New beta april 26

[Eric Rechlin]

(04-27-2021 09:56 PM)BruceH Wrote:  

(04-27-2021 04:22 AM)Joe Horn Wrote:  If you are correct, then both BruceH and I are irresponsible. But I don't see it that way. I personally am of the opinion that relying on security updates from Microsoft for ANY version of Windows is less responsible than using prudently cautious online hygiene, which is what I do (obviously!) with my Windows 7 computers, which is why they never get infected with anything.

I'm using Windows 7 in a VM on a Mac because there is no Mac version of the betas yet. Ironically I'm not using Win10 because of security: I don't start the VM very often so if it were Win10 then it would mean waiting 20 minutes while multiple updates were applied before I could use it, whereas Win 7 takes 20 seconds to boot and then I'm ready to go. :-)

I don't know whether to laugh or cry. But I see your point -- when you are using an OS that no longer receives updates, you no longer have to worry about waiting for updates to install!

On Joe's point, I agree that being prudently cautious is far more effective than just relying on the computer to know what to do. It's why I don't believe in antivirus software, which cries wolf too many times with false positives and drags down the computer's performance. The main concern with an unsupported OS, though, is the potential for unattended attacks by unpatched remote execution flaws, which can add your computer to a botnet without you even doing anything on it, but this is much less of a problem if your computer never leaves your private network and your network doesn't forward any ports to your computer (that is, a firewall/NAT prevents it from being fully connected to the Internet). In that case, your use of proper "hygiene" and at least keeping your browser updated should be good enough.

But still, in my opinion there is no good reason not to take the free upgrade to Windows 10 unless you have hardware that doesn't support it. Even the biggest holdouts I know personally finally upgraded last year when support was dropped.