WINDOWS 7

SELF | 03/14/2020 | J. PAPA

[dljordan]

“Or looking at porn”

Or sports betting sites.

[bigbob]

[piasa]

You really shouldn’t have put those naked pictures on there. Is that really you?

[Bob434]

[[No need to if you’re not going to click bait sites were opening emails from strange people.]]

The main problem is when you go to legit sites, and get immediately redirected to nasty sites- and something gets downloaded before you can click out of the site-

Awhile back, this was happening a lot- but lately it doesn’t happen so much anymore- but it still happens-

It’s a good idea to have a snapshot that you can do a system revert IF that should happen- and also make a Macrium Reflect snapshot backup- just as a final resort if a system revert doesn’t work- I would look into a program like Rollback RX so that i can keep a number of snapshots that don’t get auto-deleted like what happens with windows system restore- so that you can have known good points to revert to for as long as you like- it also has the advantage of starting up BEFORE windows loads- incase you get a virus that kicks in as windows is loading, and prevents windows from loading- RollBack RX puts a boot menu option you can click by hitting the ‘Home’
key before windows actually begins to boot-

But i haven’t used it for a few years now since i moved to linux- so not sure if it’s still as good as it used to be- folks will have to do some research- when i used it it was invaluable- saved my bacon many times- I beleive it also protects agaisnt cypto lockers as you can do a rollback during boot, and revert to a time before your computer got locked-

[Carriage Hill]

I’ve used Norton 360 for as long as it’s been around, and have never been hit. It intercepts, quarrantines and deletes them

I added-in MalwareBytes Premium and CCleaner Pro this year, and both my 2009 commercial/industrial-grade HP PCs run just fine.

[kenmcg]

I had Windows 7 and it worked beautifully for me. Big mistake I made was signing on to Windows 10, its been a nightmare.

[rockrr]

Good post. What many people do not realize is that the first (or default) user profile that gets created when you install Windows has full administrative rights on the machine. It’s a best practice to create a separate user account for daily use that has more limited access rights (membership in the Power Users group should be sufficient).

That way the user gets prompts to make changes giving them a second chance to authorize any changes.

[Bob434]

Thanks- Yup forgot about that user privilege issue too- good point- just another layer of defense-

[O6ret]

Got it, works fine.

[MikelTackNailer]

Oh look, the Microsoft employees are here ("Windows 10, arf arf, Windows 10!"). Windows 7 was the last good version - so good it's been hard for Microsoft to get people to downgrade upgrade to Windows 10 since it seems to need updating every fourth day or so, remains incompatible with not-really-old applications and slows while fighting itself internally. And that's after clearing out or deactivating unnecessary background programs.

Windows 7 was so good I'm sure programmers were fired for straying from Planned Obsolescence. Though live support is gone you should be able to download security patches for years to come so pick Defender, AVG, Avast (all good and FREE) or one of the other suggested anti-virus/anti-malware applications mentioned here. Don't forget a firewall. ZoneAlarm is still badass and now has its own anti-virus suite.

Be wary of the big dogs Norton and McAfee. I've found Norton behaving like a virus itself - burrowing deeply into the registry and invading the system making it hell to completely remove. McAfee's installation wanted to know everything about the user which is just too suspicious for me. They may have improved since I dealt with them.

Got another computer on Linux which is a new experience. Mint 19 is the way to go for similarity to Windows and ease of installation. The speed is astonishing, it has a slew of programs as good or better than Windows counterparts and no one seems to write viruses or malware that can penetrate it. It's taking some getting used to after decades as a WinBot. Good luck to you!

[dayglored]

Windows 7 security questions ... PING!

You can find all the Windows Ping list threads with FR search: just search on keyword "windowspinglist".

Thanks to MikelTackNailer for the ping!

[dayglored]

> Is there a virus protection package or software that will secure it from hackers?

My personal take on this, as a huge Win7 fan:

• You can no longer get any security patches from Microsoft (as a consumer user).
• The monthly Win10 patches tell the hackers A LOT about flaws in Win7 that won't get patched.
• So you're more vulnerable with every succeeding month.
• Yeah, the commercial anti-malware programs are still compatible with Win7. Use one, or two if they're compatible with each other. I like Defender and MalwareBytes.

But here's the real point:

The single most important piece of security software is the one between your ears.

• DON'T click on things until you're sure what they really are. Use your browser's and email's "status" bar to see what the real destination of every URL is BEFORE you click it.
• DON'T go to porn sites, period. If you want to surf porn, get VirtualBox or VMware, make a VM (virtual machine) of Linux, and surf your porn on that.
• DO keep your wits about you at all times while surfing, even the most "innocent" and "safe" sites.
• DO be extremely suspicious of every email you receive, even from family and friends. They could be infected and not know it.

Good luck!

[TChad]

Webroot still supports Win7.

Lots of good information here:

https://community.webroot.com/webroot-secureanywhere-internet-security-plus-13/using-windows-7-beyond-ms-support-expiration-in-jan-2020-341490

[upchuck]

AV- Comparatives does periodic no-BS testing of malware programs. Bit Defender wins right now. But no matter your selection, beware false positives which can be more trouble than actual malware.

[wastedyears]

That’s extremely outdated software. Windows, I mean. :)

Still better than putting AIDS onto a hard drive.

[GOPJ]

...hackers are looking for Windows 7 machines. Our firewall at work reports on the attacks and they are all after windows 7 machines and they are trying from all over the globe.

Is that even true with things like Norton?

[b4its2late]

They're poking around looking for windows 7 vulnerabilities. Norton I believe would find anything if they get something placed. If antivirus is up to date, I would think it would be good, but since windows 7 isn't updating there may be other issues somehow. Not an IT guy, just know enough to get into trouble. LOL.

We upgraded or replaced all our work PC's (30) to Windows 10 and I did my desktop and laptop at home too. It was like $300 for both machines for me. There was a time you could update for free. You might be able to find something out there still. Just have to make sure it has the horse power and the disk space.

[Right Wing Assault]

How to download Windows 10 for free.

a href=https://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-download-windows-10-for-free-now-that-windows-7-is-dead<.a>