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Windows 7 Should No Longer Be Used for Tax Preparation


micpa

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If you search the internet you will find that Microsoft offered paid extended support for Win 7 to business/corporate accounts for up to 3 more years.

You will also find some articles which outline detailed instructions of how to bypass Microsoft's validation procedures and obtain free extended support.

At some future date Microsoft may figure out how to block users from obtaining these extended support updates for free.

When they do some smart person will figure how to get around Microsoft's new validation checks.

 

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8 hours ago, micpa said:

For more information, Google The Tax Book Windows 7 Should No Longer Be Used for Tax Preparation.  Microsoft has announced that support for Windows 7 ends on January 14, 2020. 

Put me in the "Boy that cried wolf," and Chicken Little "The sky is falling" group. I have heard this kind of "Panic modeling" so many times, it bores me, and is quite annoying.  Think "Y2K."

 

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I could agree with Jack, except I get to hear of the consequences of data loss.  Usually it is via computer failure, human error, or bad/uninformed human choices (such as believing someone will move all data to a new computer without fail).  A few times, it has been due to actual criminal action.

Change is hard, but hanging on to a two days from now abandoned operating system to avoid change seems like poor business practice (at best).  Bypassing a licensing agreement is not something I would want my customers to even have a hint I would do (theft).  While MS has gone outside of their stated obligation before, such as providing some sort of update, many years after abandoned, to XP, a business person, trusted with the safety of the data of others, should not expect such.

Just my opinion of course.

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Why do you want extended support if ATX 2019 will not install on Windows 7? I don't understand the idea of extended support if I am not going to be able to install new programs and the patching will be downgraded since Microsoft will concentrate on their millions of Windows 10 computers vs the few people that will pay for extended support.

Buy a windows 10 machine ADN leave your windows 7 machine on the side and attach a printer directly to it. Make sure you disable or pull out your wireless card and your NIC and use it until you able to sleep well knowing that Windows 7 is gone,.  Don't forget to disable your blue tooth and to lock you office.

I just can believe that someone who hosts information... including but not limited to:

(Legal Names of clients
Date of birth
Driver's license number and state of issuance with expiration date.
Social Security Number
Current address
Employer's address
Bank routing number and account number(s)
Information about sons, daughters, spouses and parents which include most of the info above
How much people make and their profession
Addresses of Properties
Type of Car they depreciate
Name of Universities they attend or that their family members attend
Daycare where they drop their children)

is hesitant to purchase a 1K computer with windows 10.

 

 

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40 minutes ago, Pacun said:

Make sure you disable or pull out your wireless card and your NIC

And remove your CD/DVD drive, and make sure all USB and Micro slots are rendered useless (so no removable media can be attached).

A customer asked me this morning, if they can still use XP.  They have more than a few employees, and a more than modest payroll.  They did not want to spend the time, or the few hundred dollars for a new computer.  Since it has been a decade since XP should have died (for not trivial use), I was blunt with the customer.

I get emails with a 230 or other privacy stuff in the footer, from customers still using XP.

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53 minutes ago, Pacun said:

Why do you want extended support if ATX 2019 will not install on Windows 7? I don't understand the idea of extended support if I am not going to be able to install new programs and the patching will be downgraded since Microsoft will concentrate on their millions of Windows 10 computers vs the few people that will pay for extended support.

1.  Perhaps they are semi retired and this is going to be their last tax season  . . . . .

      Don't be so quick to prejudge someone before you know their circumstances

2.  As of December 31st 2019,  26 % of Windows computer worldwide were still running Win 7 !

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I can understand people not wanting to trash a perfectly usable computer and operating system.  For most of us, Windows XP worked fine and we did not see a reason to change other than Microsoft operates from a profit motive and can't make money if they don't sell products.  And we feel the same way about Windows 7.  But the reality is that we have to keep up with the security features required and if the only way to do that is to shell out a few hundred dollars for new computers, then that is what we have to do.  Nobody can make us like, but we can be forced into it.  I hate all the computers that wind up in landfills but by the time that I am personally certain the information on my hard drives and CPUs s not retrievable by an unscrupulous yet brilliant technician, the computer is not longer a computer - it is a hunk of expensive metals.  And as far as I can tell, it will continue that way for the foreseeable future.

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51 minutes ago, cbslee said:

2.  As of December 31st 2019,  26 % of Windows computer worldwide were still running Win 7 !

That number will be lower on March 1, 2020.

AND yes, there will be many computer running windows 7 in third world countries and many people in developed countries will be be using it on systems that don't manipulate critical information.  But I am sure not many Tax preparers will be using in the US.

Talking about Microsoft, I wish ATX would sell me ATX 2020 and in 2021 they would release Service Pack 1 for free... in 2022 they would release Service Pack 2 for free and in 2023, they would release service pack 3 for free and in 2024 they would force me to purchase a new computer system with ATX 2024.  As much as I hate MS for forcing me to upgrade, they are still inexpensive.

I wonder how many lines of codes ATX 2019 has and how many Windows 10 has.

 

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Made me do a quick count from my web site logs.  (I don;t currently track W7, since it is still possible to be viable, although not at the consumer level.)

As of 2020, I have at least

80 customers using XP SP2, XP SP3, or Server 2003

30 using Vista, Server 2008, or Server 2012

Not a large percentage, but for the data they are responsible for, should be zero.  These are customers who are not going out of business (at least willingly) for 2020.  Given my experience, the numbers will halve each year, at best.

Programming wise, provided one does not use "out there" Windows API calls, there is no programming need to prevent use with XP SP2 or later.  Other factors can come into play, such as my preferred installation software vendor has dropped support for XP, which will eventually mean my software will not be able to install on XP either.

Like when DOS died, I will eventually have to force people to make a decision, by preventing use on certain OS's.  (We only provide support and only test with current OS, and strongly suggest using only current OS.)  It has only been about a year since someone asked about a DOS version, even though we stopped creating them in the last century...

Going through something similar now, with installation CD's (caused by the Wayfair ruling, and the low number of those actually needing a CD).  The reality of current payroll processing is an internet available computer is needed, making a CD not needed, although some claim - despite web site logs showing differently - they cannot download because they have no internet access where they are.

As an old timer once told me (back when I was not the old timer), "Only worry about the 80%.  If you try to handle everything the last 20% ask for, you will muck things up for the 80%."  I would add those last 20% are the ones who keep you up at night, and the ones which could be costing money instead of earning money.  The ~110 count are not even a tenth of a percent (thankfully), so while I absolutely appreciate their business, when I have to force them to move up or along, it will not (much) make me lose sleep.

If I have a point (It is first half of January, my mind is like yours must be April 15 or whatever your deadline dates are), is some will always be pound foolish, and some will get away with it.  But, as good stewards of our customers, we must be penny wise.

 

 

 

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On ‎1‎/‎12‎/‎2020 at 9:27 PM, Jack from Ohio said:

Put me in the "Boy that cried wolf," and Chicken Little "The sky is falling" group. I have heard this kind of "Panic modeling" so many times, it bores me, and is quite annoying.  Think "Y2K."

Ain't it the truth? Unfortunately I've already bought two Win tens and hate both of the damn things.  Wish we could waterboard Gates (or something comparable)..

Well Jack, I guess in light of Abby's link re Win 7, you can rely on the old standard: "Do what you want to do and the hell with everybody else! :D

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How would someone, for the sake of discussion, be comfortable meeting the IRS data security requirements recently discussed here, while using a known outdated OS?  Or, would someone be considered covered by E&O or other liability insurance if they elected to do something known to be unsafe (intentional act)?

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7 minutes ago, Abby Normal said:

I suppose your argument could be that it's a minuscule risk, especially if you've taken other reasonable IT security measures.

I would not want to make that argument since a reasonable person would likely see that as something a business should have mitigated, and as someone subject to security regulations, was obligated to know of the risk and take all reasonable actions to mitigate.

Yesterday's Windows patches fixed a huge potential security issue, as a for instance.  No one can say MS will ever provide another patch for W7.  No security software or setting would have caught the issue fixed yesterday... only human safe hex.  I am not spending time looking, but maybe the issue patched yesterday could also exist in obsoleted versions of Windows.

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1 minute ago, cbslee said:

Interesting, since I received new security definitions this morning dated 1/16/20 for MSE on my Win 7 computer ?

I don't think MSE is baked into Windows, it is a separate application.

Many expect at least some updates, but MS's official policy is no more (for consumers).  MS has, in the past, provided updates, such as one for XP long after it was abandoned, but hoping is not really security (to me).

I am a realist.  Many will not change anything until forced.  Dealing with a customer, today, who insists because S Corp Shareholder Insurance is deductible on the personal return, there is no harm not accounting for it properly as wages for withholding calcs.  They are ignoring the payroll regulations.  Another case of an owner/employee forgetting to treat all employees "hands off", with no consideration of the employee's personal tax situation.  The tough part is they are telling me their CPA (and tax preparer) is relying only on 2008-1 for guidance, and is not considering the payroll processing aspects.  I suspect their experts are only being asked about "tax filing", not "payroll processing".

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I successfully updated to 10 by hooking up a USB drive with the most current 10 operating system to my computer.  I bought my computer 3 years ago with 10-rolled-back-to-7 on it, so I did have a free update available. So I didn’t do a wipe clean install, but it’s working perfectly. However, first I made a) a ghost of my hard drive & b) separate backups of all my data. 

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18 hours ago, joanmcq said:

I successfully updated to 10 by hooking up a USB drive with the most current 10 operating system to my computer.  I bought my computer 3 years ago with 10-rolled-back-to-7 on it, so I did have a free update available. So I didn’t do a wipe clean install, but it’s working perfectly. However, first I made a) a ghost of my hard drive & b) separate backups of all my data. 

I updated my Win 7 for free about 2 weeks ago and it's working perfectly. I also cloned it first and upgraded to 10 on the clone.

Only issue was updating a Quickbooks patch which wasn't difficult.

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