Are you looking for a new Windows PC, but don’t want to get into Windows 8? Well, you’re out of luck if you were hoping to find a copy of Windows 7 through retail as Microsoft stopped selling individual copies of the operating system back in October. Now your only choice is to buy a PC that comes with the OS.
ZDNet reminds us today that Windows 7 is still alive and well in PCs sold by OEMs and retailers. In other words, one of the only ways to get your hands on a copy of Windows 7 these days is to buy an entirely new PC that has the OS pre-installed.
While Microsoft may have stopped selling Windows 7 discs at its own retail locations and in stores, you can still find copies of it at online specialty stores, like Newegg. If you’re in the market for a new PC, you might just want to go with that as copies of Windows 7 are still exorbitantly expensive.
If you do manage to get your hands on Windows 7, you’ll be happy to know that it has years of official support from Microsoft left in it. According to the Windows lifecycle Web site, Microsoft will continue mainstream support of Windows 7 through January 13, 2015. After that, security fixes will still come to Windows 7 through extended support until January 14, 2020.
Speaking of extended support, those who are still rockin’ Windows XP will want to upgrade soon as extended support for the decade old operating system is set to end on April 8, 2014. It’s already been pushed back a few times now, but it looks like Microsoft is finally ready to sever its ties with XP. You’ll want to upgrade to Windows 7 or Windows 8 before that happens.
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