Windows 7 / Getting Started

Microsoft Product Life Cycles

Every product has a life cycle, and, at the end of the product life cycle, Microsoft stops providing updates. However, this doesn't mean that no new vulnerabilities will be discovered in the product. To keep your network protected from the latest vulnerabilities, you will need to upgrade to a more recent operating system.

Microsoft offers a minimum of five years of mainstream support from the date of a product's general availability. When mainstream support ends, businesses have the option to purchase two years of extended support. In addition, online self-help support, such as the Knowledge Base, will still be available.

Security updates will be available through the end of the extended support phase at no additional cost for most products. You do not have to have an extended support contract to receive security updates during the extended support phase. For more information on the Windows 7 product life cycle, see http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifeselectwin. When planning future operating system upgrades, you must keep the product life cycle in mind, particularly the period during which security updates will be released.

You have to stay reasonably current on updates to continue to receive Microsoft support because Microsoft provides support only for the current service pack and the one that immediately precedes it. This support policy allows you to receive existing hotfixes or to request new hotfixes for the currently shipping service pack, the service pack immediately preceding the current one, or both during the mainstream phase.

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In this tutorial:

  1. Managing Software Updates
  2. Methods for Deploying Updates
  3. Windows Update Client
  4. Windows Server Update Services
  5. System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2
  6. Manually Installing, Scripting, and Removing Updates
  7. Overview of Windows 7 Update Files
  8. How to Script Update Installations
  9. How to Remove Updates
  10. Deploying Updates to New Computers
  11. Other Reasons to Use a Private Network for New Computers
  12. Managing BITS
  13. BITS Behavior
  14. BITS Group Policy Settings
  15. Configuring the Maximum Bandwidth Served For Peer Client Requests Policy
  16. Managing BITS with Windows PowerShell
  17. Windows Update Group Policy Settings
  18. Configuring Windows Update to Use a Proxy Server
  19. Tools for Auditing Software Updates
  20. The MBSA Console
  21. MBSACLI
  22. Scheduling MBSA
  23. Troubleshooting the Windows Update Client
  24. The Process of Updating Network Software
  25. Assembling the Update Team
  26. Inventorying Software
  27. Creating an Update Process
  28. Discovering Updates
  29. Evaluating Updates
  30. Speeding the Update Process
  31. Retrieving Updates
  32. Testing Updates
  33. Installing Updates
  34. Removing Updates
  35. Auditing Updates
  36. How Microsoft Distributes Updates
  37. Security Updates
  38. Update Rollups
  39. Service Packs
  40. Microsoft Product Life Cycles