Jeff has a Chromebook that has reached "end of life." What? Leo says you can still use it, but they won't be supporting them with updates anymore. But it's still secure for use. If it's that old, however, it may be time to upgrade it. The latest round of ChromeOS devices support Android apps and are much more powerful. And the price ranges are very affordable.
On December 31, 2020, Adobe announced that Flash had officially reached its end of life and will no longer be supported by the company. Apple hastened the demise of Flash several years ago when it announced it wouldn't support Flash, but it really was Youtube's abandoning the platform that put the last nail in the coffin, even though many websites continued to use it. But even Adobe saw that Flash's end was nigh and abandoned development, except for security updates. Now, it's at end of life, and Leo says it's the end of an era.
Is has a Windows 7 computer and is concerned that it will stop working due to the end of life. Leo says no. It'll keep working, and during the crisis, Microsoft continues to update security patches. So you'll be safe for at least the end of the year. It's important to keep your computer updated, especially Windows Defender. Set your updates to automatic. But all that won't protect you against your own behavior online. Be careful what you click on. Don't install a third-party version of flash. Go to Adobe and manually download the updates and use Firefox as your browser.
Alan wants to know if Philips Hue Lights would work as lights for a video webcast. Leo says since they can change colors, they can look really good on camera. But he also hears that older Hue bridges are being placed into its end of life. Leo says they are depreciating the older models, but that doesn't mean they won't continue to work. But the problem is, any bulb that is connected to the Internet may result in a security issue for your network. That's the main thing. It's important to get all the patches you can. But in most cases, you'll likely be fine.
Mike wants to get his parents a new Chromebook, but he's concerned that Google won't update them after a few years. Leo says that Google says that they will update them up to five years. But one, Chromebooks are extremely secure by design, so even after its end of life, you still can use it online and two, Chromebooks are cheap to replace. Worst case, you may run into issues visiting some websites. Check out about Chromebook's end of life and Auto Update policy here.
Microsoft has discovered a second bug to Windows 7, just a few weeks after Microsoft proclaimed the end of life to the operating system. The first was a wallpaper bug which Microsoft fixed, but wasn't the end of the world. This new bug may pop up when users try to shut down their computers, telling them they don't have the permission to shut down the machine. Microsoft has said that after the Windows 7 end of life, they won't be patching the OS anymore, but Leo suspects they'll fix this one.
Lex hears that "end of life" support is coming for some Chromebooks. How safe will a Chromebook be after those dates? Leo says that new devices will have six and a half years of auto-updates, while much older generation Chromebooks have already been phased out of support. But Chromebooks are still incredibly secure. It'll be fine to continue to use. Will a VPN help? Leo says not really.
Timmy has heard that Microsoft is going to kill support for Windows 7 on January 14th. Is that going to be a security problem? Leo says essentially, yes. You'll be on your own as Windows 7 goes end of life. You can get Windows 10 for free in most cases if you still own Windows 7, and Microsoft is hell-bent on getting everyone to WIndows 10. Also, after January, most other browsers and other software updates will stop supporting Windows 7 as well. But if you take it offline, you can still use Windows 7. Just not for the internet.
Chris wants to know why his ATMs will require an update costing $10,000. Leo says it depends on what your license options are, but those ATM machines are running on old versions of Windows, like Windows XP, and they have to keep them updated for security purposes. And it would be expensive to update to a new version of Windows. So it depends on the license you have. What about Windows 7? Leo says that Windows 7 will go end of life in January 2020.
Micahel has learned that Windows 7 will stop being supported in January. Is that seriously so? Leo says it is. It's called End of Life, and beginning January 14th, there will be no more security patches being done for Windows 7. That means that after January 14th, you'll want to take any Windows 7 computer off the internet, or it'll be increasingly more dangerous online. It will still work however. And considering the age of Michael's computer, it may be a great time to upgrade. Computers are faster, more powerful, and cheaper now.
