Microsoft ended general support for Windows in January 2020, ending a decade of activity. However, rather than withering away and settling into a footnote in OS history, Windows 7 is still estimated to be running on more than 100 million PCs.

Data from NetMarketShare shows that, surprisingly (or oddly, depending on your point of view), Windows 7 gained share in the Windows OS market in December: from 18.78% in November, Windows 7's share was 19.71% in December. 71%.

This is a difference of less than one percentage point. It also means that one in five PCs is using an operating system that is no longer generally supported. However, business customers can still pay for extended support through January 2023 as a "last resort," as Microsoft puts it. Unfortunately, NetMarketShare does not distinguish between enterprise/business and residential customers when compiling market share figures, so there is no way to know the percentage.

Also, converting market share figures to actual usage is a tricky business. Be that as it may, ZDNet's Ed Bott did some calculations and concluded that "it is clear that at least 100 million PCs are still running Windows 7," noting that the actual figure may be even "significantly higher."

Undoubtedly, many of the Windows 7 installations are enterprise systems in environments where an overall upgrade would be too costly or headache-inducing in terms of running legacy software. Probably the vast majority of them.

What about consumers concerned about privacy in Windows 10? They are undoubtedly part of the Windows 7 holdover population as well, but perhaps to a lesser extent. Certainly among gamers, a peek at Steam's latest hardware and software survey shows a percentage difference between Windows 7 and Windows 10: 91.84 percent running Windows 10 vs. only 3 .74 percent, which is quite an opening.

This means that 9 out of 10 gaming PCs are running Windows 10. Of course, Steam's survey, like all surveys, has its shortcomings. However, it is the best indicator in the PC gaming sector.

Are you still running Windows 7 on your PC? Let us know what OS you are using these days in the comments section. And if you are sticking with Windows 7, please tell us why.