Windows 7 users rush to upgrade to Windows 10 before Microsoft ends support in Jan 2020

Windows 7 user base has dropped by 3.6% and is now down to 31.8% while Windows 10 saw a surge of 3.1% to grab 48.9% market share.

Windows 7 users opting out before Microsoft ends support (AFP)

A few months before Microsoft ends support for its Windows 7 operating system (OS), the older OS experienced a large drop in July.

In July, user-base of Windows 7 dropped 3.6 % -- down to 31.8 % -- in the overall PC market, that led to a significant increase in the Windows 10 user-base, TechRadar on Sunday cited a report by analytics firm Net Applications as saying. Windows 10 saw an increased user-share by 3.1 %, to stand at 48.9 % in the overall desktop market.

Even though Microsoft ended mainstream support for Windows 7 on January 2015, in January 2019, the software giant decided to put a final halt on the roll-out of free security patches for the OS on January 14, 2020.

The 3.6 % decline of Windows 7 in July is the second-largest drop that Net Applications has ever observed and the boost for Windows 10 is the second-largest increase, seemingly underlining the shift that is going on here, the report said.