[NFBCS] Windows 7 Support Has Ended As Of January 14, 2020

[Dr Denise M Robinson]

Excellent information as always Curtis. Thanks

Sent from Dr Denise M Robinson 

> On Feb 17, 2020, at 4:59 PM, Curtis Chong via NFBCS <nfbcs at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Windows 7
> Support Ended After January 14, 2020
> 
> By Curtis Chong
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Windows 7 has been around for about a decade, and for people who are not in
> the habit of regularly buying new computers, this operating system has
> served them well. For many blind computer users, Windows 7 became the gold
> standard of operating systems.  Because of the stability of this operating
> system, some folks allowed their service maintenance agreements for JAWS
> and/or ZoomText to expire, figuring that everything was working fine and
> hence not in need of any updates. Many of us have read the Microsoft
> announcement declaring that support for Windows 7 ended as of January 14
> <https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4057281/windows-7-support-ended-on
> -january-14-2020> , 2020. What does this mean for Windows 7 users?
> 
> 
> 
> First, while computers running Windows 7 will continue to work, Microsoft is
> no longer sending out any security or other updates. Using a good antivirus
> program (I'm not talking about the free ones) can reduce your computer's
> vulnerability to security threats, but if your system is actually
> compromised, I can guarantee that you will eventually not be able to get any
> help at all to recover from the attack.
> 
> 
> 
> Secondly, Microsoft customer service is no longer available for Windows 7
> technical support. This means that you will not be able to get any telephone
> help at all from Microsoft for Windows 7-not even from the Microsoft
> Disability Answer Desk.
> 
> 
> 
> Finally, technical support for screen reading and magnification software
> will become less and less available as technical support personnel
> necessarily focus most of their attention on current versions of programs
> like JAWS and/or ZoomText. There will come a time when Freedom Scientific,
> the company which sells these two programs, will announce that the next
> version of JAWS and/or ZoomText will no longer work with Windows 7.
> 
> 
> 
> What should a Windows 7 user do? Here are my suggestions.
> 
> 
> 
> 1.         Buy a new computer.
> 
> While it is certainly possible in some cases to upgrade your existing
> computer to Windows 10, experience has shown that upgrading an existing
> Windows 7 computer to Windows 10 creates enough problems that the upgrade is
> hardly worth the effort. A brand new computer with a clean installation of
> Windows 10 will give you a much cleaner (and more stable) operating system.
> For around $500, you can get a respectable laptop computer with a
> decent-sized keyboard and a good amount of memory and disk storage.
> 
> 
> 
> 2.         Update your screen reading or screen enlargement program.
> 
> It is essential that your screen reading or enlargement software is current.
> Windows 10 has been around for a few years now, but it is continually being
> updated-with a major update coming about once every six months. Screen
> reading and enlargement software has to be kept up to date to deal with the
> sometimes significant changes which Microsoft continues to introduce every
> time a major update is released. If you have allowed your service
> maintenance agreement to lapse, you are likely going to have to pay a few
> hundred dollars to bring your access technology up to date. Fortunately, for
> users of JAWS, ZoomText, and Fusion, Freedom Scientific now offers home
> annual licenses
> <https://store.freedomscientific.com/collections/software-for-home> .
> Instead of paying, say, $300 to bring your software up to date, you can pay
> an annual fee of $90 (for JAWS), $80 (for ZoomText) or $160 (for Fusion,
> which includes both JAWS and ZoomText) by acquiring the appropriate home
> annual license from the Freedom Scientific eStore, located at
> https://store.freedomscientific.com.
> 
> 
> 
> The good news for long-time users of Windows 7 is that Windows 10 continues
> to offer the same keyboard commands and Windows Desktop which Windows 7
> users know. In other words, once you move to Windows 10, you will hardly
> notice the difference between what is happening on your new system and what
> used to happen on your old equipment-with the possible exception that
> everything will seem to run a lot more quickly.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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