Windows 7 is dead - long live Win7
The sky did not fall, and your PC won't stop working. Your email will still be delivered, you can still browse the web and your games will not disappear overnight.
Just like when Windows XP was discontinued, nothing happened on January 14 2020
In spite of what you may have heard or imagined, Windows 7 will not start running slowly because Microsoft have ceased supporting it, if your PC is slow it's for the same reasons it has always slowed down in the past, multiple unnecessary files hidden away that can be easily removed, the registry is probably bloated with now irrelevant entries, your hard disk is probably full of fragmented files and being the age it is, the hard drive quite possibly has faulty sectors or perhaps it is nearing capacity, and of course you may have picked up a bit of Malware along the way. All this can still be repaired, but what cannot be repaired?
- The most immediate task for you is to stop using Internet Explorer and move up to Firefox, Chrome or the new Edge. The good news is that these browsers are better, safer and faster than IE.
- There are no more updates, so turn off Windows Update, as a by-product you won't get nagged by Micro$oft to upgrade.
- If you are running Microsoft Security Essentials, stop it!! Download the free Avast Antivirus and if you want a greater level of protection then pay the small asking price to get additional protection - much better than anything Microsoft ever offered.
Now the bigger problem.......
Windows 7 will continue to function as long as you want it unless something breaks, and I will be available to fix it if I can for as long as you want me to. You should be aware that there are flaws in your operating system that may make it vulnerable to some forms of attack from the internet - these are not new, they have always been there, it's just that no-one cares to try fix them any more :-(
You should also be aware that the software you are using (eg firefox, chrome, your email client, etc) can no longer be downloaded and installed for Win 7. In case of corruption, repair may no longer be possible.
When push comes to shove, give us a call. We will be happy to come to you and discuss upgrade options. If your hardware was good enough to run Win 7, it probably will be fine to run Win 10, but almost certainly it will not run Win 11