As the expiration date for Windows 10 presses ever closer, spare a thought for its classic forerunner. No, not Windows 8 – nobody ever loved that – but Windows 7, with its classic Start menu, tasteful transparency, lack of built-in advertising, and so on.
The Reg FOSS desk was recently in beautiful snow-covered Czechia, visiting in-laws, and found that they’re still using Windows 7 and are disinclined to upgrade. Perhaps some Reg readers are too. There are valid reasons: hardware that lacks drivers for newer versions, or a need for some software that won’t run on later versions. It could simply be penury: the free upgrade program ended in 2023.
It is still possible to use these classic versions even if you have some concern for self-preservation. We suspect that pretty soon, this will apply to a lot of people running Windows 10 as well: its release date of July 15, 2015, is very nearly a decade ago, and soon it will officially be lost like tears in rain. We will return to the subject of keeping Windows 10 in action all the way through to the 2030s in a future article, but thought we’d break you in gently, with some tips for what to do with Windows 7 (cunningly codenamed “Windows 7”), which was retired on January 14, 2020.
Some of the methods that we suggested for Windows XP in 2023 apply here, too.
Clean your room!
If you’re still running such an old version, it’s probably an old installation as well. That implies a dangerously high Stob Cruft Index. Dumping the junk is a good plan. We covered some of this in our story on preparing to dual-boot a few years ago.
Windows 7 isn’t as dead as some make out. Occasional updates still happen – click to enlarge
You can use third-party tools such as CCleaner for this if you wish, but whatever you do, do not use “registry cleaners”! These are all dangerous; they do no good, but can destroy your OS.
A quick recap: We favor the simple built-in Disk Cleanup tool. Run it once, tick all the boxes, and let her rip. Then, run it again, and click the button to Clean Up System Files. Again, tick all the boxes, set it running, then wander off and make a cup of tea or something, because this mode typically takes much longer.
When it’s done, open an admin-mode command prompt. If you don’t have a shortcut handy, there are various ways to do this. In it, type:
chkdsk c: /f
It will tell you it can’t do it now, and ask you if you want to run the task at the next reboot. Answer Y for Yes, then close the window (or type EXIT and press return). Then reboot, and wait for it to finish. It may be worth running another Disk Cleanup afterward to remove any resulting debris.
Legacy Update not only fetches whatever patches exist, but some drivers, and can activate Windows, too – click to enlarge
Get with it, grandpa
Obviously enough, one of the first issues is simply to ensure that your copy is fully updated. It’s still possible to get updates for various long-gone versions of Windows thanks to the very handy Legacy Update. This is a third-party improved recreation of Windows Update, and it can also help you to activate some long-discontinued versions of Windows. Much the like real thing, it can also find some missing device drivers for you.
If for some reason you’re working with a new installation of Windows 7, then you may find Snappy Driver Installer Origin to be of assistance. You can download this on another internet-connected PC, complete with all its driver packs – which total nearly 10 GB – and stick it on a USB key, and thus use it to install network drivers and get online at all.
Going online? Tread carefully
This vulture’s in-laws were still using Google Chrome for the web, but the last version that runs on Windows 7 is version 109, which is now very long in the tooth. It’s not a good idea, and that goes for all the other Chromium-based browsers, too: Microsoft’s own Edge, Vivaldi, Brave, whatever.
Supermium brings you more modern versions of Chromium than Mountain View deigns to – click to enlarge
If you are deeply committed to that magic Mountain View shiny, then give Supermium a try. This is an external effort to keep the Chromium open source codebase building on older versions of Windows, and it still offers both 32-bit and 64-bit editions. We found we had to manually update from version 122 to version 126 – the latest at the time of writing – but version 132 is expected any day now.
There is still a version of Firefox that is getting updates: the last-but-one Extended Support Release, Firefox 115. Beware, no newer version will run, including its successor, Firefox 128. As we reported then, the team maintaining the older ESR are going to keep it alive as long as they can. It’s currently on 115.20.0esr and works flawlessly. This vulture is also running version 115 on an old Mac Mini that maxes out at 10.13 “High Sierra,” and can attest that Firefox 115 does still receive updates.
When updates do end on that Mac, we plan to give OCLP a go. For Windows 7 diehards, alternatives such as PaleMoon beckon.
Naturally, you should also install uBlock Origin into whichever you choose, or both. The Register, of course, has dignity, restraint, and not-too-intrusive advertising, so help this vulture feed his family and disable it for us, though.
As Firefox no longer supports Windows 7, that means Thunderbird doesn’t either, but alternatives still exist. For instance, the Czech eM Client is highly functional and you can get a free license.
Careful with that axe, Eugene
Aside from the web, exercise restraint going online from elderly Windows. We strongly recommend keeping any Microsoft app from connecting, whatever the temptation. Music players, chat apps, email clients, whatever: there’s a high probability that anything old enough to run on Windows 7 hasn’t been updated in a long time, and you should consider it as untrustworthy.
This includes things like OneDrive. Go into its Settings screen and untick the option to start with Windows. It can no longer successfully connect in any case, and you can still access your files via a web browser.
Look for FOSS alternatives instead. There isn’t a vast amount of internal difference between Windows from Vista to 7, 8, and even 10, and the code for many FOSS apps is built with FOSS tools that can happily target all of them from one codebase. You can find modern, current, and maintained media players, messaging and email clients, and so on, and you’re safer with them. Most free antivirus programs still support Windows 7, at least for now.
Ghostwriter makes distraction-free Markdown a breeze, including dark mode and a live preview – click to enlarge
General maxims are to tread carefully, think ahead, and apply the KISS principle. For instance, the painfully common Electron mostly won’t work because the Chromium framework it uses no longer supports Windows 7. Mostly, we see this as an advantage, but it also applies to FOSS desk fave Panwriter. However, Ghostwriter and Notepad++ work fine. For some other handy tools, such as IrfanView, you may need to find an older version.
Stop, look, listen
Just because its original vendor no longer supports a proprietary OS doesn’t mean that you must do as instructed and cough up for an upgrade. If you actively choose not to run the latest shiny in OS terms, then there’s a good chance that you don’t want new and fancy in your apps, either, and not being able to run JavaScript web apps masquerading as real native programs is no big loss. In fact, this vulture increasingly sees it as a benefit. Having no “modern” apps and no stealth adverts for game consoles, cloud storage, and so on is a definite win.
If you are willing to do a little legwork and consider switching to alternative apps if favorites no longer work, then it’s still feasible to stick with Windows 7 for now. This vulture is not a very performance-sensitive type, but we see no perceptive increase in performance from running Windows 7 over Windows 10 – but we definitely think it looks better, and the older Start menu is much more powerful and flexible.
The extra work you need to do can also be considered as a first step on the path towards leaving the Windows prison walled garden and switching to a Windows-like FOSS alternative such as Linux Mint. ®
