Mainstream Windows 7 support ended on January 13th, 2015 which basically means no more free of charge support. Back at the time they announced this at least they said they wouldn't be pulling the plug completely on Windows 7 until 2020. I've seen conflicting information since that announcement though. Most recently thing I saw not long ago was that Win 7 and 8 were getting the axe and the only thing left safe to use would be 8.1 and 10.
OSes Windows 10: Free upgrade for Win 7 & 8 users
- Thread starter beancounter
- Start date
Mainstream Windows 7 support ended on January 13th, 2015 which basically means no more free of charge support. Back at the time they announced this at least they said they wouldn't be pulling the plug completely on Windows 7 until 2020. I've seen conflicting information since that announcement though. Most recently thing I saw not long ago was that Win 7 and 8 were getting the axe and the only thing left safe to use would be 8.1 and 10.
First of all, you're right. Windows 7 and 8 do have about another 4 years of reliability and security updates coming to them. I was mixed up about what I had been reading lately. What is really going on is an issue with the processors in your computers. Processors of the last few years run Windows 7 through firmware emulation because when Windows 7 was released 10 years ago a lot of the calls for the the x64 architecture didn't exist at the time. Starting very soon Microsoft says CPU vendors will stop accommodating Windows 7 users with that layer of emulation. What that means is that chances are at some point this year if you buy a new computer and you want to have Windows 7 on it, you're SOL it won't be supported.
OP
OP
Just this morning, I got a Win 10 critical error 0 my start menu isn't working. Luckily, icons for all of my important programs are on my desktop. All of the MS solutions haven't work...
Chryssie
Internet Junkie
Ugh…well, it started out with huge letters telling me that all of my files are right where I left them. Ha! What they neglected to do was tell me how to access them. All of my quick links that were in my toolbar are gone. In fact, there is no tool bar. There’s no “my computer”, no “control panel”…nothing that is familiar.
When I finally (after one hour and ten minutes of click, close, click, close, click, close) got onto the internet, I tried to get to my bank website and as soon as I typed the web address in, I got a security alert telling me something is suspicious and not to shut down my computer. And what’s with the Norton thing telling me I have to do add-ons?
I did have my son check it out, even though he is totally unfamiliar with Windows 10. He found my files and made a shortcut for me on the desktop for now. And I got my yahoo as my home page. But I am concerned about the Norton thing and security messages I keep getting.
When I finally (after one hour and ten minutes of click, close, click, close, click, close) got onto the internet, I tried to get to my bank website and as soon as I typed the web address in, I got a security alert telling me something is suspicious and not to shut down my computer. And what’s with the Norton thing telling me I have to do add-ons?
I did have my son check it out, even though he is totally unfamiliar with Windows 10. He found my files and made a shortcut for me on the desktop for now. And I got my yahoo as my home page. But I am concerned about the Norton thing and security messages I keep getting.
Capstan
Fleur-de-Lis
- Joined
- Dec 8, 2015
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Jeremy-
I'm not planning to buy a new computer. I'll use this one, likely until it fails. I have a Dell laptop, several years old. It came installed with regular 7, but it caught the "FBI" bug, and the OS had to be replaced. I paid a local man, and he gave me Win 7- Pro, x64, but he didn't give me any installation disks or a tag number. That was a couple of years ago. Things have worked fine ever since. My computing needs are not huge. I surf the web, and have a few apps I've installed, but that's about it. It just seems like a lot of trouble to install and learn a new system, when I can do what I want, with what I already have. I've never been able to get any real support from Microsoft anyway. If I can get updates for another 4-years, that should be good enough.
I also seem to remember reading that Microsoft, after a year of its initial release, may start charging for Win 10 on an annual "subscription" basis. Have you heard anything along that line?
You seem pretty knowledgeable about this stuff, so I appreciate your reading my pov.
I'm not planning to buy a new computer. I'll use this one, likely until it fails. I have a Dell laptop, several years old. It came installed with regular 7, but it caught the "FBI" bug, and the OS had to be replaced. I paid a local man, and he gave me Win 7- Pro, x64, but he didn't give me any installation disks or a tag number. That was a couple of years ago. Things have worked fine ever since. My computing needs are not huge. I surf the web, and have a few apps I've installed, but that's about it. It just seems like a lot of trouble to install and learn a new system, when I can do what I want, with what I already have. I've never been able to get any real support from Microsoft anyway. If I can get updates for another 4-years, that should be good enough.
I also seem to remember reading that Microsoft, after a year of its initial release, may start charging for Win 10 on an annual "subscription" basis. Have you heard anything along that line?
You seem pretty knowledgeable about this stuff, so I appreciate your reading my pov.
Win key + E brings up File Explorer
Some things are under "Settings" (third option up when you click the Start button) but you can also get to Control Panel among other things by right clicking on the Start button. No idea about Norton, I don't use it. I use Avast for anti-virus.
Stick to it, and you'll be comfortable with it in no time
Oh yeah, I can understand where you're coming from and you should be fine for awhile.
Well from what I've heard is, Windows 10 is the last actual Windows release. It will become a subscription service that you pay a small yearly fee to subscribe to. But I don't think anything is actually set into stone at this point. I do know that the Windows Insider program never stopped. They are still pushing new builds of Windows 10 to beta testers, which I find a little curious.
I think KLS already had Norton and with Windows 10 it's just behaving differently. It comes with Windows Defender (which sucks), and you have the options of installing any anti-virus software you prefer. Avast or AVG these days are as good or better than Norton, etc that you used to have to pay a premium to get.
I think google chrome because it's what I had when using W7 and I wanted to try and stay with some things that were comfortable. It came with some "e" thing...I don't think it was internet explorer. It was something I never heard of before. My son deleted it! [emoji33]
Chrome or Firefox is what I would recommend using. You're fine there... The other browser you're referring to is Microsoft's new browser called Edge. So I assume you pay for a Norton subscription?
OP
OP
Just in case someone else encounters this issue - I resolved it by restoring an earlier system restore point.
It has been okay for me. My laptop kept going into airplane mode (I don't know if that was related to Windows 10) but I fixed that.
Well, I am on the desktop using W10 but I am still not happy. I keep getting the messages about the Norton extensions and I can't figure out what it wants. I also get a pop up on the bottom right hand of the screen telling me I have a temporary ID and will not be able to access my files unless I...but it goes away so fast I don't get to read the whole thing! This is so annoying but I'm trying to get over it. I did find my files but I have to click on a yellow folder with a blue tab looking thing on it on the bottom of the screen. Then I have to click "this PC"...go to "Local Disk C"..."users"...only then I see my user name and when I click on that, all of my files are there. WTH. What ever happened to clicking the start icon and then clicking "documents"...what a novel idea. This is BS, lol. Agghhhh!
At least I am on the internet and I have bookmarked VV, FB and a few other sites that I frequent, but I am afraid to go onto my bank site and bill paying sites because of the error message I got the other day and this Norton issue. If I have to go back to paying bills by mail, shopping in stores, and banking at the bank, I am not going to be a happy camper! Who knew I could be such a whiner...
Can't help you with the Norton issues but the other is the fact that you're using it with a local account and not an MSN / Windows Live account. All it really means is you're not getting your desktop settings sync'd/backed up and you don't get to use OneDrive (which is a cloud for storing things to access from other computers and devices). You can sign up for an account here:
http://signup.live.com/
Once you have an account you can sign in with it by click on the Start button and going to Settings and then going to Account. There should be a sign in with Microsoft account option there.
Back to Norton, honestly Norton hasn't been known for being very good at keeping systems safe for a long time now. You would be better off uninstalling Norton and downloading either Avast or AVG.
You can add your Documents etc to the Start menu by doing the following: Click the Start button and go to Settings. Then you go to Personalization and then at the bottom there is a Start tab. Within the Start tab scroll down to the bottom and click on "Choose which folders appear on Start" and you should be able to turn on Documents, Downloads, etc from there.
http://signup.live.com/
Once you have an account you can sign in with it by click on the Start button and going to Settings and then going to Account. There should be a sign in with Microsoft account option there.
Back to Norton, honestly Norton hasn't been known for being very good at keeping systems safe for a long time now. You would be better off uninstalling Norton and downloading either Avast or AVG.
You can add your Documents etc to the Start menu by doing the following: Click the Start button and go to Settings. Then you go to Personalization and then at the bottom there is a Start tab. Within the Start tab scroll down to the bottom and click on "Choose which folders appear on Start" and you should be able to turn on Documents, Downloads, etc from there.
