January 14, 2020, is a date that has long been dreaded, and will long be remembered, by fans of Windows 7. It marks the date when Microsoft officially ended support for its decade-old operating system, leaving users who stick with it vulnerable to security exploits and software bugs. That’s why it’s of utmost importance that you upgrade as soon as possible. (Here’s how.) But it doesn’t stop us looking back fondly on one of Microsoft’s most beloved operating systems. An OS that, for this writer at least, was the last time I felt that I got the most from the platform. Windows 7 was originally released in October 2009 and was quickly lauded as a vast improvement over Windows Vista. Part of that was down to PC hardware having progressed significantly in the few years between the two operating systems, making the near-identical system requirements far less of a hurdle than they were on Vista’s January 2007 debut. It also improved boot times, expanded language support, and overhauled the taskbar and Start menu. Windows 7 was so successful that it ended up remaining the OS of choice for most PC users after the release of Windows 8 three years later….