant video file, you can use MultiAVCHD to create an AVCHD folder without re-encoding. Or you can create an ISO instead and burn it with ISOBURN. The file can be AVI or MP4 or MKV containing AVC video and AC3 or MPEG or PCM audio. I use MultiAVCHD in Windows 11 without issues. I use AVCHD Calculator to find the appropriate bitrate to fit the disc.

 

[Dimitris B]

I haven't been on here for a few years, but just curious - is anyone still using Windows 7 and if so, how? Offline or paying for updates?

Hi Hazel,
Windows 7 is not as unsafe as you think and is still good to go online. Also, you can get ESU Updates for free with Legacy Updates (but you dont even have to). The truth is as long as you have a firewall and an up to date browser (Firefox ESR 115 and even newer with R3dfox fork or Pale Moon). I personally only use Windows 7 connected to the Web at all times with a firewall and have never had any malware (at least any that has caused any problems). I don't even use an Antivirus and I assure you I'm fine.

 

[Dimitris B]

I saw a 32 Ford Roadster today. It was painted a beautiful yellow and detailed perfectly. It exuded the pride the owner had in owning such a desirous older machine and the exhilaration he had in putting it through it's paces. The sound of the four cylinder engine, while small, seemed to frighten the "look alike" modern vehicles with the holes drilled in their exhaust systems to make them sound aggressive. I smiled and thought of my Windows-7 Pro install, yes, old but proud, functional and efficient and a thing of beauty.

"Is anyone still using Windows 7?"


Yes, we are and will be for quite a while longer! Mike - PS as a side note, My wife and I just celebrated our 58th., wedding anniversary.

Congratulations brother

 

[Dimitris B]

Not many people know that TPM first came out in 2011.

My Laptop from 2007 has TPM 1.2.

 

[Dimitris B]

Windows 7 is still in use, but you need to put in more efforts to get it working.

....Unless you use a device old enough. Unless you need Heavy gaming (And considering most AAA Games and Steam on W7 dont work) A Core2 Duo will work fine.

 

[xx_Dark_Skullz_xx]

I'm typing this from my personal laptop that I got from eBay not too long ago, which runs Windows 7 Ultimate, so yes, some of us out there are still using good old 7.

 

[spapakons]

I use Windows 7 SP1 32-bit daily at my work running on an "ancient" Intel Celeron 2.8GHz socket 478 (older model than Intel Pentium 4 Prescott). Apart from being a little slow by today's standards (plain Windows 7 without SP1 and all modern updates is much faster but useless and dangerous), I keep Microsoft Security Essentials updated and I watch where I click. I am using R3DFOX for modern browsing, much faster than the official Firefox ESR 115 or Google Chrome 109 or Microsoft Edge 109. The only faster browser than that was the good old Internet Explorer 11, pity it doesn't support modern standards and is rather useless today. Since about a year ago, not even Google works on IE 11. It opens the Google site but when trying to search for a website you see an error. Many think Windows 11 removed IE 11. Well, not entirely, there is a way to launch it, just for experimentation, but like I said is useless today. Back when IE11 was still "modern" it was my default browser, I don't care how insecure others THINK it is. And I say think because as with Windows 7, if you are careful you have very little chance to get infected. If you are not careful you can be infected even when using a modern "secure" browser in Windows 11. Human factor is very important.

 

[Dimitris B]

(plain Windows 7 without SP1 and all modern updates is much faster but useless and dangerous)

Not really. In today's world, 99% of theoretical malware attacks come from (You mentioned the 3rd one yourself later in your post):
1) A router with firewall disabled (Which, you and ONLY you can disable it, it's always on by default)
2) A severely outdated browser (like Firefox 3 for example), which can't even enter any website today anyways, even malicious ones might block it.
3) Again, Human Factor.
4) A zero-day attack (relatively rare, and all systems are affected, including high-security system with all the updates or even a very new OS)

It isn't the 90's anymore where everything is unsecured PPP on a modem without any concept of Firewall. Also, Windows 7 Built-in firewall is still ok for today's standards. After that it's about how careful you are on the Internet. Also, to be honest, Only thing Microsoft added in Windows 7 in the last 5 years of Updates is Microsoft Edge and Telemetry which technically PUPs which Microsoft want to chuck in your system since obviously it's the only way Microsoft can make money from Windows 7, come on now, if you were to actually buy a product key for W7, you wouldn't (and can't anymore I think) buy it from Microsoft themselves. So instead you suddenly become the product.
I advise all Windows 7 users not to install Quality Rollups after 2020.

 

[spapakons]

I meant to say that original Windows 7 without SP1 and other updates is very limited compared to Windows 10 and 11 in terms of hardware and software compatibility. But if you install SP1 and all other updates it gradually becomes slower. This explains why you had no problem running the original Windows 7 with 2GB RAM but you find Windows 7 SP1 slow with 4GB RAM. Compare original Windows XP running fine with 256MB RAM and Windows XP SP3 feeling slow with 2GB or less. Also original Windows 7 protect user less than SP1 if he is not careful (human factor).

 

[Dimitris B]

I meant to say that original Windows 7 without SP1 and other updates is very limited compared to Windows 10 and 11 in terms of hardware and software compatibility. But if you install SP1 and all other updates it gradually becomes slower. This explains why you had no problem running the original Windows 7 with 2GB RAM but you find Windows 7 SP1 slow with 4GB RAM. Compare original Windows XP running fine with 256MB RAM and Windows XP SP3 feeling slow with 2GB or less. Also original Windows 7 protect user less than SP1 if he is not careful (human factor).

Ok. Now I understood your statement better. It was a bit incoherent in the first post. I have noticed it as well.
I used to have Win7 RTM on a very old EeePC with an Intel Atom and 1GB Ram. It ran well, so well in fact, I could even enable the "Aero" eye-candy without any performance issues. Then I updated to SP1. CPU and RAM always 100%. I couldn't enable Aero anymore, anything I tried to do was hell and frustrating, and web Browsing was out of the question. Also something else I had noticed is that the battery life shortened.

 

[spapakons]

The problem is that you cannot run Windows 7 without SP1. Many applications and games demand you install SP1 and also many device drivers won't install without SP1. Any attempt to make Windows 7 SP1 faster, such as disabling most visual effects and all startup applications make a little difference and you cannot make them as fast as the original Windows 7 without SP1. What makes more difference is if you have 4GB or more RAM and run Windows 7 SP1 64-bit or apply the PAE patch in 32-bit to utilize all RAM. Even if you only have 4GB RAM, it makes a great difference running 32-bit without the patch (up to 3.25GB) and with the patch (the whole 4GB available).

For more details see here: https://www.sevenforums.com/threads...32-bit-to-see-above-4gb-ram-new-patch.426983/

However, this patch works for systems without the latest ESU updates for Windows 7 SP1. Lately I was installing ESU updates (the security updates after official EOL) on a work's PC running Windows 7 SP1 32-bit with the PAE patch installed. After a certain update, don't remember which, the computer could not boot anymore. I had to select booting with PAE patch disabled and then remove the patch. So if you have a standard Windows 7 SP1 32-bit system with all the pre-ESU updates installed, the patch gives you access to 4GB or more RAM. If you enable ESU and install more security updates eventually you are forced to remove the patch and use up to 3.25GB RAM The solution is to either not enable ESU and stay with the standard Windows 7 SP1 updates, or backup your data and install 64-bit to gain access to 4GB RAM or more.

 

[Dimitris B]

The problem is that you cannot run Windows 7 without SP1. Many applications and games demand you install SP1 and also many device drivers won't install without SP1. Any attempt to make Windows 7 SP1 faster, such as disabling most visual effects and all startup applications make a little difference and you cannot make them as fast as the original Windows 7 without SP1. What makes more difference is if you have 4GB or more RAM and run Windows 7 SP1 64-bit or apply the PAE patch in 32-bit to utilize all RAM. Even if you only have 4GB RAM, it makes a great difference running 32-bit without the patch (up to 3.25GB) and with the patch (the whole 4GB available).

For more details see here: https://www.sevenforums.com/threads...32-bit-to-see-above-4gb-ram-new-patch.426983/

However, this patch works for systems without the latest ESU updates for Windows 7 SP1. Lately I was installing ESU updates (the security updates after official EOL) on a work's PC running Windows 7 SP1 32-bit with the PAE patch installed. After a certain update, don't remember which, the computer could not boot anymore. I had to select booting with PAE patch disabled and then remove the patch. So if you have a standard Windows 7 SP1 32-bit system with all the pre-ESU updates installed, the patch gives you access to 4GB or more RAM. If you enable ESU and install more security updates eventually you are forced to remove the patch and use up to 3.25GB RAM The solution is to either not enable ESU and stay with the standard Windows 7 SP1 updates, or backup your data and install 64-bit to gain access to 4GB RAM or more.

That's true and very unfortunate. Basically all OSes dating back to Windows NT 4.0 have problems when service packs are not installed.

 

[spapakons]

Similarly with old versions of Windows 10 and 11. Many applications and drivers demand a certain Windows 10 version (newer than v1903 for example) or Windows 11 version (newer than 22H2 for example). The older our version gets the worse if we cannot upgrade. For all those fellows still running Windows 10 22H2 or Windows 11 23H2, don't worry yet. We have at least 4-5 years before these are truly old and applications/games/driver demand a newer version to install. Until then enjoy.

 

[siliconbeaver]

NOT so late,

I have gotten warnings since 2025 on my "old" OSes (W7 W10). and forced to go W11.

We have at least 4-5 years before these are truly old and applications/games/driver demand a newer version to install. Until then enjoy.

 

[MisterEd]

Up until a couple years ago I had this computer. I abandoned that computer because it would no longer boot.
Computer #1
MBD: Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 rev. 1.0
CPU: AMD FX-8350 (AM3+)
RAM: GSkill F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL 8GB(2x4GB)
GPU: ASUS ROG STRIX-GTX1060-6G-GAMING
DRV1: SAMSUNG 870 EVO 1TB (2.5 Inch SATA) Windows 10 Pro
DRV2: SAMSUNG 870 EVO 1TB (2.5 Inch SATA)
DRV3: SAMSUNG 870 EVO 1TB (2.5 Inch SATA) Windows 7 Home

Last week I bought a replacement motherboard on Ebay. It works fine with the CPU and RAM from the old computer. That verifies that the original motherboard had really failed. Note the motherboard from Ebay didn't come with a metal I/O plate. Fortunately, the one from the broken motherboard worked fine.

BTW, the replacement motherboard supports UEFI. I converted the drives from MBR to GPT and now boot from UEFI instead of BIOS.

Computer #1 Rebuild
MBD: Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 rev. 4.0
CPU: AMD FX-8350 (AM3+)
RAM: G.Skill RipjawsX F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL 8GB(2x4GB) | G.Skill RipjawsX F3-12800CL6D-4GBXH 4GB(2x2GB)
GPU: ASUS ENGTX560 DCII OC/2DI/1GD5 1GB
DRV1: SAMSUNG 870 EVO 1TB (2.5" SATA SSD) Windows 10 Home
DRV2: SAMSUNG 870 EVO 500GB (2.5" SATA SSD) Windows 7 Pro

 

[Dimitris B]

NOT so late,

I have gotten warnings since 2025 on my "old" OSes (W7 W10). and forced to go W11.

View attachment 425608 View attachment 425609

you can disable those.

 

[MisterEd]

If you are running Windows 7 you have to realize that programs when updated may require Windows 10 or 11. You have to document which versions work on Windows 7 and don't try to upgrade anymore.

The same for old hardware. Sometimes it is a challenge to find drivers that work with them. Again you have to document which versions work with your hardware and Windows 7.

I have never been forced to upgrade to Windows 10 or 11. It was always my choice. Sure Microsoft tries to intimidate you into upgrading from Windows 7 or 10 but you don't have to click OK. A couple times I did get a full screen message wanting me to upgrade with no option to say no. No problem. Ctrl-Alt-Delete or the power button always overrides that.

 

[xx_Dark_Skullz_xx]

If you are running Windows 7 you have to realize that programs when updated may require Windows 10 or 11. You have to document which versions work on Windows 7 and don't try to upgrade anymore.

The same for old hardware. Sometimes it is a challenge to find drivers that work with them. Again you have to document which versions work with your hardware and Windows 7.

I have never been forced to upgrade to Windows 10 or 11. It was always my choice. Sure Microsoft tries to intimidate you into upgrading from Windows 7 or 10 but you don't have to click OK. A couple times I did get a full screen message wanting me to upgrade with no option to say no. No problem. Ctrl-Alt-Delete or the power button always overrides that.

My last computer actually did try to force me to "upgrade" from 10 to 11 around January 2026 (and from what I've seen on the web, it looks like this has happened to some others out there as well), but I was luckily able to stop that from happening by installing GRC InControl before it could even finish downloading stupid 11. Then I restarted my computer and the progress bar reset itself to 0 before it finally gave up and cancelled the download/installation altogether.