Dianne bought a laptop with an i7 processor. Should she have gotten an i9? Leo says that the i7 is overkill for people who do what Dianne does, which is surf the net, email, etc. So an i9 would be REALLY overkill. For what Dianne does, an i9 wouldn't be of any benefit to her. It's more for video editing, graphic design, heavy computational stuff.
Microsoft will cease support for Windows 7 on January 14, 2020, so PC users should really upgrade to Windows 10 soon. The most important point will be the loss of security patches for the operating system, which will make it increasingly risky to take online. Eventually, browsers and other constantly-updating software will stop working comfortably with Windows 7 and might be frustrating to use. The same issues plagued users of Windows XP after its time was up. Although Windows 10 looks a bit different, you can configure the interface to more closely resemble what you liked about Windows 7.
Martin got the email that Microsoft will be killing Windows 7 in January. What does it mean? Leo says it's the normal end of life announcement, which Microsoft did for Windows XP, Me, and every single OS before it. It means that Microsoft will stop issuing patches, including security patches after January. This will make it unsafe to use online. You can still use it on your computer, but it'll be a security risk and browsers and websites will gradually stop working.
Carmine is having issues updating Windows. He's behind and can't update to "1809." He's on 1803. Leo says that 1809 wasn't a good update, and Microsoft just skipped it and moved on to 1903. Eventually, Carmine will get it. There are ways to force it, and he can "check for updates." But Leo says that feature updates aren't as important as security updates. Eventually, it'll come.
Focusing mostly on their Cloud applications, Microsoft didn't even mention Windows at their latest event. Leo says that Microsoft has acknowledged that the Internet has become operating system agnostic, and as such, it really doesn't matter what OS you use. So Microsoft focused on their Cloud services like Azure. Could the end of Windows be near?
Karen is having issues with Microsoft Office 365 with her new laptop. It's really complicated and hard to read. How can she get her money back? Leo says that she can always write a letter to the president of Microsoft, Satya Nadella, and demand help for accessibility. They have an office for that. She can also tell them she wants a refund. Be nice, but also reference that you talked to Leo Laporte on a national radio show. You can also use Microsoft Office for free, and change the font any way you want.
Terry created an "alias" through Outlook for his email, but now it's not working. Leo says that Microsoft has a discussion about this known issue here. The fix was not to use the auto account setup, but to manually set it up. But that hasn't helped Terry. Leo suspects that since Microsoft killed MSN Mail, that could be the issue.
For a long time, scammers have been calling or displaying a popup message on PCs with the threat that their computer access will be restricted if they don't call a number and make a payment. According to the New York Times, this official looking message is coming from a scam operation in Mumbai, India - which is the main hub for call centers. Leo says that's because the real tech support people are moonlighting with this scam.
Anthony has Windows 7, and he's started having problems with his keyboard and mouse after a recent update. He tried to talk to Microsoft about it, but the tech told him there was a conflict and the updates it was installing were actually for Windows 10, and it would cost him $300 to resolve it. Leo says whoever that was he was talking to wasn't Microsoft. Leo says in theory that could happen, but Microsoft Update is smart enough to not do that. It should only be installing Windows 7 updates for a Windows 7 machine.
G Scott has a Microsoft Surface and wants to remove the hybrid drive. Leo says the best idea is to use SSDs. He should get a fast one for his M.2 drive and the slower SSD for the secondary drive.
