This is terrible and dangerous advice from my POV as an IT guy. People who are careless like this don’t even notice when they’ve got intruded because all measures to detect it have been disabled. We’ve come a long way from viruses that announce their presence with cute graphics or messages in the 90s to complex vectors of intrusion that all do their best to hide their tracks. So my advice: keep your OS updated and patched, run a decent antivirus (the integrated Windows Defender suffices) and keep your data backed up. Ideally, run an ad and a script blocker on your browser, especially if you often frequent “XXX stuff”.
Windows 8 is basically Windows 7 under the hood with Microsoft’s new tablet style user interface on top of it. The idea was to create a “shared” environment for users of Microsoft desktops and Microsoft tablets. So i will admit that you can make a valid argument that Windows 7 is the last true desktop OS for Windows and is therefore “better” than Windows 8.
But it’s not useful advice for someone who is using Windows 8 and is happy with it.
Your son-in-law should not even work in IT, let alone run an IT department if he is giving out advice like this. This is really bad advice.
A lot of anti-virus software will not run on Windows 7 even though under the hood it’s not much different than Windows 8 simply because the anti-virus does a version check and refuses to run. If you can’t get a functional anti-virus for Windows 7 then you shouldn’t be using it for internet stuff.
This does not protect you at all from most internet threats, and does not at all create a “secure” machine.
I can’t say this is what is happening with you, but I encountered several computers that would run Windows 7 fine, but would crash and blue screen constantly under Windows 10. They were Micro Center store brand systems, but had motherboards from one of the major manufacturers (Asus, Gigabyte, etc, I don’t remember which).
Searching online showed it was a known problem, with no solution, as it would supposedly require a BIOS update, and the manufacturer didn’t care about a bargain basement motherboard from 5+ years ago, so no BIOS update was coming.
The computers ran Windows 7 perfectly, except as discussed here, no security updates. They also ran modern versions of Linux perfectly. I told the group I was setting them up for that their choices were Linux or landfill.
I suspect it was a semi-scam donation. The person who gave the non-profit group the computes likely knew they could only run 7, so donated them, took the tax break, and stuck the non-profit with paying to dispose of them. Except knowing the people who were at the non-profit after I stopped helping them, the computers probably ended up in a dumpster.
Back on topic. The answer to the question in the topic title is, yes, you do need to upgrade from Windows 8. How exactly you do that is a different discussion.
Is there a special way, or do you mean I should choose Windows 10 rather than 11? (I’m pretty sure my PC could handle Win11)
I mean that there are lots of choices to get off Windows 8. Upgrading to 10 or 11, buying a new computer, Mac, Linux, ChromeOS Flex, hardware upgrades along with software upgrades, etc. If your computer meets the Microsoft requirements for Windows 11, then skipping 10 and going straight to 11 is probably the best option. Otherwise you’ll be doing this all again in a 2.5 years.
Many of the differences between 10 and 11 are arbitrary, such as the default start menu position being in the center instead of the left. Other changes are less appetizing, such as even more ads and tracking.
I suspect your computer does not meet all of the Windows 11 requirements if it is from the Windows 8 era. Even if it is just the CPU being too old. It probably will still run Windows 11 fine, but you’ll have to search for exactly what is necessary to make Windows 11 install on a non-compliant computer. I also recently read an article that non-compliant computers will get a watermark on the desktop.
I’m also a retired IT professional. I’m not going to offer advice, just relate my own approach to things. I would, however, endorse the general idea for most users of staying reasonably current in the OS you run because you’re going to have to upgrade sooner or later anyway.
My own approach, however, has been to stay with the older OS as long as possible for reasons of familiarity and, most importantly, compatibility. I stayed with Windows XP long after its end of support, and eventually migrated to Windows 7 when XP just became non-viable, specifically because of outdated root security certificates, lack of support for .NET framework versions necessary for applications I needed, and probably other things I’ve forgotten. My migration to Windows 7 was greatly facilitated by my “sandbox” laptop on which I developed and tested innumerable fixes to my old XP apps that simply would not work on Windows 7.
I love Windows 7. As always, when Microsoft screws up with total lemons like Vista, it releases an “apology” version that is a great improvement in both the user experience and in more efficient resource usage. Windows 7 is just such a release. So far I’ve had no issues at all due to lack of support, although major browsers are either planning to drop support for it or have already done so, and that will eventually be a problem. As for security, I’m confident that a combination of safe practices and an enterprise-grade anti-virus is keeping me safe. YMMV – this is my practice for my purposes and is not intended as advice.
You can still get a free upgrade to Win 10, maybe. Yes, you can still get a free Windows 10 upgrade. Here's how | ZDNET
I have two tablets with Win 8.1. One is upgraded to Win 10, the other wouldn’t allow it.
The difference may be retail vs OEM versions of the older OS. When my son built has latest new computer a couple of years ago, we downloaded Windows 10 from the official Microsoft site and I gave him one of my unused Windows 7 Professional retail keys* to activate it, and it worked.
* From back in the days when ACM members had virtually unlimited access to Microsoft software.
I forgot about an ASUS transformer and another laptop that I had and upgraded to Win 10. All were OEM. I think the tablet that failed doesn’t have enough space, only 32GB storage. I’m going to try and wipe it and try again. If it still doesn’t work, I’ll install some type of Linux.
There was this one lady I follow who has a Windows 10 device with only 32GB, but it came that way. This uses special compression to fit all of Windows. And, even then, it couldn’t actually handle feature updates, due to not having enough leftover space for them. Eventually Microsoft enabled storing the updates on external storage, which alleviated the issue.
Based on that, a fresh install is probably your best bet in getting it to work. Along with maybe throwing in some external storage it might use for temporary stuff.
Also, I believe it ran the 32-bit version of Windows 10, though I could be mistaken.
I’ve got W10 or probably W11 and it installed the latest update today, from 12:40 PM to 7:30 PM. I should have clicked on the overnight option.
Then again, eventually your anti-virus vendor or will EOL their offering for W-7. It is an annoying constant wheel of pain.
I remember a conversation years ago with an ex-Microsoft software engineer, who joked about his time at MS as being a matter of “working out ways of using tiles to make peoples lives miserable”.
That’s very true. In fact, the enterprise AV I was running stopped getting virus signature updates a while ago, so I had to appeal to the organization I used to be affiliated with for an update. The updated one runs fine on Windows 7 and receives both daily virus signature updates and functional updates. But that, inevitably, will end at some point.
The key take-aways here I think are the following:
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Most users should stay reasonably current in the OS they’re running, preferably one that is still fully supported, or at least supported with critical security updates
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Notwithstanding the above, blanket statements like “anyone still running Windows 7 today is an idiot” (or even worse, versions I’ve seen like “anyone still running Windows 7 today is a threat to the entire internet”) are not necessarily factual. Those who understand the tradeoffs for their particular use cases and have taken steps to mitigate the risks are, in fact, acting rationally.
Just as a side note, a major bank that I did consulting work for some years ago migrated from OS/2 on all their branch workstations to Windows 2000. They did this when Windows 2000 was technically already obsolete. They are still running Windows 2000 today on what I would guess would be on the order of at least 14,000 front-office and back-office workstations. They have a highly controlled environment and spend millions a year on a Microsoft contract to continue to provide support. The cost to upgrade to a newer OS would be far greater than what they’re paying for custom Microsoft support. They are acting rationally.