Windows 7 in 2021

[Vishera]

Do you want to know the state of Windows 7 is in 2021?,Here is my experience!

 

Hardware

Pros

Great support from most manufacturers (except CPUs and motherboards) ,

Especially GPUs,GPU drivers and drivers overall work on Windows 7 as well as they are on Windows 10.

 

Caveats

Support from CPU and Motherboard manufacturers is non-existent.

 

USB devices that are connected directly to the CPU won't work without a driver.

*On Ryzen the official driver supports up to Zen+ CPUs in 400 series boards,

Although there are hacks that make it work on newer CPUs:

https://www.overclock.net/threads/guide-fixing-windows-7-usb-support-on-matisse-ryzen-3000-zen-2-on-x370-x470.1731246/

 

 

Stability

Pros

Very stable

 

Caveats

None

 

 

Security

Pros

Security updates are still getting released.but part of ESU updates.

 

Caveats

The only way to get security updates is not accessible to all.

 

Most users don't get security updates.

 

 

Performance

Pros

CPU performance is superior in some workloads

 

Lower RAM usage

 

No bloatware

 

Caveats

Boot times are significantly slower than Windows 10

 

GPU performance is overall the same as Windows 10,but in some scenarios it's lower.

 

 

Privacy

Pros

You can skip invasive updates

 

Caveats

Some telemetry updates disguise themselves as security updates.

 

Automatic updates install updates that invade your privacy

 

 

Software

Pros

Most software work on Windows 7

 

Caveats

Low percentage of software doesn't work.

 

 

Games

Pros

More than 90% of new releases work well on Windows 7

 

Has DirectX 12

 

Caveats

In order for DX12 games to work on Windows 7 the developer has to put effort to implement support for Windows 7.

Even if it's implemented,if it's not implemented well the game will suffer from performance issues on Windows 7.

For example:

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War - Excellent implementation of DX12 on Windows 7

Cyberpunk 2077 - Poor implementation of DX12 on Windows 7

Shadow of the Tomb Raider - No implementation of DX12 on Windows 7

 

Some developers put artificial blocks in place to prevent Windows 7 users from playing the game,which otherwise could play the game.

For example: Need for Speed Heat,however the block can be bypassed and many Windows 7 user can play NFS Heat thanks to the bypass.

 

 

The conclusion is up to you.

[WkdPaul]

* thread moved to the Operating system section *

 

 

 

Personal note ;

 

Thanks for this, you're in a minority when it comes to point this out (yes, Win7 seems less intrusive on the telemetry, but if left alone, you'll send more telemetry data with a vanilla Win7 than a tweaked Win10) ;

22 hours ago, Vishera said:

Privacy

 

Pros

You can skip invasive updates

 

Caveats

Some telemetry updates disguise themselves as security updates.

 

Automatic updates install updates that invade your privacy

 

[mahyar]

about that directx 12 thing 

there is some work that can be done to fix that so debatable 

[Vishera]

1 minute ago, Grand Admiral Thrawn said:

I would just ommit this whole section as it depends on the system configuration rather than the OS itself. And you did not provide any specification of your system to back it up.

Tested on multiple configurations.

5 different CPUs: (Intel Core i3 2100,FX-8320E @4.3GHz,Ryzen 5 2600 @3.9GHz,Intel Core i5 3230m,Ryzen 7 1700)

I am not going to list all of the SSDs,hard drives and RAM that i used.

6 minutes ago, Grand Admiral Thrawn said:

No bloatware? That is up to the manufacturer like HP, Lenovo, Dell etc. to put their stuff on there and it is present on Windows 7 products.

No bloatware from Microsoft.

[FRD]

Nice list you made.

I myself used Windows 7 until 2020 and finally upgraded in December 2020 last year. Mainly because I wanted to play games that require Windows 10 and compatilibity issues. I also didn't upgrade my Windows 7 until the latest version and it felt like Windows was quite cluttered, I had to to a reinstall anyway. I had quite many games that gave errors or weren't playable. The only downside to upgrading to Windows 10 was getting used to it and some of my old programs not working anymore, including the software for my gaming mouse that was like $100 back then.

According to Steam, just over 2% of gamers still use Windows 7, which is still equal to quite many people. I'd say I loved Windows 7, but I finally made the step to Windows 10 after the announcement of no support anymore in 2020.

I also used Windows Vista until the very last, somewhere around 2015/2016.

[Radium_Angel]

19 minutes ago, mahyar said:

about that directx 12 thing 

there is some work that can be done to fix that so debatable 

I'd love to read more about this...

33 minutes ago, Vishera said:

Windows 7 is in 2021

Windows 9 is supported until 2024. All the pros of Win10 and 7, none of the drawbacks.

https://www.eastcoast.hosting/Windows9/

I found this after reluctantly giving up Win7. It's everything Win10 should have been. Fantastic OS.

[mahyar]

2 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

I'd love to read more about this...

its really hit or miss but dxvk and vkd3d do work on win7 to some degree

[Vishera]

6 minutes ago, FRD said:

it felt like Windows was quite cluttered

It tend to happen with any old install of Windows,whether it's XP,Vista,7 or 10.

7 minutes ago, FRD said:

I had quite many games that gave errors or weren't playable.

It's possible that some update is missing,

A lot of people didn't install the DX11.1 and Universal C updates that a sizeable amount of games require.

It depends on the error though.

3 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

Windows 9 is supported until 2024. All the pros of Win10 and 7, none of the drawbacks.

It doesn't have DX12

 

[Radium_Angel]

4 minutes ago, Vishera said:

It tend to happen with any old install of Windows,whether it's XP,Vista,7 or 10.

It's possible that some update is missing,

A lot of people didn't install the DX11.1 and Universal C updates that a sizeable amount of games require.

It depends on the error though.

It doesn't have DX12

 

AFAIK, only Win10 supports DX12, no other OS from them. It's a BS tactic to force the adoption of Win10.

[FRD]

3 minutes ago, Vishera said:

It tend to happen with any old install of Windows,whether it's XP,Vista,7 or 10.

It's possible that some update is missing,

A lot of people didn't install the DX11.1 and Universal C updates that a sizeable amount of games require.

It depends on the error though.

It doesn't have DX12

 

Yes, unfortunately that problem with old installs was quite annoying. I don't like to reinstall my OS too often.

Possible an update was missing, yeah. My Windows 7 was not genuine, so every update would also give me the non authentic Windows warning again. I learned from it by buying a real Windows 10. Often my games would ask to reinstall some seperate Windows Redistributable pack or something, but even after installing it wouldn't always work.

Right now one other PC in my house still has Windows 7 and working fine.

[Vishera]

14 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

AFAIK, only Win10 supports DX12, no other OS from them. It's a BS tactic to force the adoption of Win10.

Fact is you can play Call of duty Warzone on Windows 7,and that's a DX12 only title.

Technically it's DX12 that was tailor suited to Windows 7,but it was done in a way that is "a BS tactic to force the adoption of Win10." just like you said.

[Alan G]

Major plus for Win7 is that it runs Windows Media Center, maybe the best thing MSFT ever came up with. It was a free add on with Win 7, supported for a while with Win 8.1 but now not supported at all with Win 10 though you can find some hacks to get it running.

 

I've been driving my television with a Wn7 PC and a cablecard tuner for 7 years now.  It is on 24/7 and a 1 TB HDD has more than enough capacity to tape shows/movies/sports that I want to watch.  The software is not demanding and it runs perfectly with an Intel Pentium CPU.  Since I don't do anything else other than some streaming with Netflix and Amazon Prime, I don't really worry about security issues and Security Essentials is still supported by MSFT with updates.

[Vishera]

24 minutes ago, Alan G said:

Major plus for Win7 is that it runs Windows Media Center

I forgot about it since i don't use it,

Windows Media Center is a great alternative to smart TVs,since it was made for TVs and even has support for a TV remote:

 

Microsoft's remote for Windows Media Center:

Spoiler

 

Sony's remote for Windows Media Center:

Spoiler

 

Generic remote for Windows Media Center:

Spoiler

 

[Vishera]

23 hours ago, mahyar said:

its really hit or miss but dxvk and vkd3d do work on win7 to some degree

I tried DXVK,but i didn't see any Vulkan to DX12 binaries there,

I only saw DX9,DX10 and DX11 binaries - which are useless to a Windows 7 user (the native binaries of Windows 7 are superior in every aspect you look at).

 

Edit: VKD3D can do what you said,I will try it:

https://github.com/lutris/dxvk/releases

 

DXVK is bundled with VKD3D in this repository.

[PlenumRated]

I love Windows 7. I still have it running on my Lenovo X1 carbon. I have Windows 10 on my gaming rig but I have a 2008R2 DC and Windows 7 client in my lab. Lot's of Enterprises still run 2008, 2008R2 and Windows 7. We upgraded everyone to Windows 10 a couple years ago, but most of our servers are still 2008R2.