What Happens When Microsoft Stops Supporting Your Version of Windows and also Office?
Soon, Microsoft will no longer support Windows 7 or Office 2010. Each version of Windows is only supported for a limited time and Windows 7 has now reached its end of life as has Office 2010.
No More Security Updates
Once support ends, Microsoft will cease to issue security updates for that operating system, even if holes are found affecting Windows 7, Microsoft won’t be issuing any security fixes. You’ll on your own.
Security programs such as anti-virus will also gradually drop support for older versions of Windows.
This will be a signal to other software and hardware companies and they too will stop supporting that older version of Windows with their own software and hardware.
New Hardware May Not Work
New hardware components and peripherals all need drivers and manufacturers are unlikely to create new hardware drivers for an old out of date operating system so that that new printer you have just bought, might stop working on your system, too.
What happens if you do nothing?
When your software goes out of support, it won’t just suddenly stop working, but the main and immediate risk is that there will be no more security updates or patches, which will leave you totally vulnerable to cyber-attacks.
This means there will no longer be any:
- Technical support for any on-going issues
- Bug fixes for any new issues
- Security fixes for undiscovered vulnerabilities
Users might also begin to experience functionality issues due incompatibility with newer software or systems.
Office 2010 is also reaching end of life
All software has a ‘lifecycle’. It gets developed, released, updated and eventually abandoned — usually after a new version or two has been released in the meantime.
Anyone using software on their computer, which is no longer supported is putting their PCs security at risk because any outstanding bugs will no longer be fixed and this will impact on your security.
The clock then starts ticking. Security weakness and bugs in Office, just as with Windows, can be exploited by hackers in a multitude of ways.
Of course, it’s easy to treat such stories as just another way to persuade people to spend more money but the bottom line is simple. If your version of Office is no longer supported and updated, you will be putting your PC at risk by using it.
Age of your equipment
Both of these Microsoft products are now over 9 years old and there is another thing you really ought to consider quite seriously: the mere fact that if you are still using either or both Windows 7 / Office 2010, there is pretty strong chance your computer is pretty old too and your old equipment which itself has reached end of life and is no longer under warranty, may not work well with the latest software and if you are going to the expense of buying new software you might seriously want to consider upgrading your equipment too as this could well be the most cost effective time to do it. The superfast state of the art computer you bought way back, has been left behind in the dust by its current day lightening fast and powerful replacements.
In addition, it is looking more and more likely that standalone licenses, will become a thing of the past as Microsoft are pushing or encouraging us towards subscription licenses, whereby for an annual fee, you stay up to date.
Up until very recently, you bought whichever version of Office was current, with your computer but that license died when your computer died.
You now have two options. Of course, you can still buy the standalone license and yes, it still dies with the computer on which it has been installed. However there is now an alternative. The subscription license to Microsoft Office is Cloud based and is another way to get your license, whereby for an annual fee which is considerably lower than a standalone license, the latest version of Office is downloaded and installed on your computer. You still get all the same wide range of Office products. The very distinct advantage of the subscription is that it can be moved to another computer when the first one dies plus, you also get endless updates too, so the version you use will always be the very latest.
Very soon, this will be the ONLY way to acquire Office but for the time being there is still a choice.
