Fortunately, the main browser suppliers will keep updating them, and Google has said: “We will continue to fully support Chrome on Windows 7 for a minimum of 18 months from Microsoft’s end of life date, until at least 15 July 2021.”Įventually, however, they’ll stop testing their browsers on Windows 7 because it’s expensive and will only serve a shrinking number of users. While you can’t patch Windows 7, you can make sure your other software is patched.

The first is basically impossible in a world where malware can be served via advertisements (“malvertising”) even on respectable websites. The core advice boils down to this: avoid coming into contact with any malware, and make sure you have nothing to lose. It’s aimed mainly at government departments and businesses, and isn’t specific to Windows 7. The NCSC’s website suggests some “ short-term steps to take when you can’t move off out-of-date platforms and applications straight away”.

Photograph: Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images Making sure your browser is up to date is one of the most important steps you can take. The British government’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) told the BBC: “We would urge those using the software after the deadline to replace unsupported devices as soon as possible, to move sensitive data to a supported device and not to use them for tasks like accessing bank and other sensitive accounts.” That’s good advice. In this case, as with XP, there could be millions of relatively easy targets. Malware writers don’t normally target out-of-date operating systems, because they don’t usually have many users. As a result, some of the security holes in Windows 10 will also be present in Windows 7, but they won’t be patched. A lot of the code in Windows 10 goes back to Windows 7 and earlier versions. The malware industry analyses these patches to find the holes, and then looks for ways to exploit them. On the second Tuesday of every month, Microsoft releases security patches that should be installed automatically by Windows Update. There are reasons to be fearful, because of the way the malware industry works. It was so bad that Microsoft released a patch for XP, even though it was out of support. We saw how dangerous that can be when WannaCry took over unpatched PCs in the NHS and other places.

Users will therefore be more vulnerable to malware attacks, particularly from “ ransomware”. To begin with, Windows 7 will not stop working, it will just stop receiving security updates.

Windows 7 sp2 update