Got Windows 7? Don't Panic!

[Betty]

Got Windows 7? Don't Panic!

Microsoft officially ends support for Windows 7 in 2020. That doesn't mean it will suddenly stop working, you'll get infected, or hacked. More people are getting infected & hacked on Windows 10 computers than any other.

As long as you keep your third party antivirus & browsers updated you'll be fine. Do not ever use Microsoft Explorer or Edge browsers on your machines... not even on Windows 10. Most other browsers are safer, more secure, & private.

I would never NEVER get Windows 10 on any machine. If it already came with W10 on it I will remove it to put Windows 7, or something (anything) else on it.

Windows 10 is not more secure. It's forever changing, so is forever creating new vulnerabilities for itself, while they still haven't found & repaired previous vulnerabilities. It's overloaded, bogged down, bloated, & slow. It's chock full of adware, spyware, bloatware, & unsafe third party advertisers or partners far beyond any other OS or mainstream software.

It's unreliable. At least every couple of months an update breaks it, or even if you set it to not update & not reboot while you're working, it will suddenly do that when you're right in the middle of something anyway. It constantly changes & updates my drivers to some generic or odd type of driver that don't work, while I already had the correct & updated driver for that hardware already installed directly from the manufacturer. W10 updates change my settings, so I have to spend hours putting all my setting back the way they should be... every damn month or 2.

W7 has been attacked to death for so many years, that there's very little left that is still vulnerable that hasn't been discovered & patched long ago.

Explorer & Edge browsers are always vulnerable, less safe, less secure, & less private than most other browsers no matter what version of Windows you use. Just don't use them. Almost all popular browsers are better.

Microsoft antivirus, security essentials, & defender are a joke. Almost any of the good free third party antivirus sofware & security are better.

I will be comfortably, safely, & securely using W7 at least until 2023. When it gets to be you can't install an updated browser or firewall on W7 anymore, then you will be at risk. But I'll bet there will still be plenty that work on W7 in 2025.

Updated Opera browsers, many good antivirus software, & firewalls can still be installed on XP & Vista. I've seen many schools, libraries, cash register systems, ATMs, & military equipment still running XP fine & not getting viruses or hacked. Indeed, recently I'm seeing more W10 infected or hacked machines than with any other OS.

Browsers & operating systems used by our users during the past 30 minutes:

[Betty]

Windows 7 expires soon. Don't panic!

I have 5 PCs & 4 laptops running Windows 7. I permanently shut of & disabled Windows updates way back in the day they tried to download, & install Windows 10 on them without my knowledge or permission. Never turned them back on, & don't have any problems even though I have surfed into dangerous territory.

I don't use Edge, Explorer browsers, or Windows antivirus. I use safer & more secure free browsers, antivirus, security, & firewalls.

The day W7 won't run good third party browsers, & security anymore, I may switch permanently to Linux or get some used Macs cheap if they haven't come out with something better than Windows 10 by then.

I believe I can still be very safe & secure on Windows 7 for at least 2-3 more years.

Lets not also forget that people paying for W7 updates until 2023, will leak out versions of those updates to the general public that will work safely of any W7 installation. And of course, as always, the licenses for them, just like anything else is hackable.

https://youtu.be/AL2llKqJ6oI

[Robyn Jodie]

Not Windows 7, but I saw a Facebook post claiming that "Avast's free antivirus harvests all your clicks, sells them to third parties."  Is this just trashing the competition, or is it true?

[Betty]

Not true... sort of. When you install AVAST, as all antivirus, browsers, & most software, you are offered to opt in or out of data collection to help improve the product. If you opt in, AVAST does not collect your name, address, email, or ISP information. They, like most software companies may sell those anonymous data statistics to others.

If you're not sure what you opt in or out of during the installation of AVAST, or change your mind, the opt in/out selection can be easily found in your settings, along with any other configration setting you may wish to change. Many other software companies hide the option well so it's hard to find, or don't offer the option to opt out at all.

Even windows 10 has some privacy options, but the worst privacy intrusions are well hidden & confusing, where they deliberately make it unclear what you're opting in or out of, or require almost some "engineering" to opt out of or stop. No matter what you do to W10, no matter how you set it, it will still record your every keystroke, & send it to Microsoft, along with your Microsoft ID.

It doesn't matter with W10 anyway, because they change your settings to whatever they want to in a future update without your knowledge. So with W10, you literally have to check your settings 24/7 because MS will change them without any notification.

Uninformed techie wannabes, & knowledgeable tech news sites are hyping this AVAST data option as some sort of scandal, while this sort of opt in/out of data collection has been used by most software companies for over 25 years, & has always been quite common.

If you don't want data collection in AVAST, Firefox, Pale Moon, or Waterfox, just opt out of it. It's a choice, not a forced, hidden, or secret thing. Many software, antiviris, & browser companies aren't so up-front & transparent about it, or don't make it easy to opt out.

[Robyn Jodie]

Thank you for your very thorough and helpful reply.