Beginning January 14th Windows will no longer offer patches and updates for their Windows 7 operating system.

Tech Gumbo host Hagai Davis says nearly a third of all computers in circulation still run Windows 7, and a lot of those folks are in serious danger of being hit by malware that’s sat dormant on their computer.

“They have been dating these things so that they are dormant on your computer until your computer says it is January 15th, 2020, then the payload explodes,” says Davis.

Davis says when Windows discontinued XP in 2013, users saw a massive spike in malware attacks the day after it dropped support.

It’s not that your Windows 7 computer won’t work starting January 15th, but Davis says it will leave you particularly vulnerable to attack and even expose other updated computers on your network.

“That one computer that is running Windows 7 on January 15th is going to be exposed to malware that could infect the rest of your network,” says Davis.

Windows also announced it will no longer support Windows 2008 server platforms as of January 14th either.

The good news for Windows users is that the company offers a free upgrade to Windows 10 for Windows 7 and 8 users. Davis says it only takes about 20 minutes to an hour to do the update but adds Windows 10 may not run well on older computers, so if your system is four years old or older, it’s time to look at getting an upgrade.

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