I have two 8 year old Dell OptiPlex 755 desktop computers at home running Windows 7 64 bit but the available hard drive space was not sufficient to allow an upgrade. I downloaded the Windows 10 ISO and burned it to a disk so I could install it clean on bigger hard drives but after the install was complete, there were no drivers for the wireless cards inside so they could not connect to Microsoft or be useful, so I put the old hard drives back in and they are still running Windows 7. It may be that even though I installed Windows 10 on them before the deadline, since they couldn't communicate with MS, they may not be registered. Considering how old those desktop PC's are, and Win 7 support lasts through January 2020, they will be around 11 years old by then and need replacing anyway.
The other two computers we have are laptops which are probably between 2-3 years old. Those upgrade from 7 to 10 ok from what I can tell and are working ok. I don't care for how MS re-arranges everything so I may look for a Win 7 legacy shell. We'll see.
We live in a world where hackers are always trying to compromise your computer. If you use an O/S which is no longer supported and getting security updates and patches, then you are more vulnerable to exploitations. Yes, even if you have a patched system, it isn't 100% safe, but the odds of getting hacked or exploited are lower if you keep it patched. In the IT world, that is the mantra, patch patch and more patch.
Sure, you may have been lucky so far but if you are plugging into the internet with an O/S that is no longer supported, you are exposing yourself to risk, plain and simple. Best at minimum make sure you regularly back up your important files to an external drive so you don't loose anything important; which is good advice anyway cause even if you don't get exploited or hacked, your hard drive could crash and you loose everything that way.
Sure, I agree that there seems to be the, every other version of Windows stinks phenomenon. The agency I work for skipped Vista and windows 8 and used XP, then 7 and will be going to 10 at some point in the near future.
As far as the gripes go, this is how it has gone for ages with Windows - since the early 1990's anyway (earlier probably) so if Microsoft "sucks" then get something else. Problem solved. If you have to refer to a company with disparaging terms, then maybe you should switch to another and be less frustrated. There are O/S's - Apple, Unix and even Google is now offering an O/S alternative to Windows type computers.
