Millions Of Windows 7 PCs Are At Risk, Avast Warns

Security vendor Avast has conducted a new study, which sheds light at a how millions of Windows 7 computers are currently at risk, because of out-of-date software.

And that is because around 13% of all Windows 10 devices are currently running older versions of the operating system — that being Windows 10 RTM or the Creators Update, both of which no longer receive updates from Microsoft for Home and Pro versions.

In case of Windows 7, things are even worse.

No less than 15% of devices running this old operating system are currently on the RTM build. Worth a mention that was compiled by Microsoft in 2009 and released to users as the original version of the operating system a decade back.

Windows 7 is currently the leading desktop platform with a 43% or so share, with Windows 10 in second place with a market share of around 40%. Windows 8 is listed in third place with 12%, ahead of Windows XP and Windows Vista.

Add two and two together, and you get millions of PCs that are out there in the wild on their own.

Microsoft will release the last updates for Windows 7 on January 14, 2020. The software titan is focused on moving users to Windows 10, both home users and business. And we can expect these efforts to pick up pace this year.

Move beyond the OS space, and things barely get better when it comes to installed software.

The study showed that 15% of all Office installations are Office 2007. This version, again, no longer receives any support of patches from Microsoft. A further 3% of users run Office 2010, the next version, which itself is set to get the ax next year.

Long story short, the company has found that millions of devices are running outdated software.

Avast reveals that 55% of all installed applications are not updated to the latest versions. Adobe Shockwave is most often outdated, but other big names that follow include the likes of VLC Media Player, Skype, and Java.

The usual suspects, one can say.

In terms of the most used applications, we have, unsurprisingly, Google Chrome. Adobe Acrobat Reader is the runner-up, just ahead of WinRAR. Microsoft Office and Mozilla Firefox round up the top 5.

Scary stuff.