Mozilla confirms Firefox's end of support for Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 systems
Mozilla, maker of the open source Firefox web browser, has confirmed the end of support date of Firefox for the Microsoft operating systems Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1
Microsoft ended support for the operating systems in January 2023 already and several browser developers, including Google and Microsoft, have already stopped supporting their browsers on these systems. Mozilla took its time to evaluate the situation and informed users earlier this year that it would continue to support Firefox on these operating systems.
Mozilla did not provide specifics back then, only that it would support Firefox for the operating systems until at least the second half of 2024.
A support page provides detailed information on the organization's plans to support the out-of-support operating systems. In short: Mozilla will support Firefox for Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 until September 2024, but no longer than that.
This makes it the only major web browser that does so, as Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Brave, Vivaldi and Opera have ended support already for the operating systems. All of these are based on Chromium, which Google controls to a large degree. While it is in theory possible for companies to extend support, doing so would require assigning development resources to the task.
In case you are wondering what happens on Windows 7 or 8 devices when you try to run an unsupported browsers, we tried that and discovered that the browsers won't install or run anymore.
Migration to Firefox ESR
Mozilla plans to migrate Firefox Stable users on these three Windows versions to the Firefox ESR channel when Firefox 115 is released. This happens automatically and this special version of Firefox ESR will receive security updates until September 2024, its end of support date.
Firefox ESR, which stands for Extended Support Releases, is updated in the same frequency as stable versions of the web browser. The updates include security and bug fixes only, and not new features, which Mozilla integrates into stable updates regularly.
This means that Firefox users on these operating systems won't receive any new features implemented in Firefox after the release of Firefox 115, which Mozilla plans to release on July 4, 2023.
Most Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 devices can be upgraded to Windows 10, and this is what Mozilla recommends, as Microsoft is not releasing security updates for the older versions of Windows anymore. Windows 10 is supported until October 2025.
Closing Words
Mozilla extends support for Firefox on Windows 7 and 8 devices until September 2024. This gives users on these systems more than 1 year of extra breathing room, at least where browsers are concerned.
Mozilla, the ‘champions of freedom’ now pushing everyone onto the biggest piece of bloatware and spyware going, Windows 10/ 11. The irony of it!
The joys of technocracy.
I just don’t understand your ranting about what OS other people use. Simple as that. I find your reply comical. I think the fact you didn’t answer my questions are telling about yourself. But you read whatever you want into my comment, mate.
Stupid decision. If someone’s going to use an old device, they’re going to use it. Browsers need to maintain protection for those people given they’re the primary vector for malware infection.
And the tech industry needs to have a serious conversation about how they punish people for living in poverty. Most people who use older devices do so because they have no choice. Not everyone can afford to go out and buy the latest tech and decisions like this just put them at higher risk of cybercrime, identity theft etc – the people who can least afford that risk.
@Martin,
More than a few (maybe most) who subscribe to ghacks are completely misunderstanding the essence (conversely). I feel that the article and title need to be tweaked.
In short, “Since Microsoft completely soon end support for Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 systems, Firefox, which is still support it, have to follow suit.”
@Julie,
> Stupid decision. If someone’s going to use an old device, they’re going to use it. Browsers need to maintain protection for those people given they’re the primary vector for malware infection.
You are the stupid one.
If Microsoft doesn’t support it, Mozilla can’t support it.
https://www.ghacks.net/2023/05/30/mozilla-confirms-firefoxs-end-of-support-for-windows-7-8-and-8-1-systems/#comment-4567226
If you have no choice but to use an old device, you can use “Linux” that Mozilla can support. Anyway, this problem is all about “Microsoft has ended support”.
Actually, there’s an something I don’t quite understand when it comes to Firefox support. If Mozilla will cease supporting the browser on Win 7 and 8.1 simply because Microsoft doesn’t support either OS anymore how come they still support it on Android Nougat 7.1.1 which is the version installed on my phone and which hasn’t received any security updates for six years already.
Looked at from that point of view it doesn’t make sense to say they they’re not going to support installation on an expired Windows OS and yet continue to do so on an old version of Android.
@TelV,
> Actually, there’s an something I don’t quite understand when it comes to Firefox support. If Mozilla will cease supporting the browser on Win 7 and 8.1 simply because Microsoft doesn’t support either OS anymore how come they still support it on Android Nougat 7.1.1 which is the version installed on my phone and which hasn’t received any security updates for six years already.
I am not “familiar” with this situation (Perhaps there is official information by Mozilla)…,
but just my personal opinion:
Android Nougat (codenamed Android N during development) is Kernel type Linux kernel 4.1
The Linux kernel is a free and open-source, so it is different from Microsoft’s proprietary software “WindowsOS” (The Linux kernel is a free and open-source, Mozilla can freely exercise its development and testing environment).
Android Nougat | wikipedia.org
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_Nougat
I’m on a8.0, running latest ff forks easily.
Don’t forget that mozilla is totally sponsored by google, which works in coalition with ms to create their digital slavery web. That is why win7 not supported, coz if properly configured it can’t be used as telemetry end-point. Same goes to a7.1 and 8.0, but not 8.1 where neural api was presented.
Try to rise the topic in mozilla dev forums about win7-eol, you’ll be blocked or banned in a seconds.
Same goes to mozilla s#cky reddit group.
@NeonRobot
Mozilla is an unethical copy-paste sell-out developer with an unhealthy obsession for Progressive activist politics and they are still trying hard in absorbing Chrome’s user-base with being the “better Chrome without Blink”
They are censorship supporting and anti-free speech – see their Mastodon instance for example. Is it really surprising that the Reddit section is exactly the same? :D
Honestly, the only good thing I see in firefox these days is the icon. It’s very beautiful.
The team behind firefox development couldn’t care less about the people who use the browser. It fills it with functions that nobody uses and that could be extensions. What’s the use of having a copy of chrome and not being able to use chrome extensions?
You can just install the first version of Windows 10 – 1507 and then use Google Chrome too. Of course, it will have some unpatched vulnerabilities but so will Windows 7/8.1. It’s not the end of the world. Just don’t download and run unknown EXE files and you should be fine.
Why bother, let them ride in their digital horse carriages through the net. They will just be forgotten like the dinosaurs. Especially once all companies refuse to build for old OS and their own maintenance work becomes exponential.
Frankel, So you’re the one standing in line for hours with all the other sheep waiting for the newest phone, overpriced tennis shoes, and other must have junk, eh? If that’s your thing, it’s your choice. But why be rude about what OS and/or browswer other people chose? I mean, why does it bother you in the least? I’d like to try a Linux distro at some point. Maybe that’s the road I will take. I do have an up to date Win 10 pc but for just browsing I prefer 7. But don’t let it make you upset, hate to see you reach for the Xanax over it. Quivering fingers indead, lol
^ A post projecting this much is always a confession by the author.
Why such spiteful words, my dude?
Horse carriage? Nope lol, that implies it’s somehow running via a completely different, inferior technology, no I’d say closer to the status of a vintage car – great experience, no rear parking camera or heated seats (extraneous “features”), and you need to know what you’re doing to keep it running well.
What are all these companies that are going to kill support and “make maintenance work exponential”? The only software I use that receives updates is the browser, everything else performs it’s job without needing updates, and isn’t going to stop working any time soon.
I do monthly backups of my OS, and more frequent backups of critical files, this already puts me in a better position than most users of modern OSes which don’t do backups, if we want to talk about people living life on the edge. ..And if it really comes to it in the far future, i’ll keep my W7 offline and get something else to replace the one feature that would be missing, the browser.
Sounds like the prospect of people getting by really grinds your gears, lol.
@basingstoke
Windows 7 is from 2009, and unsupported since January 2020. It’s ancient, we are talking Ubuntu 9.10-level ancient here. If someone was running Ubuntu 9.10 still in the Linux community, nobody would be supportive of it and they would be told to upgrade their stuff. Just because Microsoft supports each OS iteration for 10 years, actually for enterprises that write expensive special purpose applications which may not run on newer versions, home users like you think that running an ancient OS is legit and that it’s not outdated. But it is, very much so, and now even officially so.
If you are unhappy with Windows 10 / 11, switch to some Linux distro instead of running this ancient proprietary garbage.
Ah yes #1 Big Tech shill Iron Heart telling people to update to Windows 11. If he’s not shilling for Google, then he’s shilling for Microsoft.
@Iron Heart
We may not agree often but don’t waste your time on this one.
“ancient proprietary garbage” – if you don’t mind, I decide when something I use is no longer fit for my purposes. But on the topic of something being proprietary: what difference does it make to you if Linux is open source? Are you ever going to write some sort of feature specific to your needs, into a Linux distro, or pay a coder to do it for you? Answer is… no.
For an average end user who can’t develop or contribute to an OS due to not having such indepth coding skill (…which is all of us here, by the way), whether something is proprietary or not, makes little difference at the end of the day.
At best, there’ll be some dev out there that can leverage the open-ness of something, to create an improvement or amendment that just so happens to be something you like/need, yet such a thing also still happens tons in Windows despite it’s proprietary nature.
@basingstoke Just ignore that Progressive hive drones – they all have spite for features and old proven superior technology and just eat what their Progressive overlords throw in front of them.
Same old, same suck!
>Sounds like the prospect of people getting by really grinds your gears, lol.
>
Who wrote a wall of text with their fingers quivering?
Lol Frankel, it’s funny that you take the length of my message as an indication of my emotional investment, please don’t flatter yourself. If you were to search for my posts on this site (I don’t recommend this…) you’d see that there’s quite a lot of lengthy ones, and the topic isn’t always Windows – it’s just how I write, verbosely – and that wall of text? like, a couple of minutes of my free time – that’s just what happens when you’re hopped up on caffeine and can touch-type.
Windows 7 is my favorite too. I still run it on the garage laptop (that is physically isolated from the internet).
If people put all the energy they waste hating windows 10 and 11 into learning how to tweak it to thier own liking, they would be better off.
10 is fugly, I’ve never liked how it looks and 11 is too young for me but, I am planning on switching to it in a few years.
If you don’t keep up with the times, you’ll just get left behind. You already know this.
As for FF, it is one of the browsers I use and I’ve been on ESR for a long time now. I don’t need ‘features’, I need a browser that works.
The Windows OS is a Microsoft product, and in order to develop a product (browser) that officially supports that OS, a license agreement with Microsoft is required.
This problem is
1. is due to the restrictions of the license agreement with Microsoft required to support the Windows OS.
2. In addition, there is Firefox’s user support (quality assurance) responsibility, which can no longer be solved by Mozilla (Mozilla cannot guarantee what Microsoft does not support).
In order to use “Win 7 x86” etc., which Microsoft has declared to be no longer supported, in a development and test environment, In order to use “Win 7 x86”, for example, which Microsoft has declared to be no longer supported, in a development and test environment, a (costly) support contract with Microsoft is required.
However, the support for them (LTSC) provided by Microsoft will also be completely terminated, so there will no longer be any special support contract options.
After that, it is because Mozilla can only confirm that it works with “Win 10 x64” or later.
Hey, I just wanted to say:
“The Windows OS is a Microsoft product, and in order to develop a product (browser) that officially supports that OS, a license agreement with Microsoft is required.”
This is completely wrong, where did you get this notion? Developers do not require MS handholding and blessing to develop programs for Windows, I’m sure some companies maybe have such a special priviledge, but I’d bet majority of software is not made this way.
Also I don’t agree with the following:
“Mozilla cannot guarantee what Microsoft does not support”, if that was the case, Firefox support for Windows 7 would already be dropped, so clearly it cannot be true.
@ basingstoke,
Well, actually they do: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/win_cert/certification-requirements-for-windows-desktop-apps
As a “social mission (responsible) company that develops and maintains original products, not forked ones, Mozilla follows the law.
Support for Windows 7 has ended for individual users, but there is a remaining period in the case of a “paid support contract that is charged per device and limited to Windows 7 Professional/Enterprise with a volume license contract” for corporations.
So even now it is possible.
I am really struggling to understand you…
“there is a remaining period in the case of a “paid support contract that is charged per device and limited to Windows 7 Professional/Enterprise with a volume license contract” for corporations” didn’t this ESU thing end in January 2023?
“As a “social mission (responsible) company that develops and maintains original products, not forked ones, Mozilla follows the law.” What the hell are you on about? When did I mention anything about forking or breaking the law? It seems to me that you believe some things which just aren’t true.
To reiterate, I’m very sure it’s possible to develop and maintain software for just about anything (theoretically), without the assistance of the OS manufacturer, like I said, massive number of programs big and small have been developed without MS involvement. There is no illegality to this, especially not with Windows. If I am wrong somewhere, please tell me why.
In reality, things have not progressed as expected by Microsoft, and especially in Japan, even national institutions are using Windows 7.
Since we cannot ignore the situation in Japan, unofficial support seems to be continuing, but there will be a limit (grace period).
Mozilla official information:
Bug 1594270 (win7-eol)
[meta] Remove support for Windows 7, 8, and 8.1
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1594270#c26
Bug 1835971
Stop offering Firefox 116+ updates to Windows 7/8/8.1 users
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1835971
Firefox users on Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 moving to Extended Support Release
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-users-windows-7-8-and-81-moving-extended-support
Do you know what Floorp’s support policy will be owl?
As for FF not running on 7/8/8.1 that doesn’t mean it will stop working if users block updates from running after v115 I would have thought. As a safety precaution create a Windows system restore point prior to installing v116.
@TelV,
> Do you know what Floorp’s support policy will be owl?
According to the official ABlog blog,
https://blog.ablaze.one/3062/2023-02-01/
? Floorp Browser | Version 11.0.0 and Significant Changes
02/26/2023 (updated: 04/05/2023)
Floorp 11 will include the following major changes.
Raise Windows installation requirements to “Microsoft Windows 10 64bit” or higher.
https://blog.ablaze.one/3135/2023-04-01/
? Floorp Browser | Version 11.0.0 Release Preview Notes
04/08/2023 (updated: 05/17/2023)
Changed
?Installation support for Windows 7, 8.1, and 8 will be discontinued.
They have been announced,
but since these articles seem to be in Japanese only, I requested the developer to inform users (especially foreigners).
https://blog.ablaze.one/3135/2023-04-01/?replytocom=120#respond
@ owl,
No surprises there I suppose.
But…. no need to be concerned until September next year :)
@TelV,
> Do you know what Floorp’s support policy will be owl?
The official support site (GitHub) has been updated (04/06/23) in English.
https://github.com/Floorp-Projects/Floorp/releases/tag/v10.14.0 | Github.com/Floorp-Projects
About Floorp11
The second major update for Floorp, version 11, is coming soon.
Over three months in the making and testing, this update includes new features in the browser manager sidebar and a redesigned settings UX. New features such as tab groups have been added. It also upgrades Firefox ESR.
Some features will be removed, so we encourage you to keep an eye on the information as it becomes available. Stay up to date on Twitter and Misskey.
Twitter: @Floorp_Browser
https://twitter.com/Floorp_Browser
Misskey: @Floorp
https://misskey.io/@floorp
Floorp Browser,
User support (Japanese and English)
> In comments on the official ABlog blog
> https://github.com/Floorp-Projects/Floorp/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aall+
> https://support.ablaze.one/contact/
> https://aka.ablaze.one/discord
> https://twitter.com/ablaze_support
Not good news at all! :[
Despite the unfortunate news, I must commend Mozilla for extending our support by an additional year. I’ll keep using Windows 7 compatible forks though. No way I’m touching Windows 10 or 11.
It’s kind of unclear to me how safe it is to keep running W7 or outdated browsers for the matter, as good as the user experience is. Sure those things have CVEs but can they really be exploited?
Not really, most exploits to my knowledge, require the end user to be an absolute moron, or a specially crafted scenario which just doesn’t occur in the wild. I think maybe disable RDP if you’re really worried, a bunch of the CVEs seem to pertain to that.
Even If you’re not a absolute moron you still need to secure your firewall on your network/router and have a firewall on your computer. There is random chance of sniffers out looking for vulnerable targets. Even If you practice the best security measures in other ways you don’t want your machine with open holes accessing the internet.
Going further you need to block ads, this is unfortunate that it has become an absolute necessity, not just for privacy but more importantly it is for security. Use Ublock Origin. Setup PI-hole on your network. Start making exclusions for java script with something like umatrix. Scan files with virustotal.com. even though it’s not the best for privacy you probably keep safety check for downloads enabled.
Secondary layer is Sandboxie. Run apps that are potential attack vectors run inside a sand box will limit what they can do. You want Browers, Firefox, VLC, Steam, Epic running inside sandboxie. A more nerdy approach would be to run your web browser inside a virtual machine or surf the web with a “cloud web browser”.
When windows become deaded by microsoft. I personally stopped updating most of everything except Firefox and VLC. You don’t need to update if the apps are still perfectly functional on your outdated OS.
So, as a Windows 7 user : Firefox 113 (.0.2) now, 114 in June, 115 ESR in July, valid until September 2024.
Nice, except that when my OS will have been upgraded I’ll inevitably move from FF 115ESR to latest stable version and I’ll have to catch up with the new features (“updates include security and bug fixes only, and not new features, which Mozilla integrates into stable updates regularly.”) which is why I never was fond of ESR… until now. How many new features between FF115 and … FF130 will it be in September 2024?
We’ll manage, I might switch to another browser fully supporting Windows 7 beyond any schedule. I’m just not in the mood of leaving an OS I know, which runs perfectly well, nicely tweaked, no Microsoft tracking, no countless issues …. to a “modern” Microsoft OS, bloated, inquisitive, regularly facing issues, fixes, updates, issues, fixes …
At this time I run everything, no Website issues, all videos running flawlessly. I’m not a gamer so no idea about games. I just don’t need all the gadgets provided by Win10/11, those things are so heavy it’d take me weeks to remove all those darn native apps, games, find one or more good tweak applications to get the OS to shut up … another day perhaps, mañana. I’m not in quest of the latest, the fastest, only of what is basically resuired to perform basic operations on an OS, with a browser. Top-notch has never been my dream, computing is conceived here as a tool, not as a piece of worshiped electronics.
Nice to hear your thoughts on this, Tom. Although was disappointed to read the following, “when my OS will have been upgraded”, it is sad that the notion is even crossing your mind – but out of curiosity, what do you predict you might use in the future, if not Windows 7?
Also some comments regarding your last paragraph – Windows 7 has no issue with the huge plethora of games developed roughly ~2000-18 (give or take some years in either direction), 100% if they’re offline games, and your mileage may vary for online games due to the nature of online.
“Top-notch has never been my dream” seems like quite an insult to Windows 7, which is arguably the closest that Windows came to greatness, rest assured you have a better experience than W10/W11 users, lol.
I do agree about your utilitarian approach to computer usage – if more people thought like you, landfill would have a lot less decent tech thrown into it.
@basingstoke, truth is I had in mind “when my PC will have passed and/or I decide to buy a new one” when I mentioned the OS being upgraded, inevitably upgraded with a new PC :=)
> but out of curiosity, what do you predict you might use in the future, if not Windows 7?
That’s what I’m still wondering about. Younger I guess I’d adventure myself throughout the Linux ecosystem but far less motivated as years pass by. It’ll be the Windows OS included in the new PC (11 or 12, who knows, if the PC doesn’t fall apart before then), or an PC with Linux (I’d likely have to install Linux myself), or a Mac. Frankly : looks like I’ll decide because I’ll have no alternative than to decide when the PC will be unusable.
Nice to know that Windows 7 faces flawlessly yhe challenge of modern games.
By ‘top-notch’ I had in mind features rather than greatness. Factually I rely of what I read of latest Windows OSS, of users’ feedback and not on MY own experience regarding Win10/11 to consider — not that Win7 is the greatest, no idea — but that it fits my needs perfectly well and fulfills my requirements, which remain as i said those pertinent to basic features. Now, if Win7 remains the best even for power users then : great!
You, many others myself included just like Windows 7 and looks like we’ll be the tough ones to be moved to another OS environment. But one day or another we’ll definitely have to. Enjoying present times participates to happiness.
@ Tom Hawack.
As far as the OS is concerned you still have the option to use 0Patch I think: https://blog.0patch.com/
Whether that will satisfy Mozilla though remains to be seen.
Unfortunately, 0Patch decided not to support Win 8.1 which was a big disappointment for me and when September 2024 arrives I’ll be forced to switch to Windows 11. Linux isn’t an option either since Ubuntu is the only distro online banking will accept and I don’t like that.
I actually bought a Win 11 machine in November last year on the assumption that FF wouldn’t be supported either come January 2023, but Moz decided otherwise. So every month now it gets booted up and the latest updates get installed and then I put it back in its box again and revert to using Win 8.1 :D
To a certain extent you can avoid all Microsoft’s spyware on Windows 11 simply by never using Edge. I use Floorp for browsing which has a similar number of privacy enhancements to FF and have also installed MSEdgeRedirect, but to date it’s never been necessary to use it.
The biggest danger on the horizon now is Windows 12 since Microsoft has already stated that a Microsoft account will be required to login to it with. Maybe the EU Digital Markets Act might have something to say about that, but that can take months if not years to finalize.
I await the circumstances with some trepidation now….
@TelV,
0Patch for Windows 7? I’ve stopped updating Windows 7 several years before the OS was no longer supported by Microsoft the day I encountered a Win Update failure and after having spent quite some time to find the culprit, unsuccessfully. Never encountered the slightest problem nor even intrusion attempt.
Well, you have now Win 11 should it be used only as a sparing partner. I have in mind to buy a laptop equipped Win 11 and use it alongside the Win7 PC, which would have the advantage of starting Win11 slowly without being bothered with problems, those of my ignorance, those of my tweaks, those inherent to that OS.
> To a certain extent you can avoid all Microsoft’s spyware on Windows 11 simply by never using Edge.
To a certain extent, indeed. Post-extent includes the infamous user AdvertisementID as I’ve been told, quite a flow of connections to Microsoft servers, even without Edge.
In the Win11 environment I’d consider,
1- Installing the OS without a Microsoft account. Several guides here on Ghacks to (try to) achieve that, seems to be quite a challenge.
2- Several quality applications are available to get Win11 less talkative, more privacy respectful. I’d have to choose the best ones, many have been described here on Ghacks.
> The biggest danger on the horizon now is Windows 12 since Microsoft has already stated that a Microsoft account will be required to login to it with.
You see, that’s what is really, I mean REALLY counter-incentive with Microsoft, IMO anyway : more it goes more they tie their OSs with requirements which are NOT acceptable in my view, and if there is one requirement which defeats users’ privacy it is undoubtedly a Microsoft account tied to the OS.
If I can use now a Windows OS which is manageable in terms of privacy I use it : Windows 7
if I cannot, tomorrow, use a Windows OS which is no longer manageable in terms of privacy, I may either move on to Linux or settle in a cavern with Win7 as others with WinXP. But I will never accept privacy intrusions (especially from the OS itself) for the sake of a modern OS. Some of us accept it, not me. At my age I don’t give a damn, the whole cyber-digital-AI continuum is heavily getting on my nerves, I could very well shut the door and move to a quiet place free of technology, free of aiming Mars when Earth is declining, free of the whole goddamned modern sh1t. I don’t know, i’m sort of fed up as you can see.
We’ll see.
@ Tom Hawack,
No! Don’t capitulate just yet Tom!. How ro turn off the Advertisment ID: https://www.makeuseof.com/what-is-advertiser-id-windows-turn-off/
Also, it was quite easy to login with a local a/c during setup actually. I do have a Microsoft a/c which is just a Hotmail addy which I never use, but I didn’t use it when booting up Win 11 the first time. Even so, you can install MsEdgeRedirect which will divert use of Edge to whatever browser you choose to use. https://www.ghacks.net/2022/01/03/msedgeredirect-tool-to-redirect-microsoft-edge-links-has-been-updated/
Unfortunately for me though, having a Windows or an Apple computer of some sort or another is necessary in the Netherlands because in order to deal with anything government orientated such as filing your annual tax return for example you have to use a proprietary app called DigiD to login with. https://www.digid.nl/en
At the moment, you can still login to Digid with your username & password and receive the SMS six figure digit code on Android or iPhone, but plans are in the offing to require scanning your personal ID card together with your DigiD in order to login with in the not too distant future. It is possible on just a smartphone, but I don’t like doing anything financial on such a small screen and the only alternative is the jolly ‘ole Windows or MacOS system. DigiD doesn’t work with Linux in that respect..
So sooner or later I’ll have to install Windows 12 once support for Windows 11 expires and there doesn’t seem to be any way around that at the moment.
FED UP! Me Too! Take care, mate.
@TelV, thanks for your useful and positive comment. I won’t capitulate. Between what we say or express and what we actually do there may be a gap, for the worst… as for the best.
The MakeUseof article is interesting, as always on that Website.
I discover Netherlands’ DigID requirements. Nothing of the sort in France, fortunately, no centralized ID for government instances : username and password only. But here as practically everywhere I guess smartphones are increasingly becoming a natural component of relational/social/business/official communications.
We may — or not — get irritated, or even revolted, by certain aspects of modern life, by what is done of technology (rather than by technology itself), yet we get to manage I guess, at least for most of us. If capitulating is never a solution it should be as well in the face of privacy as it is regarding the following-up of modern technological imperatives.
@Tom Hawack
I had to buy a new laptop(budget one) some time ago because old one stopped working(hardware failure). It had Windows 11 installed but I didn’t encounter MS account requirement(maybe that’s a Lenovo thing). After playing with it, I disabled all telemetry, all MS apps including MS store. I used a program which has an article on Ghacks – https://www.ghacks.net/2023/03/27/first-oo-shutup10-update-of-2023-released/
End result is I have latest Windows, which is pointless, but it can run all sorts of software with good privacy settings. It is Windows 11 in name only but behaves like 7.
> I disabled all telemetry, all MS apps including MS store.
I use all of the below.
Adguard for Windows
https://adguard.com/kb/adguard-for-windows/overview/
simplewall
https://www.henrypp.org/product/simplewall
WPD
https://wpd.app/
OOSU10
https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10
Cleaning up history that accumulates in the registry, “shellbag_analyzer_cleaner”
https://privazer.com/en/download-shellbag-analyzer-shellbag-cleaner.php
“O&O App Buster” is also useful as a detection and removal tool for bloatware and Microsoft preinstalled apps including hidden software.
https://www.oo-software.com/en/ooappbuster
@owl
Thanks for sharing that, it certainly is helpful.
Some good points, to be fair. However I would say my “disease” is a few steps more advanced than yours. If I ever have a PC break I would much rather replace any component on it (be it CPU, motherboard, RAM, HDD, you name it) than chuck it away in place for buying another one. With this kind of attitude, I think it will be quite difficult for me to be “claimed” by a newer OS that I don’t favour.
I am presently using tech from 2009-2012, the one from 2012 is an ivy bridge gaming PC that really smashes everything out of the park – but if you take into account that the latest PCs Windows 7 will run on without issue are in 2016-18, you can imagine it’s possible to acquire some really powerful hardware that will run Windows 7.
For me it’s not just about looks, or feel, it’s trying to hold onto a piece of a different, less jaded, more optimistic, era. I have looked at the alternatives, and as things stand, I simply don’t like them.
I wouldn’t mind having a seperate PC with a “passable” Linux distribution, if the time comes where Windows 7 is not enough (I already do, I am just not reliant on it).
I look at awe at the people still using XP, for example, those are some principalled (or highly stubborn) people, and I think with time Windows 7 users might start falling into the same category – even if just for the sake of the knowledge not being lost to time, each major OS should have it’s fans and hobbyists, who are happy and enjoy using it, I don’t mind being such a person!
I just think of the the people that made the software, it is stable, reliable, often very intuitive – I truly don’t need 99% of “modern” features, why should older, albeit fully functional software and workflows be thrown to the wayside? Why should all that effort be discarded? Comparatively, a lot of products coded nowadays are buggier than they should be, as everyone is taking lead from Microsoft, thinking that it’s OK to release unfinished/unpolished products, and patch them later.
I totally understand the other side of it, I am not leaving “present times” behind, and if there comes a time when W7 is completely at odds with the “present times”, I’ll hopefully have setup and tweaked another OS to my liking by then.
I’ve been trying Linux Mint in a VM for a while. Getting used to it takes some time. One advantaged that Linux has is ‘GPU pass through’. With this you run Windows 10 in a guest machine on a Linux host and actually play games on there. I also have a dual boot of Windows and Linux Mint on separate physical disks and pick boot loader from bios to avoid conflicts.
Haven’t updated Firefox since 2015 on my Win-7Pro except for a few tweak’s Martin recommended in ‘about:config’ and it works “Fast” in my low data environment.
On the average the best ‘Telecom’ data speed I can pull out of thin air is 75-KB’s; And when everyone’s internet goes down in the area, I’m still able to run pretty fast at 10-to-30KB’s (with no media elements or video) >
But, I can still easily access everything else, including direct live radio feeds at 3KB’s and recorded shows at 10-to-30-KB’s.
When the internet is down locally, I can quickly connect to a 2G or 3G radio signal within a 50 mile circumference.
The combination of FF51 with a secured-locked-down win7-Pro is perfect for people who reside in backwoods areas with extremely bad internet connections.
Downloading blocklist’s (now done daily) are no problem when done in the early AM.
I’ll continue to use this proven ‘un-googled’ system ‘forever’
Thanks for Reading 11r20 from TX
Back to Pale Moon as default browser – despite it crashing once per session and the fact that some websites won’t allow anything but “modern” browsers. I have a WIN 10 laptop I can resort to when absolutely necessary.
I predict that Firefox versions > 115 will be forced to work, like chrome 115 work on Windows 7.
With the latest Pale Moon version 32.2 there’s a massive overhaul in WebComponents and several other rendering issues and so nearly all sites just work.
I haven’t seen daily crashes anytime in the last few years. Make sure you try it with a clean new profile – those profiles sometimes get corrupted over time.
@Andy – don’t encourage them, we will have a rash of Chromezilla mouth-breathers on the forum again who refuse to search first or follow instructions when asking for help.
Mozilla fanboys can go intercourse themselves or switch to a Chrome browser, especially the proctal orifice here calling itself ‘Anonymous’.
Another Male Poon user… lmao
Pale Moon has a way better mentality and ideology than sell-out Mozilla.
Mozilla is dedicated to activist politics, they are a sell-out and love to imitate Chrome. So, lol towards Firefox and Mozilla usage.
Actually even Vivaldi and Brave or Edge are more honest towards their own user base than Mozilla which fully abandoned power users at the start of version 57.
Using Firefox is nothing of which one can or should be proud at all.
I agree with you, they do have their agenda. But then so does Google and Microsoft. Can’t really get away from that these days but I just use the Firefox browser cuz I always have alway used FF. I’m not giving them any big donation. They didn’t/don’t really care what the community says/wants, but again the same applies for the other bigger players. I do wish there were more choices. Years ago, I used K-Meleon as it was much faster for me back in dial up days. I don’t care for Waterfox especially after selling it off to an ad company. I don’t trust them either. Alex, from Waterfox, gets as easily triggered as the nasty guy that was in charge of Palemoon development back in the day. I’d use it WF over Palemoon though and it would be nice if they kept on supporting Win 7 and 8.1 for some time past the FF deadline. Cheers
@Sajadi so much buzzwords. Stay triggered.
Not triggered, but manner-less insulting Progressives have to be called out. And Mozilla and a large part of their remaining user base are exactly that.
You are not different.
Dang… well Sept 2024 is a whole lot better than nothing… really worried about what to do after that… I predict 1-2+ years of stable use after end of updates before eventual (maybe serious) degradation kicks in – judging by how I have a PC with like chrome 70 and “most” things work apart from the websites that try to do “smart” or fancy stuff.
There’s got to be a way to virtualise/passthrough a browser through something like a Linux VM – but that’s wacky stuff.
I feel like the more it becomes a problem, the more people are gonna find innovative solutions, so part of me is waiting for that.
Solidarity, W7 users! We will persevere!
Mozilla has too much Google chromium code – Mozilla can’t make it go forward in a non-Google direction for any lengthy period of time.
For real freedom of choice, old Windows version users would need to use an independently developed browser with its own engine, like Pale Moon with its Goanna engine, or Netsurf. I think SeaMonkey will continue to work for awhile, but they are developing in the direction of more chromium compatibility, so it may stop working sooner. I think Waterfox will try to stay compatible with older versions of Windows, but they are strictly tied to Firefox source code, and so will likely have a hard time of it.
“Mozilla has too much Google chromium code”
What ? Are you sure you don’t mean instead that Mozilla has too much Google DNA ? Firefox is not Chromium based.
Suggest unironically Male Poon lmao
@Anonymous Btw. being spiteful against other browser projects is pointless, especially if your own is more like either Progressivezilla Bidenfox or Activistzilla Pronounsfox :D
Suggesting unironically sell-out Mozilla Chrome imitation ware
@Sajadi are you triggered my dear? Lmaooo
@Anonymous Character- and moral-less Progressive Mozilla – so are their anonymous afraid and intimidated users :D
I also suggested Netsurf, Seamonkey and Waterfox. Try one, see if you like it.
Netsurf has an incomplete javascript engine, so a lot of sites will not render. But I use it and like it for simple websites. It’s extremely lightweight.
Seamonkey is very good, and I also use it some. It should continue to work on older Windows versions as long as the developers want to keep it working. Most of its extensions are unmaintained from very old Firefox versions – the extensions part is kind of hit or miss with Seamonkey.
Waterfox is fantastic, but it is tied to current Firefox source code. The developer did create a Waterfox Classic version some years ago to work with older operating systems, so maybe he will be able to figure out a similar Waterfox Classic which will continue to work with Windows 7, 8, and 8.1.
@Anonymous
This guy is literally shitting all over Chromium’s security while using Pale Moon. It doesn’t get more ironic than that.
“This guy is literally shitting all over Chromium’s security while using Pale Moon. It doesn’t get more ironic than that.”
Let’s say both of you are wrong. The first for blaming Chromium-based browsers on (corporate-defined) security rather than for being the corporate spyware fest they are for most of them (Chrome, Edge, Brave…). The second for blaming Pale Moon on security, not only instead of more pressing privacy issues remaining from the browser it’s based on, but worse, while being a blind apologist of the Brave militant adware.
@Anonymous
> spyware fest they are for most of them (Chrome, Edge, Brave…)
> Brave militant adware
I suppose you sound impartial here, alright… LOL. Prove to me that Brave is spyware, it’s local ad matching algorithm and optional ads is not, in any way, proof of it.
>”Prove to me that Brave is spyware, it’s local ad matching algorithm and optional ads is not, in any way, proof of it.”
Because the anonymous poster said so. How much more proof do you need than that?
I should stop responding to all anonymous posts or even reading them. I’m trying to recall the last time one of them did anything but troll, but I’m having a hard time remembering any positive contributions.