Let’s face it, you probably don’t have an IT Department at your church…yet you probably rely on technology. And by technology, more specifically, you probably use the Windows Operating System.

Well, January 14, 2020 was Windows 7’s “End-of-Life” date. An interesting fact to note is that Windows 7 is over a decade old, launched July 22, 2009.

What does “End-of-Life” mean?

This means that Windows 7 is no longer supported by Microsoft. You will no longer receive technical assistance, software patches and security updates from Microsoft, unless you want to pay extra. However, your PC will continue to operate. But, just because your PC will continue to operate doesn’t mean that it’s a good idea to continue to use it.

Simply stated, if a new security vulnerability or software bug is uncovered in Windows 7 – Microsoft no longer has to release patches to fix the issue. (And you should be running Windows Update and patching your systems monthly.) And there will likely be many vulnerabilities uncovered as attackers knowing that Windows 7 won’t be patched, will look for ways to attack it. This puts your church at increased risk from cyberattacks, hacking, malware, and other malicious acts.

I cannot state how important that it is to move off of Windows 7 now.

Continuing to use Windows 7 puts any data/sensitive data that you have stored on that system at risk. There are lots of threats out there. For instance, ransomware encrypts all of the files on your computer making it impossible to access them without paying a ransom… and having a system with vulnerabilities increases odds of getting infected with it. (In simplified terms, think of a vulnerability as a weakness that can be attacked. Then think of a virus or malware as the attack. Patches block the weakness from being able to be attacked.) Ransomware infections have actually been known to put companies out of business!

What do I need to do?

The recommended action to take is to upgrade from Windows 7 to a newer operating system. For many, the simplest option is to upgrade to Windows 10. Benefits of upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 10 include both operating systems being made by Microsoft meaning the upgrade process is relatively straight-forward. Most programs you use will have been updated to work on Windows 10 as well. And the layout and interface are relatively similar to Windows 10, which will help with adjusting.

While the upgrade to Windows 10 is generally the easiest path, there are some things to keep in mind. To upgrade, you’ll need to buy a license and this has a cost. If you have five PCs, you’ll need five licenses.

Also, depending on the age of your hardware, you will have to make sure that it will support Windows 10. If your hardware doesn’t meet the specs, you won’t be able to upgrade to Windows 10. Even if your machine barely meets the minimum specs, it probably isn’t a good idea to upgrade as your PC won’t run well.

Typically I see sites recommend at least a 2GHz dual-core processor, 4 GB of RAM (8 GB ideally) and a 160 GB hard drive for Windows 10 to run well. At the point where you don’t meet these specs, you can consider upgrading your hardware (RAM/Hard Drive) or just buying a new PC.

Also, you may run into some software, and in particular, older software that won’t work on Windows 10. If you run into this, you’d need to look into upgrading the software or replacing it with more modern software. You’d likely need to work with the software vendor’s support at this point, too.

One other thing I want to point out is that Microsoft makes an operating system called Windows 8. You may be tempted to save money by upgrading to that, but don’t. It won’t be too long before Windows 8 enters the “End-of-Life” stage!

Final Thoughts

Hopefully, I have laid out a compelling case for you to stop using Windows 7 and upgrade to a newer operating system.

I’ve stated some of the basic considerations for this task, but if some of the terms that I’ve stated in this article look like a foreign language to you, you may want to have a computer professional help you assess the situation. They will know the intricacies of an upgrade, such as backing up important files prior to the upgrade. They will be able to survey your environment and determine if you should upgrade or just buy new computers.