Is it practical and safe to stick with Windows 7?

My question arises due to the time it's taking me, as a non-expert user, to get W10 up and running following upgrade from Windows 7. I still have issues that will take even more time to sort and it's not as if I'm enjoying the process. For me, the PC is a work tool rather than an interest and I would prefer not to spend (waste?) this much time on it. So, should I stick with W7? It works flawlessly for me and has taken little of my time in terms of maintenance over the past few years.

We're constantly told that it's a risk to run an unsupported operating system so I didn't really consider this option until earlier this week when helping a friend prepare his PC for an upgrade from W7 to W10 - and discovered something quite surprising. His Windows Update app was set to automatic update yet it was not working. He had over 50 updates outstanding, mostly critical. The last Windows update installed on his machine was 3.5 years ago - yes, three and a half years! And the PC is still working just fine - it's as quick and responsive as ever and he has not suffered any noticeable problems. Make me think. Any views on this?

I would not stay with 7. I would install 10 clean.

Not only is 7 now unsupported, but developers won't keep making software and hardware with 7 support. It might work, but if it doesn't you won't get support.

TechnoMage said:

(snip)

Do you trash your old car, every time a new one hits the market? I drove my last car for seven years, before I even thought about trading it off for a new one. After seven months, I'm still learning how to run the dang (new) thing!

(snip)

Only 7 years? How profligate.

Cars don't usually receive, or need security updates. (There was a firmware update for some Chrysler products a few years ago, as they were hackable through a wireless interface.)

I have a friend who has been running 7 for years. She has a number of updates pending that always fail, so I'm not sure what kind of condition it's in. I dread upgrading to 10, if it's even possible. (Not a hardware issue. I'm not optimistic that 10 will upgrade over the mess.)

When it was announced that 10 would pretty much make updates mandatory, I worried. While it'd be nice to have the Win10 universe all running the latest version with all patches, the likelihood of a problem with every update is high enough that there would be a lot of issues, especially for people who regard a PC as an appliance. I haven't seen any statistics on how that has played out.

If you get a third party virus protection security is not a problem

TechnoMage said:

Yes, for the time being, at least, staying with Windows 7, is totally practical. Why not?

Do you trash your old car, every time a new one hits the market? I drove my last car for seven years, before I even thought about trading it off for a new one. After seven months, I'm still learning how to run the dang (new) thing!

The learning curve for Windows 10, is likewise long and tedious. After installing Win-10 several dozen times, I'm just starting to learn how to properly set it up, to close the security loopholes, (WUDO and Cortana) and make it operate in a manner familiar to Win-7 users.
I'm a computer tech, of forty years, and it still takes me several hours to install Win-10 and properly set it up, tweak and tune it, for safe, secure and Operator Friendly operation.
How the non-techie person would ever do that is beyond my comprehension. Is there a "Windows 10 for Dummies" book?

Cheers mates!
TechnoMage

Hi there

@TechnoMage

One thing on New cars I still haven't yet got easily to grips with are those wretched electronuc Handbrake controls.

On a Hill I am still looking for the old fashioned mechanical handbrake !!!! Also what happens if Battery fails -- the old cable system at least always ensured even if electronics totally dead the handbrake would still work.

Bad Move Volvo / BMW / Mercedes and all the new electric cars !!! Bring back the old fasioned Hand Brake mechanical control for this.

Cheers
jimbo

Is it practical and safe to stick with Windows 7?

Thanks for your opinions. I thought my idea would be sacrilege to your ears and that I'd get 'shouted down' for suggesting such a thing on a W10 forum. Seems sticking with W7, at least for a few years, may not be such a bad idea.

Apart from a few (minor?) things not working properly, W10 is up and running OK on my PC, however, I can't help but feel that W10 is just a re-badged, and in certain areas, partially disabled, version of W7 with a little top dressing to make it look 'nicer' to folks who care about such things. I say this as a basic user whose most adventurous operations have been HDD re-formatting and setting up a QNAP NAS (with it's user hostile 'operating system/user interface').

EDIT: I run a 26 year old Japanese car that runs perfectly so change for the sake of it is not on my agenda.