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Windows 7 users to receive notifications from Microsoft about end of support

Windows 7 users to receive notifications from Microsoft about end of support

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Support ends in January

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Windows 7 laptop

Microsoft is planning to push notifications to Windows 7 users warning them about the upcoming end of support. The software giant will stop supporting Windows 7 on January 14th, 2020, and it will start warning consumers about this cutoff date next month. Microsoft’s end of support date means that Windows 7 and Office 2010 will no longer receive security updates, and the company wants consumers to upgrade to Windows 10 PCs and Office 365.

The notification won’t specifically mention upgrading to Windows 10, but it will warn of the date of support and link to microsoft.com/windows7, a site that will encourage consumers to upgrade to Windows 10 or purchase a more modern PC. “Beginning next month, if you are a Windows 7 customer, you can expect to see a notification appear on your Windows 7 PC,” explains Matt Barlow, CVP of Windows. “This is a courtesy reminder that you can expect to see a handful of times in 2019.”

The notifications won’t be as annoying as the Windows 10 upgrade cycle

Microsoft has learned from its persistent nagging notifications during the free Windows 10 upgrade period, and Windows 7 users will be able to select “do not remind me again” on the notification so they never see it again. If they simply dismiss it by closing the prompt, then it will trigger again. Microsoft says it will only be displayed a “handful” of times during 2019, and the notifications will stop once Windows 7 support ends in January.

Microsoft isn’t revealing the appearance of the notification until it’s ready to start pushing these to machines next month, so it can ensure malicious actors don’t try and re-create it and trick Windows 7 users with malware. The prompt looks similar to the original Windows 10 upgrade notifications, and it’s clear it’s from Microsoft.

Windows 10 passed Windows 7 in market share earlier this year, and Microsoft’s latest operating system is now running on more than 800 million devices. It’s edging closer to Microsoft’s goal of having it installed on 1 billion devices, and the Windows 7 upgrade cycle is bound to help the company achieve that milestone, even if it’s a little later than expected.