Pour one out for Home windows 7, the 13-year-old working system that’s not receiving any safety updates. It appears, nonetheless, that Microsoft has left one massive goodbye current for security-conscious customers.
Home windows 7 technically reached the tip of the road on January 14, 2020, however these in enterprise and training might get Prolonged Safety Updates via at the moment. It actually looks like that is the time for most individuals to improve — however for individuals who do not, Neowin studies that Microsoft has added UEFI and Safe Boot to the vintage OS.
Safe boot (opens in new tab) makes use of PC firmware to examine that every one software program and firmware drivers used at boot are correctly signed by the OEM and producer. It is fairly late for a function like this to point out up within the OS, but it surely may very well be a good final gasp for organizations that refuse to replace to Home windows 10 or 11.
Neowin first noticed the function on the Chinese language-language CSDN boards. Some individuals have had some points enabling UEFI and Safe Boot, and it appears they obtained caught on the startup emblem because of sure show drivers that want updating.
Tom’s {Hardware} has reached out to Microsoft for extra data on the reported replace, however we’ve got but to obtain a response.
Home windows 11 requires a PC be safe boot enabled for those who’re upgrading from Home windows 10, and most OEM PCs include it arrange.
For these of you stubbornly holding onto Home windows 7, it’ll proceed to work — however you’ll not get any patches for brand spanking new or present vulnerabilities. Home windows 8.1, which nobody will actually miss, additionally hits the tip of assist at the moment (opens in new tab) (and, not like Home windows 7, is not going to be getting an Prolonged Safety Replace program).
It is unclear what number of of Home windows’ 1.5 billion customers are presently on Home windows 7 or 8.1. However for those who occur to be on one, it is in all probability time to replace to Home windows 10 or 11, for security’s sake.