Certain Windows 7 users can enjoy one more year of support from Microsoft

UPDATE: Microsoft’s extension period offer ended on 31 December 2019 and Windows 7 will stop being supported from 14 January 2020.

You can read more about what the end of life of Windows 7 means here, and learn how to upgrade to Windows 10 here.

Original article continues below

Some Windows 7 users will be able to continue enjoying Microsoft’s full support for an extra year, according to an official company FAQ. Anyone still struggling along on specific business versions of Windows 7 will receive one more year of free security updates, despite Microsoft’s plans to lay the outdated operating system to rest. 

“Starting June 1st,” the FAQ reads, “EA (Enterprise Agreement) and EAS (Enterprise Agreement Subscription) customers with active subscription licenses to Windows 10 Enterprise E5, Microsoft 365 E5, or Microsoft 365 E5 Security (as of December 31, 2019) will get Windows 7 Extended Security Updates for Year 1 as a benefit.”

The extra year’s worth of updates is directly targeted at businesses: the Windows packages listed above are designed for organisations which require 500 or more subscriptions. The idea, Microsoft explains, is to help these businesses prepare for the inevitable pulling of the plug, allowing them more time to switch to the latest version of Windows before Windows 7 bites the dust.

The first year of support is free for qualifying businesses. Once the year is up, however, Microsoft says qualifying users and others can continue to purchase security updates. 

Described by Microsoft as a promotion of sorts, businesses hoping to take advantage of the offer need simply to have purchased one of the above Microsoft Enterprise packages on or before 31 December 2019. Although frankly, no-one should be buying Windows 7 in 2019. 

READ NEXT: Windows 10 review

If you don’t qualify for this year-long grace period, don’t panic: you can still apply for continued support, but it could set you back up to $200/yr for every subscription you own. 

Windows 7 is due to ascend to the great big computer in the sky on 14 January 2020, with Microsoft Office 2010 following it on 13 October.