When Microsoft announced the end of support for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 more than two years ago, the company introduced the Advanced Security Updates (ESU) program. The ESU has allowed organizations using the aforementioned operating systems to receive important security updates to help protect them from cyber threats.

While Microsoft will deliver the final cumulative security updates for Windows 7 in January 2023, a platform called 0patch aims to replace Microsoft in protecting legacy operating systems from cyber threats. This week, 0patch announced that it will provide the micropatch service for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 devices until January 2025.

“We’ve decided to continue to provide security patches for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 for potentially exploitable critical vulnerabilities and will be happy to protect you for the very small fraction of what you’ve paid for ESU so far,” 0patch said.

0patch micropatches are applied directly to the memory of running processes instead of replacing executables, so the user does not need to restart the computer to complete the update installation.

If a user joins the Microsoft ESU program and wishes to continue receiving security updates with 0patch, they only need to apply all remaining ESU updates. They then need to install the 0patch “free tool” on their Windows 7 or Server 2008 R2 computers and register with their 0patch account.

In March 2022, the 0patch team released an unofficial fix for an old Windows vulnerability. Three months later, they also released a fix for the zero-day vulnerability in the Microsoft Support Diagnostic Tool.