Articles about Windows 7

It's not long since Microsoft revealed the various editions of Windows 10 that will be available. We're now in the launch month and the preview builds are rolling out thick and fast to Windows Insiders. But when the big day rolls out, which version should you opt for?

If you're upgrading from Windows 7 or Windows 8, it's a fairly simple process that can be taken care of by Windows Update. For those who have decided to make the upgrade, Microsoft will automatically migrate you to the equivalent version of Windows 10. But if you're running the Home version of Windows, what are you missing out on? Is it worth thinking about going Pro? Microsoft has a handy guide to help you decide.

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Windows 8.x enjoyed a good month in May. The tiled operating system finally overtook Windows XP for the first time in six months -- its gains coming mostly at the expense of Windows 7. But it was all change again in June according to the latest usage stats from web analytics firm NetMarketShare.

The latest figures show Windows 8.x losing share -- or business as usual you might say -- going from 16.63 percent to 16.02 percent. That’s a drop of 0.61 percentage points. Windows 8.1 actually gained 0.24 percentage points, but Windows 8 lost 0.85 percentage points. Still overall it remains comfortably ahead of XP now, so there's that consolation prize.

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If you’re running Windows 7 or 8.x you should by now see a small Windows 10 icon in the system tray. Click this and you can reserve your free Windows 10 upgrade in advance of the operating system’s launch on July 29.

Once you’ve reserved the upgrade, Windows 10 will download as soon as available and you’ll be able to install it at your convenience. However, for some reason this icon isn’t appearing on all systems. It wasn’t on mine for example. If you want to summon the upgrade icon, this is what you’ll need to do.

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If you’re certain you don’t want to upgrade to Windows 10, or you want to do so at your own pace without being nagged into it, the upgrade notification that appears in Windows 7 and 8.x can be viewed as an unwanted annoyance.

There are plenty of reasons why you might not want to upgrade to Windows 10 as soon as it becomes available -- you might be more than happy with your existing OS, or you may wish to wait until Windows 10 has been out for a while and all of the big issues have been patched. After all, you have a year to upgrade for free. If you want to remove the upgrade notification, there’s a simple tool for the job.

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As the launch of Windows 10 draws ever-nearer, we're hearing more about Microsoft Edge and less about Internet Explorer. Edge (formerly known as Project Spartan) may be the default browser in the upcoming version of Windows, but the browsing stalwart that is IE will live on nonetheless.

Anyone using the Windows 10 preview has had a chance to use the HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) in Microsoft Edge, and today the security feature comes to Internet Explorer 11 in Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. This security protocol protects against man-in-the-middle attacks and is being delivered to users of older versions of Windows through an update in the form of KB 3058515.

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If you like the idea of trying out the next version of Windows before it is officially launched, Microsoft has made the Windows 10 Technical Preview available for everyone to use. There are various ways to get the preview installed on your computer, but since the release of build 9926, it is possible to upgrade your current Windows 7 or Windows 8 installation to Windows 10 using Windows Update.

This is a much simpler option than downloading the ISO image, but it is an upgrade route that almost encourages people to install the preview build on their everyday computer -- don’t forget that this is not a finished product! We've already looked at how to install Windows 10 in a virtual machine, but if you have a spare machine running Windows 7 or 8, using it as a test bed for Windows 10 just got a whole lot easier.

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If you want to install Windows from scratch, you have two choices -- you can install the OS from a CD/DVD or from a USB flash drive. The latter is the better option, especially as optical drives are becoming something of a rarity these days.

The process of creating a bootable USB flash drive for Windows 7, 8.1 or 10, is quick and easy. Here’s how to do it.

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Over the years Microsoft has managed to break computers with updates, though not intentionally of course. However, it's generally wise to wait just a bit after Patch Tuesday and keep an eye out for reports of any problems that other customers are experiencing. It's generally safe, but you can never be too cautious.

Now those who have stayed behind, clinging to Windows 7, seem to be on the receiving end of just such an incident. If users of the TechNet forums are to be believed, and there's no reason to suspect otherwise, then KB3033929 could wreak a bit of havoc with Windows 7 systems.

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It’s fair to say, Windows 8.x has enjoyed something of a rollercoaster ride when it comes to usage share. While it’s never been a popular operating system (quite the opposite in fact), share has gone up and down, with gains one month being wiped out by losses the following month.

NetMarketShare’s monthly usage share figures provide a decent guide as to how Microsoft’s tiled OS is doing, and it’s usually pretty interesting, although February was a fairly unexciting month.

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Can’t find your Windows 7 disc but need it to do a fresh install or run a copy of Windows in a virtualized environment? The obvious solution is to download a copy of the operating system in ISO format.

Oddly though, Microsoft has avoided offering Windows 7 ISOs for download -- the only solution previously was to grab a copy from Digital River, Microsoft’s official content delivery partner for Windows 7. That’s all changed now though, as a new Microsoft Software Recovery center lets you download Windows 7 directly from the software giant itself.

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Windows 10 isn't here yet, though in a way it sort of is -- in other words, it's a Preview version meant to test the waters. Microsoft has high hopes of putting version 8.x behind it, even skipping a number to distance itself. But not everyone wants to run a possibly unstable version of an operating system, especially on a production machine. However, you can still get the new icon set without installing the OS.

Packs of the icons have been collected and made available for customers of both Windows 7 and Windows 8x. Getting them on your desktop is just a click or two away. The icons are spread out, encompassing desktop, system tray and Explorer.

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Microsoft’s decision to drop the Start Menu in Windows 8 persuaded many developers to produce their own alternatives, and there’s no shortage of free options to explore (Classic Shell is probably still the best)

Finding yet another example in the new Labrys didn’t exactly fill us with excitement, then, but despite several flaws it’s different enough to be interesting.

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So the Windows 10 briefing is well underway, and Microsoft has already dropped a bombshell, although it’s one that many people will have been expecting.

If you have Windows 7, Windows 8.1 or Windows Phone 8.1 you will be able to upgrade to Windows 10 for free. That’s right, it won’t cost you a single penny. And who doesn’t love free? Now the bad news… it's only free if you upgrade in the first year.

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Earlier in the week, Google managed to raise the ire of Microsoft by publishing details of a vulnerability in Windows before a patch had been published. Now the same thing has happened again, but this time it's a double whammy. Google Security Research has revealed two more security holes that Microsoft is yet to fix.

Just as was the case a few days ago, Microsoft had been warned about the security problems and Google agreed to keep details private for a period of 90 days. Now the three months is up, details of the security issues have been automatically published, running the risk that users could be targeted.

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Windows 7 is by far and away the most popular operating system, and likely to remain so for many years to come. Windows 8.1 did nothing to dent the older OS’s popularity -- in fact, it helped propel it to even greater heights -- and Windows 10 will have its work cut out to unseat Windows 7 from the top of the pile.

Every Microsoft operating system comes with five years of mainstream support in which the software giant provides security and non-security updates and complimentary online and telephone support, and today, Windows 7 Service Pack 1’s mainstream support comes to an end. So what does that mean for the legions of Windows 7 users?

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