You probably shouldn’t, but if you must, you can
As the expiration date for Windows 10 presses ever closer, spare a thought for its classic forerunner. No, not Windows 8 – nobody ever loved that – but Windows 7, with its classic Start menu, tasteful transparency, lack of built-in advertising, and so on.
The Reg FOSS desk was recently in beautiful snow-covered Czechia, visiting in-laws, and found that they’re still using Windows 7 and are disinclined to upgrade. Perhaps some Reg readers are too. There are valid reasons: hardware that lacks drivers for newer versions, or a need for some software that won’t run on later versions. It could simply be penury: the free upgrade program ended in 2023.
It is still possible to use these classic versions even if you have some concern for self-preservation. We suspect that pretty soon, this will apply to a lot of people running Windows 10 as well: its release date of July 15, 2015, is very nearly a decade ago, and soon it will officially be lost like tears in rain. We will return to the subject of keeping Windows 10 in action all the way through to the 2030s in a future article, but thought we’d break you in gently, with some tips for what to do with Windows 7 (cunningly codenamed «Windows 7»), which was retired on January 14, 2020.
Some of the methods that we suggested for Windows XP in 2023 apply here, too.Clean your room!
If you’re still running such an old version, it’s probably an old installation as well. That implies a dangerously high Stob Cruft Index. Dumping the junk is a good plan. We covered some of this in our story on preparing to dual-boot a few years ago.
You can use third-party tools such as CCleaner for this if you wish, but whatever you do, do not use «registry cleaners»! These are all dangerous; they do no good, but can destroy your OS.
A quick recap: We favor the simple built-in Disk Cleanup tool. Run it once, tick all the boxes, and let her rip. Then, run it again, and click the button to Clean Up System Files. Again, tick all the boxes, set it running, then wander off and make a cup of tea or something, because this mode typically takes much longer.
When it’s done, open an admin-mode command prompt. If you don’t have a shortcut handy, there are various ways to do this. In it, type:
It will tell you it can’t do it now, and ask you if you want to run the task at the next reboot. Answer Y for Yes, then close the window (or type EXIT and press return). Then reboot, and wait for it to finish. It may be worth running another Disk Cleanup afterward to remove any resulting debris.
