Paul graced us with on 2/2/2023 10:31 PM:
> On 2/2/2023 11:15 PM, gfretwell@aol.com wrote:
>> I remember installing XP long after support had expired and it still
>> took all the updates overnight.
>> Does 7 do that now?
>> If not, can you go get them?
>> I have 4 new to me W/7 machines with fresh software loads but I think
>> at SP1.
>>
>
> https://download.wsusoffline.net/
>
> "Modifications in version 11.9
>
> - NOTE: This version will be the last one supporting Windows 7 and
> Server 2008 (R2)
> "
>
> What that software does, is downloads a set of files
> from Microsoft and puts them in a folder.
>
> A second executable does the install. You bring the
> folder with 8GB of stuff in it or whatever, and run
> the installer and it installs the updates for you.
>
> Since you have four machines, there might be a bandwidth
> savings by building a collection.
>
> You don't need to put them on a DVD or anything fancy like
> that. With sharing, you can just bring the folder over and
> start to work updating the machine.
>
> I have that folder around here somewhere, for Win7. I've used
> it a few times, to test Win7 reinstallation.
>
> It doesn't do everything for you. If you need the pound symbol
> or the lira symbol optional update, it does not do those. It
> loads mostly security updates or Cumulatives, that sort of thing.
>
> There are also tick boxes to download SP1 (x86 or x64), and if you
> think your machines are always SP1 or later, then you don't
> need to tick those and that will save a few minutes of download
> time.
>
> Remember that some of the Win7 updates have SHA1 signing, and
> some have SHA2 signing. The installer installs the signing stuff,
> so there isn't any embarrassing situations where they were done
> in the wrong order.
>
> One other installation issue, is the broken Windows Update behavior.
> The busy cursor becomes your friend, when you do these your
> own self. It can take forever to make forward progress. Well,
> the WSUSOffline, they know the secret five updates that
> have to be installed first, to stop that.
>
> I do not recommend putting it in auto-reboot mode. I don't even
> know how to do that. It will take around five "sessions" to install,
> with a manual reboot between each. First comes Windows Update
> stabilization. Then signing stuff. The things are done in an order.
> The final step, is to do 150+ security updates, one after another.
> It helps to have 8GB of memory in the machine, so you don't run out.
> That's the only part of the thing I consider to be excessive, is
> the last section should have been broken into two or three pieces,
> so the memory leak could be fixed by a reboot. (That's a Microsoft
> memory leak, nothing to do with the WSUSOffline). The updates tend
> to slow down a bit, the more of them you do, so I suppose there
> is a bit of memory fragmentation going on.
>
REF:
https://www.theverge.com/2021/1/6/22217052/microsoft-windows-7-109-million-pcs-usage-stats-analytics

[excerpt quote=\"
Microsoft has said for years that there are 1.5 billion users of Windows
across multiple versions worldwide. It’s difficult to get an exact
number of Windows 7 users owing to the different methods used by
analytics companies, but it’s at least 100 million. If you drop
Microsoft’s estimate of 1.5 billion users of Windows to just a billion
(there are 1 billion active Windows 10 users), then Windows 7 is still
on a massive amount of PCs. In reality, it could still be in use by more
than 200 million devices worldwide.
\" /]

The article is dated 2 years ago but we're still talking 10s of millions
of users out there who are open to buying software and hardware for Win7
if the developers and manufacturers would write the Win7 drivers. It
boggles my mind that this market is being ignored.

--
Sailfish
CDC Covid19 Trends: https://www.facebook.com/groups/624208354841034
Rare Mozilla Stuff: http://tinyurl.com/z86x3sg

Sailfish <NIXCAPSsailfish@NIXCAPSunforgettable.com> wrote:

> Paul:
>
>> gfretwell@aol.com wrote:
>>
>>> I remember installing XP long after support had expired and it still
>>> took all the updates overnight.
>>> Does 7 do that now? If not, can you go get them? I have 4 new to me
>>> W/7 machines with fresh software loads but I think at SP1.
>>
>> https://download.wsusoffline.net/
>>
>> "Modifications in version 11.9
>>
>> - NOTE: This version will be the last one supporting Windows 7 and
>> Server 2008 (R2)
>> "
> REF:
> https://www.theverge.com/2021/1/6/22217052/microsoft-windows-7-109-million-pcs-usage-stats-analytics
>
> The article is dated 2 years ago but we're still talking 10s of
> millions of users out there who are open to buying software and
> hardware for Win7 if the developers and manufacturers would write the
> Win7 drivers. It boggles my mind that this market is being ignored.

Alas, WSUSoffline was discontinued, so it is stuck back on version
12.03.2020 dated 3/20/2020. Apparently Microsoft changed their update
server, so WSUSoffline would no longer work with it.

Instead I had to switch to WSUSoffline Community Edition, a fork of
WSUSoffline. Currently at version 12.6.1 released 12/24/2021, about 21
months after 12.03.2020 of WsusOffline, but still nothing new for
WsusOffline CE since 18 months later.

https://gitlab.com/wsusoffline/wsusoffline/-/releases

For Windows 7, you have to go back to the original WSUSoffline to its
version 11.9 since version 12.0 dropped Windows 7.

https://download.wsusoffline.net/wsusoffline119.zip

Since Microsoft changed update behavior, I don't know if the original
WSUSoffline will still work. If not, you can't get Windows 7 updates to
store for later application using the original WSUSoffline. You could
try WSUSoffline CE 11.9.11 which still supported Windows 7.

Sorry, I don't know what MS changed that supposedly made original
WSUSoffline fail to retrieve updates. Maybe someone in their forums
mentioned why original WSUSoffline stopped working.

https://forums.wsusoffline.net/index.php

Sailfish <NIXCAPSsailfish@NIXCAPSunforgettable.com> on Thu, 06 Jul
2023 06:53:26 -0700 typed in alt.windows7.general the following:
>
>The article is dated 2 years ago but we're still talking 10s of millions
>of users out there who are open to buying software and hardware for Win7
>if the developers and manufacturers would write the Win7 drivers. It
>boggles my mind that this market is being ignored.

Microsoft has decreed it obsolete. Never mind what the customers
wanted, Microsoft knows better than you do about your needs.

Same applies to XP only more so.
--
pyotr filipivich
This Week's Panel: Us & Them - Eliminating Them.
Next Month's Panel: Having eliminated the old Them(tm)
Selecting who insufficiently Woke(tm) as to serve as the new Them(tm)

In message <c66kaidqsevonso3m87s2931nrlfe5dmrc@4ax.com> at Sat, 8 Jul
2023 19:22:29, pyotr filipivich <phamp@mindspring.com> writes
>Sailfish <NIXCAPSsailfish@NIXCAPSunforgettable.com> on Thu, 06 Jul
>2023 06:53:26 -0700 typed in alt.windows7.general the following:
>>
>>The article is dated 2 years ago but we're still talking 10s of millions
>>of users out there who are open to buying software and hardware for Win7
>>if the developers and manufacturers would write the Win7 drivers. It
>>boggles my mind that this market is being ignored.
>
> Microsoft has decreed it obsolete. Never mind what the customers
>wanted, Microsoft knows better than you do about your needs.
>
> Same applies to XP only more so.

Or, at least, MS have decided that _their_ costs in supporting the older
OSs cannot be justified to themselves - and put pressure on other
manufacturers to stop supporting too (extending to outright ban - with
legal action - on refurbishers).
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

.... each generation tends to imagine that its attitude to sex strikes just
about the right balance; that by comparison its predecessors were prim and
embarrassed, its successors sex-obsessed and pornified. - Julian Barnes, Radio
Times 9-15 March 2013

On Sat, 08 Jul 2023 19:22:29 -0700, pyotr filipivich
<phamp@mindspring.com> wrote:

>Sailfish <NIXCAPSsailfish@NIXCAPSunforgettable.com> on Thu, 06 Jul
>2023 06:53:26 -0700 typed in alt.windows7.general the following:
>>
>>The article is dated 2 years ago but we're still talking 10s of millions
>>of users out there who are open to buying software and hardware for Win7
>>if the developers and manufacturers would write the Win7 drivers. It
>>boggles my mind that this market is being ignored.
>
> Microsoft has decreed it obsolete. Never mind what the customers
>wanted, Microsoft knows better than you do about your needs.

Microsoft knows better than its customers what it needs to do to
generate more sales.

But in practice, it matters little what Microsoft declares obsolete.
What matters is what manufacturers of hardware and software do. If you
need or want some new piece of hardware or software and it's not
compatible with your older Windows version, then that Windows version
is obsolete for you.

On 7/9/2023 9:31 AM, Ken Blake wrote:
>> Microsoft has decreed it obsolete. Never mind what the customers
>> wanted, Microsoft knows better than you do about your needs.
>
> Microsoft knows better than its customers what it needs to do to
> generate more sales.

Wow, just wow.

Ken Blake <Ken@invalid.news.com> on Sun, 09 Jul 2023 07:31:30 -0700
typed in alt.windows7.general the following:
>On Sat, 08 Jul 2023 19:22:29 -0700, pyotr filipivich
><phamp@mindspring.com> wrote:
>
>>Sailfish <NIXCAPSsailfish@NIXCAPSunforgettable.com> on Thu, 06 Jul
>>2023 06:53:26 -0700 typed in alt.windows7.general the following:
>>>
>>>The article is dated 2 years ago but we're still talking 10s of millions
>>>of users out there who are open to buying software and hardware for Win7
>>>if the developers and manufacturers would write the Win7 drivers. It
>>>boggles my mind that this market is being ignored.
>>
>> Microsoft has decreed it obsolete. Never mind what the customers
>>wanted, Microsoft knows better than you do about your needs.
>
>
>Microsoft knows better than its customers what it needs to do to
>generate more sales.

In other words, Planned obsolescence.

>
>But in practice, it matters little what Microsoft declares obsolete.
>What matters is what manufacturers of hardware and software do. If you
>need or want some new piece of hardware or software and it's not
>compatible with your older Windows version, then that Windows version
>is obsolete for you.

That was part of why I switched to Windows 7: it was 64 bit, the
program for class was 64 bit, my computer was 32 bit.
--
pyotr filipivich
This Week's Panel: Us & Them - Eliminating Them.
Next Month's Panel: Having eliminated the old Them(tm)
Selecting who insufficiently Woke(tm) as to serve as the new Them(tm)