14 DAY TRIAL // Windows 7 is projected to reach the end of support on January 14 next year, after which devices still running this operating system and not eligible for custom updates from Microsoft would no longer receive security patches and fixes.
Microsoft will be offering custom support to paying customers for three more years though a program called Extended Security Updates, and if a recently-developed hack keeps working, pretty much any Windows 7 device could be enrolled in this program.
The magic is possible thanks to a tool developed by the skilled users on MDL, who explain that what the hack does is to actually bypass the check that Microsoft performs for the ESU program.
More specifically, Microsoft has released an update for Windows 7 devices specifically to determine if they are eligible for Extended Security Updates or not. So technically, what this tool does is bypass the check, then allowing any Windows 7 device to receive updates that Microsoft normally releases for paying customers.
Microsoft likely to block the bypass
The Extended Security Updates program is already available for registration, and the check is performed with the help of a test update that must be installed on eligible devices before January 14 to determine if everything works correctly.
According to MDL users, applying the hack does allow Windows 7 devices to download the test update regardless of the version of the operating system that is installed on the device.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that Microsoft wouldn’t block the hack before the end of support for Windows 7 is reached. But by the looks of things, it could only be just a matter of time until another bypass is developed even if a block is put in place, so there’s a good chance that the end of Windows 7 might not be as close as everyone expected.
Thanks for the tip, Jer!