Windows 7 is sometimes regarded as the "last good Windows" by those
who have used it. It was a perfect blend of compatibility, usability,
and RAM hogging simplicity that made it a favorite for those willing
to put up with Microsoft's garbage. I will admit, in terms of
compatibility and usability, it was great and should be respected in
that regard, but has been abandoned with no plans for
upcycling,
meaning that no one is officially developing Windows 7 anymore. Now
deprecation is not an unusual occurrence for an OS, plenty of operating
systems eventually move on from old
versions to lightened the
development load. This isn't a problem until you realize that the
"upgrade" being offered in the case of Windows 7 is not really an
upgrade, but instead a
restrictive,
intensely
privacy
invasive,
freedom denying
disaster
used to milk money out of the customers rather than respecting
them.
For various
reasons,
the "upgrade" offered has left a sour taste in many users mouths, some
have opted to upgrade just to Windows 8, but, just like Windows 7, it
soon enough be deprecated in favor of shoving Windows 10 down the
user's
throat.
This leads Windows 7 users in a hard spot if they decide to stick with
Windows, they could either bite the bullet and just upgrade (losing many
basic freedoms in the process) OR they could stick with Windows 7. Both
options are terrible, but sticking with Windows 7 could be just as bad,
if not worse.
But why is Windows 7 worse?
Despite the montra of "older is better", this could not be any further from the case. Windows 7 no longer receives vital security updates anymore. Even if the community around Windows 7 wanted to support the fledgling piece of software, they couldn't do it legally as the source code is not under a freedom respecting license. This means that Windows 7 is perpetually insecure and will only get less secure with time. Browsers will eventually stop supporting 7, OS level bugs will be discovered, old technologies will start to break, and, like all things, Windows 7 will fall to the wayside and be obsolete. One of the major points of contention with Windows 10 was the security of it; could Microsoft be trusted with such a privacy violating OS? With Windows 7, you're getting the worst taste of both. You get Microsoft's dirty hands shoved in your data through telemetry AND exposed to countless vulnerabilities due to the insecure nature of the OS.
So, what can be done?
In terms of sticking with Windows? Nothing. You can either choose to have Microsoft and the rest of the internet's slimy hands on your computer or just Microsoft's slimy hands. Really, this is the extent of your choices if you wish to stick with Windows. However, if you wish to take an incursion into software freedom, you can try out a GNU/Linux Distribution, A member of the BSD family, or ReactOS, an alpha quality, free software effort to develop a Windows-like OS that aims for compatibility (though not always succeeds).