When you don’t upgrade to Windows 10, you’re leaving your machine and your entire network open to a variety of critical vulnerabilities. As we have addressed over the past year, Microsoft will no longer be supporting Windows 7 after January 2020, and even Windows 8 users are outside of mainstream support at this point.
What does it all mean for you? Well, you won’t get any of those functional or security-specific updates that keep your workstation up and running and safe from harm. That opens the doors to all sorts of threats to your data, assets, and network, not to mention the hardware issues you might encounter along the way!
If you continue to delay and for whatever reason are hesitant to upgrade to Windows 10 you are missing added functionality and best-in-class security features that come with it. You’re, instead, keeping things wide open to the following sorts of risks:
- Attacks
The clear message, above any of the other annoyances and frustrations, is that hackers are becoming more crafty and sophisticated while you’re using the same tools. When you stop having updated security measures with your operating system, you are left wide open for those hacks and exploitation techniques to succeed. The security and safety of you and your business, frankly, is at stake. - Slowness
Using years-old operating systems means inevitable lag and even system crashes. Technology advances happen quickly, so although it may seem like yesterday that you updated your software… it’s been a long time in the tech industry and unfortunately that means striking a balance between staying ahead and falling WAY behind. Having an outdated, unsupported operating system is down-right negligent. - Battles with “bugginess”
“Bugs” are errors or issues with systems or programs that cause unexpected or unintended results for the user. Outside of the delays that come with hardware slowdown, or complications caused by security threats, you’re going to be faced with software bugs that aren’t being addressed….ever again. That’s because when you hit the end of extended support for software, they stop fixing bugs and offering you updates. You’re stuck with those problems. - Incompatible software and hardware
You can’t always bank on things being compatible. There’s a very good chance that if you have to update existing programs or add new software, you won’t be able to run it on your soon-to-be severely outdated operating system. New software is usually designed around making the most of current supported operating systems. This means potential challenges that could bring your business to a halt depending on what you rely on operationally.
Change is tough when it comes to habits and day-to-day functions, but it is inevitable that operating systems need to be updated at some point. Windows 10 is incredibly intuitive for Windows 7 users, in particular, becuase of its likeness to many things that made Windows 7 so user-friendly. You’ll be getting more out of the hardware you’re using to run Windows 10, but you’re also going to have the patches, bug fixes, and protections to keep your system up and running securely as well!
Do you have business machines running Windows 7, and you need to update them to Windows 10? Need help deploying new software or machines, or do your users need some training and support as they adopt their new OS? We can help. Get in touch with us!
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