Contents:
- Editor's welcome
- Interview with John Holder
- Steve Brown: Rally driver turns to rallycross
- Dippy in Rochdale
- Rochdale Borough Youth Cabinet member goes international
- A warm welcome from WHAG
- Five reasons why you should spring clean for charity
- Julia Heap - Hopwood Hall Principal
- Bombay Brew: Masala Chicken Legs Recipe
- Bees
- Fairies Chapel & Witches at Healey Dell
- Hairdressing Trend - Precision Haircut
- Take part in the challenge of a lifetime for Springhill Hospice
- Joanne Timperley pens debut children’s book
- Spring clean your medicine cupboard
- A beginners’ guide to running with Andy O’Sullivan
- Cookies recipe
- Reside Estate Agency celebrates five years in business
- Successful year for PDS
- Take a walk in Ashworth Valley
- Still running Windows 7? »
Spring 2020Still running Windows 7?
ABOUT THE WRITER
Rob Gibbons has run an IT support business for over 14 years and has a wealth of knowledge on how to get the best out of infrastructure for businesses whilst ensuring the network is optimised for productivity.
Do you know which version of Windows you have?
Microsoft generally supports each version of its operating system for about ten years, and ‘extended support’ for Windows 7 ended on 14 January 2020.
This means Microsoft are no longer offering technical support for Windows 7, so if something goes wrong, it cannot be fixed. The new Windows 10 platform is far more secure and has many improvements over Windows 7.
End-of-life software also no longer receives updates and patches, meaning it is not secure: recent figures show 25% of devices run on outdated software. This means millions of people who have not upgraded their software are incredibly vulnerable to a cyber-attack.
Cyber criminals will target that 25%, knowing that their devices are easy to exploit, because they will have missing security patches – leaving these platforms open for criminal business.
The National Cyber Security Centre has advised that anyone who wishes to send private or sensitive information (such as bank details) on a Windows 7 device, not to send it as the risk is too great.
Additionally, Barclays has said that, after 25 May 2020, it will prevent Windows 7 users from accessing their online account. I’m sure more banks will follow this approach.
Anyone still using the software is urged to replace unsupported devices as soon as possible, to move sensitive data to a supported device and not to use them for tasks like accessing bank and other sensitive accounts.
If you want to check which version of Windows you’re running:
- Click the Start button.
- Type “winver” in the search box and press Enter.
- You should see the About Windows box popup with your Windows version information.
To greatly reduce the risk of being victim of cyber-crime, ensure you are running the latest operating system and update your Windows software.
At the time of this article, the latest version of Windows 10 is version 1909.