So Long Advance Patch Tuesday Notifications, So Long Windows 7 SP1 Mainstream Support
The well-known Patch Tuesday program works like this: every second Tuesday of the month, Microsoft rolls out updates, patches, and security updates for its products; and a few days before Patch Tuesday, Microsoft rolls out an advisory via its Advance Notification Service (ANS), providing more info about the updates that will be rolled out as part of Path Tuesday. These advance notifications are quite handy for IT support departments, members of the media, and other people who have an interest in updates and security.
Microsoft recently announced that it is putting an end to the Advance Notification Service – for non-paying customers at least.
As Microsoft explained, the vast majority of its users do not rely on ANS, they just wait for Patch Tuesday or let Windows Update automatically do its thing. Consequently, Microsoft decided to stop offering ANS to the general public and only offer it to Premier customers and organizations involved in Microsoft security programs.
So to put it bluntly, ANS info will no longer be available to the general public, it will be available to paying Microsoft customers only.
“We are making changes to how we distribute ANS to customers. Moving forward, we will provide ANS information directly to Premier customers and current organizations involved in our security programs, and will no longer make this information broadly available through a blog post and web page,” said Chris Betz, Senior Director, Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC).
Chris Betz pointed out one more thing: seems like Patch Tuesday is changing its name to Update Tuesday. Throughout this blog post, he kept referring to Patch Tuesday as Update Tuesday.
There’s only one thing left to say: so long advance Patch Tuesday notifications!
In related news, I have to remind you that mainstream support for Windows 7 SP1 (Service Pack 1) ends today, January 13, 2015.
Just in case you don’t know what that means, here’s the quick lowdown: Microsoft no longer supplies non-security hotfixes unless you have an extended support agreement, Microsoft no longer accepts requests for new features and design changes, Microsoft no longer offers technical assistance, all warranty claims end.
Bug and security fixes will continue to be rolled out until extended support ends. Extended support for Windows 7 will end on January 14, 2020. When extended support ends, you won’t get any bug fixes and security patches.
Your best course of action right now is to say so long to Windows 7 and upgrade to a newer Windows edition, like Windows 8 or Windows 8.1. I too liked Windows 7 a lot and for a long time refused to upgrade to Windows 8. But since then I’ve grown to like Windows 8 and I certainly don’t regret giving up on Windows 7.
Microsoft recently announced that it is putting an end to the Advance Notification Service – for non-paying customers at least.
As Microsoft explained, the vast majority of its users do not rely on ANS, they just wait for Patch Tuesday or let Windows Update automatically do its thing. Consequently, Microsoft decided to stop offering ANS to the general public and only offer it to Premier customers and organizations involved in Microsoft security programs.
So to put it bluntly, ANS info will no longer be available to the general public, it will be available to paying Microsoft customers only.
“We are making changes to how we distribute ANS to customers. Moving forward, we will provide ANS information directly to Premier customers and current organizations involved in our security programs, and will no longer make this information broadly available through a blog post and web page,” said Chris Betz, Senior Director, Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC).
Chris Betz pointed out one more thing: seems like Patch Tuesday is changing its name to Update Tuesday. Throughout this blog post, he kept referring to Patch Tuesday as Update Tuesday.
There’s only one thing left to say: so long advance Patch Tuesday notifications!
In related news, I have to remind you that mainstream support for Windows 7 SP1 (Service Pack 1) ends today, January 13, 2015.
Just in case you don’t know what that means, here’s the quick lowdown: Microsoft no longer supplies non-security hotfixes unless you have an extended support agreement, Microsoft no longer accepts requests for new features and design changes, Microsoft no longer offers technical assistance, all warranty claims end.
Bug and security fixes will continue to be rolled out until extended support ends. Extended support for Windows 7 will end on January 14, 2020. When extended support ends, you won’t get any bug fixes and security patches.
Your best course of action right now is to say so long to Windows 7 and upgrade to a newer Windows edition, like Windows 8 or Windows 8.1. I too liked Windows 7 a lot and for a long time refused to upgrade to Windows 8. But since then I’ve grown to like Windows 8 and I certainly don’t regret giving up on Windows 7.
