Windows 7, c’mon, it’s time to move on

There are still some folks on Windows 7. I know I’ve written about this before, but last weekend I spent trying to recover data from a Windows 7 computer and copy it to a new Windows 10 computer. Having good backups is great, but most folks don’t have them. Also, sometimes backups get deleted or they fail and you might now know. It’s not just Windows 7 that’s the issue, but the supporting programs as well.
​
In this case, it was Windows Live Mail. For some reason, that crashed. The person then did a no-no and looked up a repair person on the internet and let them on his system. The person not only didn’t fix the problem, or recover any data, but he sold some software that likely was spyware, definitely unnecessary, and he was on his computer a couple of hours. That’s a long time, in fact, plenty of time to copy all sorts of stuff off, and load all sorts of stuff on.

When I got the system, I also was unable to repair Live Mail. What infuriated me was all the restore points were gone, likely deleted by the on-line ‘help’. I spent hours trying to find workarounds, and ways to recover the email and contacts, but what most things were suggesting wasn’t possible. The best way was to open Live Mail and export. That was the problem though, it wouldn’t open. None of the Windows Live programs were opening, and the repair program for them wouldn’t complete.

So, finally, I had to move on. I setup the new computer, moved all the data I could copy to the new system and installed some programs. Now, 20 years ago we used Cybermesa. They were great. I don’t mean to bash them, but they haven’t changed in 20 years, while the world has, and quite dramatically. They also never responded to my email or my calls, so I guess they have changed that way.

Modern mail clients are pretty easy to setup and conform to some standards, unlike Cybermesa. I do not recommend Cybermesa for email. There are all kinds of places that provide better email services, like Google, Apple, and Microsoft, all free. If anything, forward your Cybermesa mail to one of them, and then download it to a client. Or better yet, just use Gmail and keep it on Google’s servers. Okay, that makes my life easier, but it may also make yours easier too.

Windows Live Essentials was discontinued years ago. Internet Explorer was discontinued and is not secure. Many programs on Windows XP and 7 are just not supported any longer and shouldn’t be used if connected to the internet. Financial Institutions in particular are quite picky about the browser you are using to access their site, but so are other businesses. Windows XP and 7 were great, but it’s past time to move on. Vista is also discontinued as is 8/8.1*. Windows 10 has been around for over 5 years now, it’s really time to get on board.

The caveat is the same as always, if you have great hardware or software that only runs on your XP or 7 computer, then by all means, keep using it. DO NOT CONNECT to the internet with it. So, no banking, no shopping, no emailing, no surfing, etc. Make sure it’s disconnected from the internet.
 
(*Sid, yes 2023 for extended)

---