Windows 7 End of Life
The What:
Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 are approaching the end of their lifecycle of support. This means that computers running Windows 7 and servers running Windows server 2008 will soon become more vulnerable to security threats, unable to receive new feature updates, and potentially be out of industry compliance.
The Why:
As technology moves forward, older technology becomes obsolete. This is how companies like Microsoft can keep innovating great new technologies.
The Who:
Who does this affect? Anyone running a Windows 7 or Windows server 2008 operating system. Worksighted is actively working on delivering exactly what is on your network that will be affected and will be in touch soon.
The When:
The current end of life date is January 2020. It is important to plan ahead! Worksighted is going to be working through a massive load of machines to update, upgrade, and replace.
Risks:
Microsoft will stop providing patches to fix bugs and security vulnerabilities. This means Windows 7 computers will have a much greater chance of getting exploited and infected by malware, such as ransomware attacks. This risk means in most cases you will no longer meet many compliance requirements such as PCI or HIPAA and may expose yourself to penalties and fines.
Most software companies will no longer support their software running on Windows 7, Server 2008/2008 R2 or SQL 2008. If you encounter issues you will not be able to get assistance from them and new patches will often no longer work.
Recommendations:
Worksighted recommends you work out a plan to replace or upgrade all computers to Windows 10. In many cases if a computer is running Windows 7 it is likely not worth the investment to upgrade versus replacing the it. Keeping your fleet up to date with software and hardware can have a huge efficiency gain for your employees. There are also many features and capabilities with Windows 10 that you would be missing out on if you delay upgrading.
Worksighted Team
We are a team of over-enthusiastic people, ready to help our clients utilize technology to spur growth! We love technology and come to work every day eager to solve problems and find ways to impact our clients.
