content: I'm sticking with Windows 7, and if I have to I'll migrate to Linux.  I already run Linux boxes anyway, but the simple fact of the matter is that, contrary to Microsoft's attempts to sabotage any pre-Windows 10 operating system, Windows 7 is not going to burst into flame the instant Microsoft stops putting out patches.  Running decent security software, using a firewall, and not opening every attachment that some girl named MaryAnne that you've never heard of sends to your spam folder (whose messages always have a title relating to the size of your genitalia) works wonders, and considering what I've seen patches can do to a system, they are at best the lesser of two evils.  Truthfully, considering how patches are now an all-or-nothing proposition with Windows 7, I'd be surprised if many people still get them anyway.  Microsoft has probably crammed them full of spyware. EDIT: Actually the truth of the matter is that all things considered Microsoft's basically a malware manufacturer at this point, and they'd be considered such if it were almost anyone else.  So I'm not sure patches will actually do a thing to keep the bad guys out of your system, it'll just make sure they're from a relatively smaller subset of possible actors... at least until someone else manages to crack their update system or something similarly horrific.