Since its release in 2009, Windows 7 has proved to be an incredibly popular operating system. Much like Windows XP, Windows 7 has been the default choice for consumers and businesses alike for many years. Users praised its simplicity, the range of software that worked for it, and its speed. Even today, a decade after its release and with three major releases of Windows being released after it, a study from Kaspersky lab reports that 38% of consumers and 47% of businesses still use Windows 7.
As we know, all good things come to an end. Microsoft have announced that support for Windows 7 will officially end on January 14th, 2020. That means that Microsoft will no longer release crucial security updates and patches to the operating system beyond that date. Microsoft releases new security patches at least once a month – so it is clear that they are always finding new bugs to squash. Therefore, if you do not upgrade away from Windows 7, your computer and the data you store on it is under threat from cyber criminals. N.B. If you also use Windows Server 2008 – this reaches end of life on the same date.
Windows 10 is the clear direction of travel, and is the one that Microsoft is pushing. Microsoft did originally offer Windows 7 users a free upgrade to Windows 10, but that offer ended in 2016. So if you are on Windows 7, what are your options?
You could purchase new Windows 10 licences for all of the PCs in your organisation, but that could quickly become expensive. Fortunately, there is another way, which could offer better value: Windows Virtual Desktop.
Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) is a Windows 10 desktop hosted in the Cloud on Microsoft’s Azure platform – similar to our own Hosted Workspace.
Windows Virtual Desktop allows you to run a full Windows 10 desktop environment over the internet to your client device – whether that is a PC, Mac or tablet. Migrate all of your important data over to your WVD environment and you can even run it safely on your Windows 7 computer. This is because the data in your WVD environment is encapsulated, none of it leaves the cloud and your computer is only logging keystrokes.
WVD is completely future-proofed, with Microsoft providing regular security and feature updates for the platform, meaning you will be covered for updates long into the future, and you will be able to squeeze a bit more life out of that Windows 7 machine too!
The pricing structure is simple to manage, you simply pay monthly for what you use and how often you use it (these costs don’t work for everybody, and in those cases our Hosted Workspace is a better choice – find out more about that here)
If you are interested in learning more about WVD, or you would simply like to discuss what your options are for migration away from Windows 7, get in touch with entrustIT at sales@entrustit.co.uk or 0330 002 0045.
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