Windows Vista is dead

[starbuck]

After Today (April 11), Vista will be unsupported forever.

 

After April 11, 2017, Microsoft will no longer support Windows Vista: no new security updates, non-security hotfixes, free or paid assisted support options, or online technical content updates, Microsoft says.

(Mainstream Vista support expired in 2012.)

Like it did for Windows XP, Microsoft has moved on to better things after a decade of supporting Vista.

 

As Microsoft notes, however, running an older operating system means taking risks—and those risks will become far worse after the deadline.

Vista’s Internet Explorer 9 has long since expired, and the lack of any further updates means that any existing vulnerabilities will never be patched—ever.

Even if you have Microsoft’s Security Essentials installed—Vista’s own antivirus program—you’ll only receive new signatures for a limited time.

 

The good news is that only a handful of computer users will have to make the switch.

According to NetMarketshare, the desktop share of Windows Vista was just under 2 percent two years ago, in March, 2015.

Today, it’s at 0.78 percent—about half of Windows 8’s 1.65 percent, according to the firm.

(A certain percentage of Windows users simply don’t care, however; Windows XP’s market share stands above 8 percent, and support for that operating system expired in April, 2014.)

 

 

Vista was never one of Microsoft’s beloved operating systems, although PCWorld reviewers were certainly kind.

Annoyances like the User Access Control and the introduction of Digital Rights Management played a role in hurrying user adoption of its successor, Windows 7, though Vista’s desktop gadgets were certainly nice.

(Extended support for Windows 7 ends in January, 2020, incidentally.)

 

Naturally, Microsoft hopes that any users moving from Windows Vista will migrate to Windows 10.

Microsoft is even offering the Laplink migration software for half off, or $14.95.

The important thing, though, is to move from Windows Vista to something more modern.

 

Why this matters:

Even if you're not part of the small group clinging to Windows Vista, its demise reinforces Microsoft's efforts to pull Windows users into the present day.

Other software companies are following suit: Firefox has let go of XP and Vista users.

Google Drive is kicking them to the curb. Windows Vista isn’t safe, it wasn’t loved, and the risk that some site will steal your email or bank account information is real.

It’s time to move on.

 

 

Source:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/3180571/windows/windows-vista-has-just-30-days-to-live.html#tk.rss_windows

[plodr]

XP, which "died" April 8, 2014 still has a user base of more than 7%

Source: https://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=10&qpcustomd=0

 

Look at Vista, way down at 0.72%. I think it died years ago. That was the only version of Windows up through 7 that I never ran. I even used ME for several years!

[allheart55 Cindy E]

Although I ran Vista for several years, with a dual boot XP, I never really cared for it at all.

I found it to be very sluggish and riddled with problems.

[DSTM]

I jumped Vista, when I read so many having issues.

[AWS]

The only reason I used Vista was because I was a beta tester of it. If not for that I would have stayed with XP until Windows 7.

[plodr]

I had to help a senior with her computers. She had a desktop someone gave her, running Vista. I can see why they gave it away. Her laptop was her daughter's old one and that was running Windows 8 (not 8.1). I had a hard time offering much in the way of help because i didn't know either of those OSes.

[allheart55 Cindy E]

The only reason I used Vista was because I was a beta tester of it. If not for that I would have stayed with XP until Windows 7.

I beta tested Vista as well, that was back before my brother retired from Microsoft.

[allheart55 Cindy E]

I had to help a senior with her computers. She had a desktop someone gave her, running Vista. I can see why they gave it away. Her laptop was her daughter's old one and that was running Windows 8 (not 8.1). I had a hard time offering much in the way of help because i didn't know either of those OSes.

For that very reason, I make sure that I have one computer running every new operating system, whether I like it or not.

The only two Microsoft operating systems that I have ever really loved were XP and 7.

[plodr]

Windows 7 will be the last Windows version I run. I told my seniors that need a new computer that I won't be providing free help because I don't know 10 and won't waste my time figuring it out.

 

I now have 3 android devices which will be good for surfing and emails. I'm spending my time with android and linux.

[starbuck]

Windows 7 will be the last Windows version I run. I told my seniors that need a new computer that I won't be providing free help because I don't know 10 and won't waste my time figuring it out.

Bit of a shame that.

I don't understand why people have this thing about Win10...... it's quite easy to use.

Anyone that knows Win7 will find their way around Win10 in no time.

My wifes system is Win7, but she can open up one of my Win10 systems and use it without any problem.

Win8 - 8.1 was a bit confusing, but a lot of that rubbish was done away with when Win10 came on the scene.

[Tony D]

For the average user, W10 should be pretty easy to get used to.

[Bill M.]

I can offer you one perspective and my opinion. With the advent of W10, users lost control of much of their system: downloads, updates, collection of data I might not appreciate, and so on. It isn't so much about W10 but the different stance and approach MS has taken. I have long objected to the MS attitude that we (MS) know what's best for you. Or, in other words, you do what you're told sonny, never mind about your own ideas.

 

That has occasioned me to stick with W7, probably forever.

[DSTM]

For the average user, W10 should be pretty easy to get used to.

 

What will W10 do that Windows7 won't.?

Windows7 will see me out, Supported or unsupported.

[DSTM]

My Wife still has XP on one of her Computers, and still working fine.

Has Windows7 SP1 Ultra on the other Computer.

Suggested installing Windows10, as a joke.

Can't repeat what she told me to do with Windows10.:omg:

[plodr]

I give my husband a computer, put an icon to the browser on his "desktop" and he doesn't worry about what OS he is on. As long as he can read his email and surf a few websites, he is happy. He maintains a database of members belonging to the alumni assn. of his high school so one of his daily stops is looking over obits. He tries to keep the mailing list current.

 

I still have my Win 2K that I fire up once in a while. The last time was to grab some webshot desktop images. I have a program on there that converts the old webshot files to jpg so I can use them elsewhere. We also have 2 XP computers. My husband likes to print from the very old HP 722Cse attached to his XP (offline of course) so he grabs a stick with his file and prints on it. Last we have four Win 7 computers: 2 desktops and 2 netbooks.

The current crop of computers do everything we need.

 

Windows 10 and its forced updates - NO THANKS! I've gotten burned by MS updates too many times in the past to be comfortable with that. I can break a computer without any help from MS. At least when I break something, I look at my notes and can undo the damage. With forced updates, I'm clueless as to what was done. I'm too old to hand over my hardware to MS.

[Bill M.]

Well said!!

[Kick]

I know I'm late to join this thread but it so interesting I couldn't resist joining in. I've never run Vista although I do possess an unused upgrade cd together with its companion cd provided by Packard Bell, the manufacturer of my XP desktop, when Microsoft first marketed Vista. My XP system was working well at the time so, despite accepting the free upgrade package, I never did get around to installing it. When the reports of users having many problems with Vista became a common phenomena on internet forums, I decided not to open the upgrade package.

 

My XP computer is still giving excellent service although its internet connection is disabled. It has been set up as a dual boot system since the withdrawal of support for XP by Microsoft. The other operating system sharing the XP desktop computer is Linux Puppy Precise 5.7.1 (frugal installation) which does connect to the internet. Puppy is very flexible and adaptable and rarely gives any headaches. When Microsoft drops support for Windows 7, if my Windows 7 desktop (and myself) are still in running order, then it will meet a similar fate to the XP system although probably dual booting with Xubuntu, an installation of which I have on a usb memory stick and have been trialling for some weeks now. Certainly I have no inclination to move on to Windows 10 for reasons similar to those so well expressed on this thread already.

 

For anyone with a Vista system and in a quandary as to how to move on, dual booting with a Linux operating system offers a fairly safe way of maintaining internet contact via the Linux system yet still enables the user to run all the peripherals that Vista allowed by keeping that operating system but now safely disconnected from the internet.

[plodr]

Or, I encourage people to boot a linux live distro from a USB stick to surf safely. That way, they don't have to worry about partitioning a hard driveand perhaps messing up the "boot manager" when something updates.

 

I haven't dual booted in years. I have one PC that dual boots (Windows 2K and PCLinux OS). Because it has 2 hard drives, I'm not changing a thing. It doesn't go on the internet so I only fire up Wink 2K once in a blue moon.

[Kick]

Hi plodr,

 

I've had no problems with dual booting Puppy Linux with XP but my Puppy installation is Frugal which requires a 'save' folder for the changes which I keep in my NTFS data partition. There is a separate EXT3 partition for the rest of the Puppy files and, of course, the original Windows boot managing partition was modified by the Puppy Frugal installation but this has never caused any problems. I have a copy of Macrium Reflect in the XP programs directory (the last version 5 issued before version 6 was released) - I've not needed to use it in anger but tests show it is capable of restoring the complete setup should that ever be necessary. The XP computer is too old for normal live usb memory stick booting although the live PLOP Portable Boot Manager CD does allow usb sticks to be used (it works well if somewhat slowly) but the initial boot from PLOP is necessary on every startup.

 

The big advantage of Puppy Linux live CDs and DVDs is that, like the frugal installation, they allow the creation of a 'save' folder so setting changes and data changes can be saved and thus maintained for the next use.

 

On my Windows 7 desktop, booting from live usb memory sticks is straightforward so your advice about not risking messing up the boot manager is very appropriate and I will heed it. With Xubuntu, a simplified and rather elegant Ubuntu based OS using the XFCE desktop which I am trialling, I've found actually installing it on a memory stick (quite an easy process) preferable to using it as a live usb with persistence. The only bugbear I've found is, almost every time I run it, there seems to be a new system update and frequently, after these updates, the updater stalls and freezes - rebooting clears the problem and I find the updates have installed correctly.

 

To avoid the dual boot option on a Vista system, if the machine is too old to allow standard usb booting then if using a live Puppy Linux CD or DVD is not to be considered but the capability to save changes is paramount, then using a PLOP live CD to enable the use of a live USB Linux stick. A possible problem here though is that a machine too old to allow standard usb booting may well also be too old for later supported Linux editions so older unsupported editions may have to suffice. You can find out about PLOP and download it from https://www.pendrivelinux.com/boot-from-usb-without-bios-support-via-plop-cd/ .

[plodr]

The big advantage of Puppy Linux live CDs and DVDs is that, like the frugal installation, they allow the creation of a 'save' folder

I have about 10 live sticks right now. I make them with "persistence". I could never get puppy to work with a save folder so I gave up on that distro. I'm not exactly a novice so if I had a problem with persistence, I suspect a new user to linux might have a problem.

My current favorite is LXLE desktop. http://www.lxle.net/

[Kick]

I'm not exactly a novice so if I had a problem with persistence, I suspect a new user to linux might have a problem.

 

Personally I did not have a problem with persistence but found having the operating system installed on the memory stick allowed me more flexibility to use all the available space on the stick. With memory sticks relatively cheap nowadays it's possible to include several extra programs in addition to those included with the operating system.

 

I don't know why you should have had a problem with the save folder in Puppy Linux. When closing down after the first run you are offered two things: first to save the sfs file to disk to speed up future booting and secondly to create a save folder in one of the ext file system formats. If you opt for both or one of these, Puppy walks you through the process. If you want to use the Puppy disk or usb stick on another system then you are given these options again when you close the session on the new machine.