Why It Is Vital to Upgrade from Windows 7/Server 2008

Why It Is Vital for Your Organization to Upgrade from Windows 7/Server 2008

Microsoft Windows 7 and Microsoft Server 2008 are some of the most fundamental infrastructures released by Microsoft to power enterprise productivity. Although most products that were released during the same period as Windows 7 and Server 2008 are viewed as legacy products, these two products are largely still in use among organizations worldwide. With the announcement of Microsoft ending support for both of these products in early 2020, it is important to plan ahead and make a viable plan to migrate your organization’s data to newer, safer products; this will help prevent loss of data and productivity within your organization.

Although Windows 7 and Server 2008 are still functional as of today, they are not as safe to use as newer versions that Microsoft has released, as several viruses plagued Windows 7 and Server 2008 in 2018. Among these are the Spectre virus and the Wannacry virus, both of which significantly damaged computers and operating systems with security vulnerabilities.

Other outcomes of the Spectre and Wannacry virus attacks include:

• Tricking other applications into “accessing arbitrary locations in their memory,” making users unable
  to access their own data
• The Wannacry virus specifically encrypted files on the PC hard drive, also making it difficult
  to access data
• The Spectre virus affected both personal computers and devices as well as cloud-stored data by attacking hardware vulnerabilities and stealing data that is processed on the computer.

A few of the causes for the Wannacry and Spectre outbreaks include:

Outdated Windows operating systems

• Research done by the Kaspersky Lab showed that nearly 98% of the users affected by Wannacry were running on Windows 7Weakness of Windows 7 Defender
  • Before a latter Windows update, Windows 7 Defender was unable to detect the Wannacry virus during its initial phases (where it spread significantly and attacked vulnerabilities)Could these outbreaks have been avoided? The viruses that plagued Windows 7 users could have been prevented if users were running on a newer, more secure version of Windows such as Windows 10.

In addition to virus protection, it is important to upgrade from Windows 7/ Server 2008 in order to prevent the cost of business being down. Depending on the size of your organization, the loss in revenue per hour while your data cannot be accessed can be astronomical. Since Windows 7 and Server 2008 encompass many business processes, you might lose days or weeks of productivity…which can often translate to large losses on your balance sheet. To avoid these losses, act proactively and upgrade from Windows 7/ Server 2008. The cost of upgrading is far less than the loss in productivity or an upgrade after Microsoft stops supporting Windows 7/ Server 2008.

There are a few options for upgrading from Windows 7. As an organization, it’s probably best to upgrade to Windows 10 even though Windows 8.1 is an option, as Windows 10 has end-to-end security that covers antiviruses, firewalls, internet protections, and more.

For Server 2008, there are two methods to upgrade: on-premise upgrade or migration by rehosting in Azure or AWS. If rehosting, your server images will be migrated, as well.

If you would like further information on the best way your organization can upgrade its software before Microsoft ends support, please click here for a free consultation!