Microsoft is rolling out pesky full-screen pop-up notifications to Windows 7 users from mid-January in a bid to shift users off the soon-to-be defunct operating system.
From January 14, PCs running Windows 7 will still function but Microsoft will no longer provide technical support, software updates or security updates.
The notification, which will start appearing the following day, will urge Windows 7 users to upgrade to Windows 10 – even going as far as advising its customers to buy a new PC in order to do so.
The company has been providing smaller pop-up reminders of the upcoming change since April this year, but will be supersizing these messages to full-screen to make them harder for Windows 7 users to ignore.
Microsoft is pulling the plug on Windows 7 and thinks users should consider a new PC if they don’t want to lose out on security and software updates
‘Your Windows 7 PC is out of support,’ the update will read.
‘Microsoft strongly recommends using Windows 10 on a new PC for the latest security features and protection against malicious software.’
The notification will remain on screen until users interact with it, giving them the option to ‘learn more’ or instead respond with ‘remind me later’ or ‘don’t remind me again’.
Microsoft introduced a smart assistant, similar to Siri, called Cortana to Windows 10
The message will appear on Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional and Ultimate editions of Windows 7 Service Pack 1 but will not appear on domain-joined PCs or PCs in kiosk mode.
The company has included the pop-up notification in its monthly software patch for December, but it does not come into effect until next month.
‘While you could continue to use your PC running Windows 7, without continued software and security updates, it will be at greater risk for viruses and malware,’ Microsoft explains in a blog post.
Windows 7 will be pretty much obsolete from January 15 2020
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‘Sticking with Windows 7 after support ends opens a door to issues like computer viruses and you’ll no longer receive technical support from Microsoft.’
‘Going forward, the best way for you to stay secure is on Windows 10.’
Microsoft is also advising users to upgrade to a new Windows PC, saying ‘while it is possible to install Windows 10 on your older device, it is not recommended’.
Big and small businesses alike will have to spend effort and money to transfer to Windows 10 if they haven’t already
In preparation for the update, it recommends users back up their files, get tips on Windows 10 and ‘check out the latest PCs’.
The company is pulling the plug on support for Windows 7 from January 14, 2020, more than 10 years since it was made generally available.
The legendary OS introduced features to Windows users including pin folders to the taskbar, close thumbnail preview, battery notification messages, desktop slideshow and the ‘devices and printers’ interface.
Windows 7 was still being used by 26.86 per cent of Windows fans as recently as this November, according to NetMarketShare, with 53.33 per cent on Windows 10.
Microsoft is also withdrawing support for WhatsApp on its only Mobile OS on Tuesday.
It has already been advising Windows Phone users to ‘get an Android or iPhone’ instead due to the lack of app support of Windows 10 Mobile.
WHY DID MICROSOFT DISCONTINUE ITS WINDOWS PHONES?
Microsoft started gutting its phone business in 2016, making thousands of job cuts and the decision to drop the company’s mantra ‘mobile-first, cloud-first’.
One key problem for the company was the lack of apps on the mobile platform.
In April, Facebook deserted Windows Phones. Skype and WhatsApp had also withdrawn their services from phones run on Windows.
The operating system dipped to a 0.3 per cent of the market share by the end of Microsoft’s third financial quarter in 2016.
Critics have claimed that the apps available on Windows phones pale in comparison to their iOS and Android counterparts.
In June 2019, it emerged that Microsoft advised Windows 10 Mobile users to switch to Android or iPhone.
