iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Legacy Update @legacyupdate.net · 11/08/2026

Someone needs to photoshop (not AI) this into a Huge Nintendo DS-type meme

A giant yellow Windows NT 3.1 CD displayed on a hallway wall of a Microsoft campus building

Legacy Update @legacyupdate.net · 03/08/2026

I’d trust their numbers too, but with the caveat that nobody really uses Steam on macOS any more, so that side of it will be under-represented

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Reposted by Legacy Update

Legacy Update @legacyupdate.net · 02/08/2026

There are new articles this week, citing StatCounter, stating that Linux rose to 10% market share in the US. Exciting if true, but I doubt it is. More bots pretend to be real users than ever now, and as with last time, that messes with the numbers. Web market share stats are no longer reliable.

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Legacy Update @legacyupdate.net · 02/08/2026

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Reposted by Legacy Update

Legacy Update @legacyupdate.net · 21/07/2026

🌎⬆️ Legacy Update 1.13.2 addresses a security issue in the ActiveX control. Please update as soon as possible.

legacyupdate.net

Legacy Update 1.13.2: Security advisory

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Legacy Update @legacyupdate.net · 21/07/2026

🌎⬆️ Legacy Update 1.13.2 addresses a security issue in the ActiveX control. Please update as soon as possible.

legacyupdate.net

Legacy Update 1.13.2: Security advisory

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Legacy Update @legacyupdate.net · 03/07/2026

In response to recent industry changes, we’re making the entire 576 KB Legacy Update program available as freeware on a floppy disk. Just send $1 to: Homer Simpson, Jr. Vice President Compu-Global-Hyper-Mega-Net 742 Evergreen Tce Springfield, USA Offer void in Nebraska.

Windows XP floppy disk icon overlaid on a stack of colored floppies on a desk.

Image credits:
Windows XP High Resolution Icon Pack by marchmountain https://www.deviantart.com/marchmountain/art/916042853
“Pile of Old Disks” by Jason Coleman https://www.flickr.com/photos/jason_coleman/3614327264/

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Legacy Update @legacyupdate.net · 27/06/2026

Microsoft quietly extended Windows 10 Extended Security Updates to add another year. We updated our article about Windows 10 ESU to reflect this. If you haven’t seen it before, you might find it a useful read to know how to safely continue using Windows 10.

legacyupdate.net

How do I continue receiving updates for Windows 10?

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Legacy Update @legacyupdate.net · 14/06/2026

Considering this is still going scarily viral I’m just gonna do the thing. Spend a bit of the money you saved by not having any kids on a worthy cause, the Internet Archive, who preserve our increasingly chaotic digital world for future generations. archive.org/donate

archive.org

Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free & Borrowable Texts, Movies, Music & Wayback Machine

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Legacy Update @legacyupdate.net · 14/06/2026

Is the Microsoft Office Ribbon causing people to have fewer children? A provocative new working paper explores the persistent drop in birth rates since Office 2007 was introduced nearly two decades ago.

The top-left corner of Microsoft Word 2007, showing the ribbon.

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Legacy Update @legacyupdate.net · 16/05/2026

🌎⬆️ Legacy Update 1.13.1 fixes a few bugs introduced in 1.13, and adds workarounds for issues with some Lenovo devices and Intel Macs. It also addresses a potential security issue.

legacyupdate.net

Legacy Update 1.13.1

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Legacy Update @legacyupdate.net · 17/03/2026

Features nobody asked for: You can now subscribe to Legacy Update news as an Internet Explorer Web Slice. Just click the green button in the toolbar (it’s green to show that Internet Explorer is really excited a website is actually using this feature), or the Add Web Slice link in our News section.

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Legacy Update @legacyupdate.net · 16/03/2026

🌎⬆️ Legacy Update 1.13 improves handling of some edge cases you might run into while using Legacy Update. It includes 23 fixes and improvements (and plenty more small changes).

legacyupdate.net

Legacy Update 1.13

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Legacy Update @legacyupdate.net · 12/03/2026

Mozilla extended support for Firefox 115 ESR on Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 and macOS 10.12 – 10.14 until August. It was due to end support last month, and they may consider extending it again. Firefox ESRs are old versions that continue getting security updates. support.mozilla.org/kb/firefox-u...

Firefox 115.33.0esr showing itself as up-to-date on Windows 7

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Legacy Update @legacyupdate.net · 12/02/2026

Appreciate it! Most of the challenge is getting it all to work in Internet Explorer 6 😬

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Legacy Update @legacyupdate.net · 11/02/2026

We were under maintenance when you sent this, it’s fixed now. Sorry for the issues!

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Legacy Update @legacyupdate.net · 11/02/2026

Introducing our improved website: If it seems like nothing has changed, that’s a good thing! I worked hard to build something that’s easier for me to maintain, while making sure everything is just as it was before. It will help us continue to expand our archive and help page resources.

legacyupdate.net

Introducing our improved website

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Legacy Update @legacyupdate.net · 13/01/2026

There is some real irony to Microsoft giving the longest servicing life to Vista/Server 2008, the operating system that has the most issues with servicing. We’ve spent the most time working around issues that only exist in Vista/2008’s rewritten update system. Basically all issues were solved in 7.

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Legacy Update @legacyupdate.net · 13/01/2026

Today, Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 (based on Windows Vista and 7) finally, truly reach end of support. Windows Vista and Server 2008 is the longest supported version of Windows, at 19 years. Behind it is Windows XP at 17 years, and Windows for Workgroups 3.11 at 16 years.

support.microsoft.com

January 13, 2026—KB5073697 (Monthly Rollup) - Microsoft Support

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Legacy Update @legacyupdate.net · 07/01/2026

You’ve been asking me for years, and I finally did it. Windows Live Essentials was a suite of free add-on software from Microsoft. It’s a perfect fit into the Windows 7 experience, but it’s been hard to find official download links. Now, we have them easily accessible on a dedicated page:

legacyupdate.net

Windows Live Essentials - Microsoft Download Center Archive - Legacy Update

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Legacy Update @legacyupdate.net · 07/01/2026

What is the Silverlight logo supposed to be, anyway?

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Legacy Update @legacyupdate.net · 15/12/2025

Just a little update after getting a lot of attention from the Download Center archive v2 launch. Thanks to everyone who helped to spread the word about it!

patreon.com

The Download Center Archive is getting some attention | Adam Demasi

Get more from Adam Demasi on Patreon

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Legacy Update @legacyupdate.net · 05/12/2025

Sorry I missed this! Unfortunately there are a handful of “web” installers that rely on servers that have been shut down. We’re working on a custom update server that will let us replace them with full installers. Until then, there are archives you can find on archive.org.

archive.org

Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free & Borrowable Texts, Movies, Music & Wayback Machine

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Legacy Update @legacyupdate.net · 01/12/2025

We also now have a dedicated page to download Windows XP PowerToys and Fun Packs. PowerToys includes the power user favorite, Tweak UI, plus TaskSwitch (an Alt-Tab replacement), and the 3D Windows logo screen saver. Fun Packs add extra features to Media Player and Movie Maker. Check them out here:

legacyupdate.net

Microsoft PowerToys and Fun Packs - Microsoft Download Center Archive - Legacy Update

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Legacy Update @legacyupdate.net · 01/12/2025

If you’re not familiar with it, in 2023, I set up an index of free downloads Microsoft deleted from their website. Almost everything they purged has been preserved in the Wayback Machine, but it’s hard to find what you need. This makes it easy to download from a source you can trust.

legacyupdate.net

Microsoft Download Center Archive - Legacy Update

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Legacy Update @legacyupdate.net · 01/12/2025

Legacy Update has significantly expanded its archive of the Microsoft Download Center all the way back to 2012. It now indexes 41,000 downloads, of which over half have been deleted by Microsoft. More about what went into this, and what we’re still planning to do:

patreon.com

Expanding the Download Center Archive | Adam Demasi

Get more from Adam Demasi on Patreon

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Legacy Update @legacyupdate.net · 24/10/2025

When looking at other data sources, Windows 7 usage continues to go down, not up. Legacy Update also hasn’t seen any changes in its traffic. The previous screenshot was from DuckDuckGo (GPT-4o). Google does at least recognise that it’s disputed, but doesn’t say so clearly enough for my liking.

A Google AI Overview for the same search query, which opens with “According to market share data from StatCounter Global Stats, Windows 7's global market share was approximately 9.16% in September 2025. This is a significant increase from previous months, though some analysis suggests this surge is due to reporting errors, particularly in Asian markets.”

Only at the very end (below the “fold” where you need to click to expand) does it more clearly state the data is flawed: “Technical Note: As Windows 7 is an unsupported operating system, this unexpected rise in market share is likely an anomaly in the data rather than a genuine trend of users returning to the older OS.”

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Legacy Update @legacyupdate.net · 24/10/2025

Just a friendly reminder that, particularly when coming from search result summaries, AI only knows as much as it can glean from sources it deems to be authoritative. Often, those are news outlets that use clickbait, and put writers under pressure to push out articles without much critical thought.

A conversation with DuckDuckGo’s AI chat feature. The conversation starts with the search query “windows 7 september 2025”. Assist (DDG’s search summary feature) says that “In September 2025, Windows 7 experienced a surprising resurgence in market share, increasing by tenfold, particularly in Asia, as users began to shift away from Windows 10, which was nearing its end of life. This trend indicates that many users are opting to continue using the older operating system despite its lack of official support since 2020.”

I continue the conversation by challenging it on the validity of the data. It searches and then says “The claim is almost certainly invalid - StatCounter reported a large September 2025 jump for Windows 7, but multiple technical analyses and follow-ups flag it as a reporting anomaly […]”.

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Legacy Update @legacyupdate.net · 14/10/2025

After 10 years, Windows 10 has reached end of support. Don’t panic. Your Windows 10 computers will not explode. You will not catch every piece of malware in existence. You should enrol in ESU, or switch to Windows 11 or Linux, but this is not the end of the world. Our guide on what to do now:

legacyupdate.net

How do I continue receiving updates for Windows 10? - Legacy Update

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Legacy Update @legacyupdate.net · 12/10/2025

Wait, Windows 10 is legacy now? 😳 Windows 10 reaches end of support in a few days’ time, and there’s been an increasing number of questions about what will happen to Windows 10 and Windows Update. We put together a new guide to answer your questions:

legacyupdate.net

How do I continue receiving updates for Windows 10? - Legacy Update

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Legacy Update @legacyupdate.net · 02/10/2025

So long, Windows Update website 🫡 This week, Microsoft took down the old Windows Update v6 web app entirely. It was a time capsule locked in the Microsoft.com design from 2005. It’s been broken since 2021. You can still see it preserved through Windows Update Restored.

The Windows Update v6 website open to its homepage on Windows XP, as preserved by the Windows Update Restored project.

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Legacy Update @legacyupdate.net · 25/09/2025

Steam powered? No no, *Windows* powered

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Legacy Update @legacyupdate.net · 24/09/2025

Our code signing certificate expires less than 2 weeks from now. We are looking at free/discounted options, but may need to purchase the same certificate again for $369 USD. Your support is appreciated to help us reach this goal and continue working on Legacy Update for another 2 years.

legacyupdate.net

Legacy Update: Get back online, activate, and install updates on your legacy Windows PC

Getting error 80072EFE when checking for Windows Updates on your old version of Windows? Legacy Update continues support for Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8.1, etc. where Microsoft left off.

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Legacy Update @legacyupdate.net · 24/09/2025

We also added a partial fix for the slowest of all updates - those for .NET Framework. Each update has to go through an extremely slow, wasteful re-optimizing process. If you use the Legacy Update website to install updates, we now use a workaround to defer the optimization until the end.

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Legacy Update @legacyupdate.net · 24/09/2025

My never-ending quest to make every edition of Windows XP and Server 2003 identify itself correctly continues in this release. With some very specific exceptions, it should now always display the most accurate name for the OS. (Blog post still to come about the craziness behind this sometime)

Legacy Update’s System page shows that the current OS is Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005.

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Legacy Update @legacyupdate.net · 24/09/2025

I annoyed people a few too many times with the automatic restart, so Legacy Update 1.12 adds a new 3-minute countdown. This also lets you choose to restart later. A bug with it incorrectly thinking a restart is needed on Windows 10/11 (sorry!) is also fixed.

Legacy Update setup dialog says:

Restarting Windows
Your computer will not be up to date until you restart it. Please save any open files, photos or documents and restart now.
Setup will resume after restarting. Your computer may restart several times to complete installation.
Restarting in 02:17
[Restart] [Later]

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Legacy Update @legacyupdate.net · 24/09/2025

🌎⬆️ Legacy Update 1.12 is a huge rewrite release. We switched from compiling with Visual C++ 2008 (and 2010, and 2017, and 2022…), a setup which Microsoft recently broke, to a streamlined open-source MinGW/GCC toolchain. The result: 1.12 is 50% smaller than 1.11, which was already below 1 MB!

github.com

Release 1.12 · LegacyUpdate/LegacyUpdate

ImportantIf nothing happens when you open Legacy Update setup on Windows XP, follow these steps to work around a Windows bug. Legacy Update 1.12 features a significant rewrite of our ActiveX contr...

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Legacy Update @legacyupdate.net · 23/09/2025

root: boring, not scary at all, can just access it with sudo NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM: loud, asserts dominance, requires service hacks to access, shows The System is in charge

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Legacy Update @legacyupdate.net · 14/07/2025

Last week, apparently because a broken update was pushed, every running Windows Server on the planet with WSUS installed went and re-synced their entire database, causing a DDoS of Microsoft’s WSUS servers. Not a good past few weeks for Windows Update!

bleepingcomputer.com

Microsoft confirms Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) sync is broken

Microsoft has confirmed a widespread issue in Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) that prevents organizations from syncing with Microsoft Update and deploying the latest Windows updates.

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Legacy Update @legacyupdate.net · 04/07/2025

Microsoft fixed the expired file, and updating Windows 7 and 8 works once more (8.1 wasn’t affected). The new version of the file expires in 2033. I wrote up a post-mortem of what happened, for anyone curious:

adamdemasi.com

Microsoft broke Windows Update on Windows 7 (again)

A configuration file expired, again.

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Legacy Update @legacyupdate.net · 04/07/2025

adamdemasi.com

Microsoft broke Windows Update on Windows 7 (again)

A configuration file expired, again.

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