The end of support for Windows 7 is now roughly a month away, and Microsoft really wants you to know that it’s time for an upgrade. While the company already has been pushing out a courtesy reminder to Windows 7 PCs, Microsoft will soon be a bit more aggressive. It will start sending out a full-screen pop-up warning Windows 7 users about the end of support of the operating system in January 2020.
Word on this new notification was first mentioned in the changelogs for the monthly updates for Windows 7, code-named KB4530734. According to Microsoft, starting on January 15, 2020, a full-screen notification will appear in Windows 7 that describes the risk of continuing to use Windows 7 Service Pack 1 after it reaches the end of support on January 14, 2020. The notification will also be temporarily in the way of the user and will remain onscreen until it is dismissed. It will show up on in most editions of Windows 7, including Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, and Ultimate.
The pop-up also shows some options to dismiss the message, remind later, or learn more and don’t remind again, according to The Verge. However, if business and enterprise users purchased the Extended Security Update under the Cloud Solution Partner (CSP) program, they will not be seeing the prompts at all.
This full-screen pop-up might come across as annoying for some Windows 7 users, but there is a good reason behind it. Running an operating system that is no longer supported major downfalls as you won’t be able to get the latest security patches or updates to stay protected from viruses.
However, if you’re still running Windows 7 on your PC or laptop come January 2020, you do have a few options. As we pointed out, although Microsoft ended the free upgrade path to Windows 10, it is still technically possible to get or upgrade to the newer operating system for free. You also can go out and purchase a new PC or laptop, many of which are likely to be more modern, and likely have better specs than your current device. Of course, if you do so, you always can tweak Windows 10 to make it look just like Windows 7, so you’ll feel right at home.