Windows 7 Market Share Sees Tenfold Surge as Windows 10 Support Nears Its End

September 2025's OS usage statistics delivered a surprising and puzzling twist. Just as support for Windows 10 is winding down, data shows a dramatic resurgence for Windows 7, with some users choosing to revert to the old platform rather than upgrade to Windows 11.

According to a fresh report from Statcounter, the share of Windows 7 jumped to 9.61%, up from less than 1% just in July. This growth seems paradoxical; instead of moving to supported systems, users are installing an OS released 16 years ago, which hasn't received security updates for years. The data indicates the surge was primarily driven by Asian markets, where Windows 7's share rocketed from 5.64% to 18.67% in a single month, though notable growth was also recorded in Germany.

The reason for this anomaly isn't yet clear, but one working theory points to activity in the legacy hardware sector. Owners of older computers that don't meet Windows 11's requirements may be consciously installing the lighter and more familiar Windows 7. Another theory suggests the activity of botnets exploiting vulnerabilities in unsupported systems.

Meanwhile, Windows 11's share not only failed to increase ahead of Windows 10's end-of-life but actually continued to decline, dropping to 49%. Windows 10 remains installed on 40.5% of PCs. Experts warn that using an unsupported OS like Windows 7 carries significant cybersecurity risks, unless the system operates in a closed environment without internet access. The lack of security patches makes such systems easy targets for malicious actors. Nevertheless, the current situation clearly demonstrates a reluctance among a significant portion of users to move to Windows 11, driving them to seek alternatives, even radical ones.

It will be interesting to see the October data, once Windows 10 support is officially retired, to gauge how many users ultimately remain on Windows 10 and how many have migrated to other operating systems.