It’s like making meth: it may be easy to do, but the consequences can be severe so most people shouldn’t.
The same. I have Win11 on my work laptop. It’s “fine” and I don’t need to hyperbolicly declare my hatred but I definitely prefer 10. So I’ll probably be using 10 until midnight on D-Day, silently hoping for some reprieve.
I’m not exactly sure what this means. Maintaining security on an unsupported OS is not “easy” and does take some knowledge of the risk factors and the ability to source and deploy effective tools to mitigate them.
For about the tenth time, I am absolutely not saying that everyone should just go ahead and run any OS way past its end of life. I also fully realize that things will eventually begin to fail on Windows 7, including my enterprise-level threat protection. It won’t keep updating forever. Anything dependent on recent versions of the NET framework already doesn’t work, and security root certificates will eventually expire.
That said, as you’re an IT professional, I’m curious about your opinion of this guy’s post that I cited before. As I also noted, though, at the time he made this post, although Win7 was long out of official support, it was still getting critical security updates, and most browsers were still being supported, so that makes a big difference. His opinion may (or may not) be quite different today.
My employer paid millions to Microsoft to receive critical updates to Windows 7 systems after mainstream support ended.
You could always keep the old machine after you get a replacement and keep it offline but hooked up to any printers you’re worried about. Just transfer the files you want to print via USB drive.
I still have an XP desktop that’s been offline for years that I use primarily for Quicken to keep my checkbooks and to print checks on an elderly inkjet dedicated to that task. I will occasionally print a work file on it also, and it has old photo files I can search through for images, which I can transfer to an online machine via USB.
Updating the XP Quicken file is a good double-check for the Quicken program (not logged into the Internet) on my Win10 desktop, which is not hooked up to the check printer.
ETA: One almost retired XP desktop, one fully retired Win7 kept for photo storage, both offline; one Win10 and one Win11 desktop, two Win11 laptops, multiple inkjet and laser printers + scanners. I can’t afford workwise to depend on just one machine for critical tasks.
I know I’m needling you a bit, but not without reason. I did read his post and my problem is that at some point the software installed will no longer be supported and either you are encountering risks or it just won’t work.
I know the list is dated, but they recommend uninstalling Adobe Reader as an example. If you want to apply for a Canadian passport and fill in the downloadable application, your two options are use the Adobe Reader to fill and print with all data encoded in a QR code that Passport Canada scans to populate your data or print it out and fill by hand. Your new printer may not have a driver that installs on W10 without a lot of work, so now you have to go to Canada Post and hope they have pre-printed application forms.
Windows 8.1 was EOL in January, 2023 and the last supported version of Chrome for W8.1 was released the same month.
Chrome browser system requirements - Chrome Enterprise and Education Help
At some point after that, some legitimate site could offer up infected code that would have been fixed in later versions or benign bug fixes/new features would result in mis-rendered or unnavigable sites.
I’m not only the CTO for 40 staff and responsible for my clients, I’m also the free support guy for family and friends and I personally don’t want to deal with it. I’ve moved both my 77 year old mother-in-law and 87 year old mother to iPads because it’s greatly reduced my support work. My MIL was victim to a hijacked web page/remote support scam either due to a mistyped URL or a malicious email link on her old laptop, not a risk anymore.
I’m a believer in attack surface reduction and keeping current on the OS and apps does that.
Thanks for the reply, and I completely agree with it. If I was a CIO/CTO I would absolutely insist that either (a) everyone’s PCs were running a current and supported OS, or (b) if that wasn’t possible, then – as was actually the case in an example I cited – a contract be negotiated with Microsoft for continuing support of all relevant functionality, particularly security vulnerabilities.
I’m a former IT professional as well (retired), but in quite a different realm – nothing to do with PCs, and focused on system architecture and software development. But we speak a common language with regard to basic tech issues and I get the things you’re saying.
I guess the best way to describe my defense of my beloved Dell Optiplex is that it’s a sort of artisinal PC! I’ve put so much effort into customizing it, both hardware and software, but mostly software, that to me it’s more of an art piece than a computer! 
But, yes, it will soon have to replaced. Le sigh!
Why haven’t I heard about massive problems caused specifically by outdated OS’s? I’d think if a nasty attack that specifically targeted outdated OS’s were out there, the tech media would be all over it. I’m I correct in thinking that there are no such specific threats?
Sorry for the slight hijack. It’s probably a stupid question with a simple answer so I don’t expect it to take off.
This.
All but one of my six machines are Windows 10. I truly hate having to use the Windows 11 machine because they broke the Taskbar so badly. It’s a primary interface–****ing with it was just dumb, dumb, dumb.
Yeah, I know, they surely did some research and found that only 4.7% of users changed any Taskbar settings. But by that rationale, you can delete most of the functionality in Word, PowerPoint, Excel, et al., too. It’s not that simple.
I plan to pay for the extra year and then see. Maybe I’ll be dead by then and it won’t matter…
How will we/can we find out about this? Do you suppose MS will notify us?
Same here.
With a fair bit of modern malware, there’s often no conspicuously visible cause/effect chain - your machine gets compromised, some of your data gets quietly stolen and some time later, you get spearphished by some scammer claiming to be from your bank and you wonder how they managed to sound so convincing. That’s just one sort of scenario and the threats are different for home users than they are for businesses.
But there is data out there on malware attacks (here’s an example) - so they other reason you might not have heard about it is just that you’re not on the receiving loop for that sort of information.
Oh man, you just reminded me of my kid’s computer. He has an Optiplex lovingly repainted and gussied up with a GTX 1080. Not a gaming beast but great for his type of gaming. On the other hand, I only ever connect it to the Internet to download a game off Steam or Epic then set it back into offline mode and unplug the USB Wi-Fi adapter.
Side note, for all the Plex users out there that DON’T already have a paid membership, Plex is going to a paid model in April 2025 IIRC, and while they’ll still allow monthly/annual memberships, apparently the lifetime is expected to go up in cost quite a bit. Just FYI.
Personally, I like Plex a lot, I’m just a bit irritated that a lot of the NAS systems that used to be perfect for it are leaving the field. My current system is fine, but it’ll be a lot pricier to replace in the future as things are going. -sigh-
Back to people who want the more-up to date (or are resigned to it at least 
) Windows 11 but don’t want to change their interface, I mention Stardock.
I don’t use it, though I’ve installed it on other computers for users who refuse to put up with new appearances. I haven’t done a Win11 install, but historically it has worked for me. Of course, YMMV, and it’s a non-zero amount of extra resources used, but that’s not normally an issue for lightweight usage such as mentioned in the OP.
It used to be a huge problem back in the 90s and 2000s. It’s less of an issue these days for several reasons, including what Mangetout said (it’s not always obvious when you’re infected anymore).
But also, Microsoft did a lot of security work since then and gradually made Windows more and more secure.
And usage patterns also shifted towards Web usage instead of desktop apps, where Google is much much better at security and browser sandboxing than Microsoft ever was. (Microsoft eventually used Chromium as the basis for its new Edge browser). Phone apps are also more sandboxed and protected than Windows, at least on iOS. It’s messier on Android but recent versions at least improved the permissions model.
All of these combined mean you have fewer users running vulnerable desktop apps (like early Outlook and Word), Windows is less relevant now that most of the world uses their phones instead, and so much of the remaining computer usage is on Chrome, which is probably the world’s single most hardened piece of software.
The post from which this is extracted seems to indicate I was not clear in my question, which should have been “do I really need to be concerned about browsers in Windows 11?” Which was in response to your statement “Pick a browser that is going to continue to be supported.”
“Upgrading” in my case is changing my existing machine from Win10 to Win 11.
No, your computer being used as a bot is a problem for all of us.
Your computer adding to the number of vulnerable machines makes it more attractive to make malware for older OS’s.
I just picked up a Beelink N150 to run Plex for under USD$200. Media is on my NAS and the N150 can transcode with no issues whatsoever, not that I need to transcode much.
Both can be true, i.e. My computer spreading viruses is bad for you but I’m not really concerned until I’m personally negatively affected.
Most people recognize the value in getting vaccinated extends to the community but most people also don’t think to worry about malware until their finances get hacked or the computer stops working right. People aren’t installing antivirus software for the sake of greater humanity.
Tech media doesn’t report this because it is common knowledge. Every new patch for OSs that are supported is effectively a catalogue of vulnerabilities in older OSs.
Most successful ransomware attacks target older systems.