January 14th, 2020 is the date when Microsoft has announced it will end ongoing support for Windows 7. This may not seem like an important matter to many business owners, but if you are part of the 38% of small and medium businesses (SMB) who still use the Windows 7 operating system, you can be exposed to costly software crashes and dangerous data theft.
The best bet to mitigate the situation is to upgrade to Windows 10 as quickly as possible. However, if for whatever reason that is not possible, Microsoft is making offering Extended Security Updates (ESU) to SMBs for a fee.
Here is a quick rundown of what Extended Security Updates are and how they can help protect you while you work towards upgrading your Windows 7 PCs to Windows 10.
What are Windows 7 Extended Security Updates?
Windows 7 Extended Security Updates (ESU’s) are a series of software patches and security updates that will be made available to businesses who still operate on Windows 7.
While these updates are useful for preserving systems and protecting them against hacking attempts, these updates are temporary stop-gap solutions for businesses who have yet to make the transition to Windows 10.
How Do They Work?
Just like with Windows XP where Microsoft released intermittent software updates as late as 5 years after the system expired, Microsoft will be releasing scheduled updates upto January 2023. Each update will contain the latest protections and software patches as new bugs are discovered and new malware threats arise.
Prices for these services will be on a “per device” basis and will be tiered depending on which version of Windows 7 you use.
The prices increase in years two and three.
How Can You Purchase Them?
Because of how valuable these updates are and how much effort Microsoft has to put into maintaining them, these extended security updates will only be available to businesses and can only be purchased through qualified Cloud Solution Provider partners.
Fortunately for our clients, MicroAge is a qualified Cloud Solution Provider with Microsoft and can provide these products. If your business runs on Windows 7 and you would like to keep your operations safe and competitive while you work towards upgrading to Windows 10.
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