Classic 7 blends Windows 7 and Windows 10 IoT to bring back the good old days

Although Microsoft might be reigning in some of the less popular features of Windows 11, including pulling back on Copilot integration, bringing back taskbar customisations, and giving its latest operating system a much-needed speed boost, there's no getting away from the fact that Windows 11 is still an ad-infested, privacy nightmare. Leaving many users yearning for the good ol' days of Windows 7.

Thanks to Classic 7, there is now a way to resurrect those simpler days, with an operating system that will continue to get security updates.

Classic 7 is built on Windows 10 IoT (IoT Enterprise LTSC 2021), a stripped-down, lightweight version of Windows that forgoes things like the Xbox Game Bar, advertising, and Microsoft Edge. It is primarily designed for embedded devices and has a minimum requirement of only 2 GB RAM and a 1 GHz processor, which is why it previously carried the "embedded" moniker in its name.

Because Windows 10 IoT is designed primarily for industrial and retail applications, it will continue to get security updates until October 2032. Of course, you would still need to find your own way to license it, but if you want to try it out, it will function without the need to activate.

It is also worth keeping in mind that downloading your primary operating system from an unofficial source carries its own risks. To implement the Windows 7 desktop environment on a relatively modern operating system requires significant modification, and you are placing your trust entirely in the developers of Classic 7 not to have made any nefarious changes.

There doesn't seem to be any indication that you couldn't use this to power your gaming machine, and there are anecdotal reports suggesting it may offer better performance in some titles. Of course, your mileage may vary, but this could still be a fun weekend project to power up in a virtual machine if you're looking to see if Windows 7 really is as good as we remember it.

If you want to keep things official, you can buy Windows 11 from Amazon for $119.99.