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.

[dolly bo peep]

Betty,

Thank you for sharing this information.

Would you recommend installing LINUX for better security, and if so, which LINUX distributions and browsers do you think are best?

[newbaby]

Hi Betty
Is it possible for win10 to be responsible for my printers not working correctly.
I have both a Epson ET2710 and Xerox 2515 printer and both show the same fault. I am allowed to print a test page but as soon as I try to print anything else I get the error message, 'printer in error mode'.

[Betty]

It's possible. Constant & excessive windows 10 updates, also update drivers, including printer drivers. Frequently in Windows 10 updates, they're the wrong drivers & don't work. Download & install your drivers, including printer drivers directly from the manufacturer for best results. If you connect to the printer through wifi wirelessly, W10 could have screwed up your wifi drivers, settings, & sharing too.

Windows 10 updates change your settings, so after their constant, bandwidth-hungry, frequent updates, your settings, including your printer, wifi, & sharing settings could be wrong.

All my computers since the days they stopped full support for XP are on Windows 7. I already had licensed copies of W7 by then (from other older or discarded computers) & was planning to switch for a while. The only reason I hung on to XP for so long, was that so much of my older software wouldn't work on W7. But by the time I finally moved to W7, everything that worked in XP worked in W7.

Until Windows 10, Vista was the worst thing they ever made, so never considered it an option. Now W10 is even worse. I didn't want my computer turned into giant phone screens, so never considered Windows 8 either. But I'd gladly take W8.1 over Windows 10.

All my computers also have Linux installed alongside Windows 7 on the same machine in a dual-boot configuration. Most popular versions of Linux have the option to install them in that configuration alongside of whatever OS you're already using.

You can still access all your windows files while booted into Linux, but you won't be able to see Linux stuff while booted into Windows.

I'd probably be 100% Linux by now, but there's still some important software/programs I use in Windows 7, where there's still nothing close for them Linux. I am very familiar with getting Windows programs to work in Linux wine. But those particular programs wouldn't work in wine either.

If all you need is something to surf the web, mail, chat, use Facebook, see pictures, play music, play video, & print with, Linux a great option.

Even Chromebooks, Firefox OS, Android, Amazon Fire, & Kindle are Linux. Most web servers, including those for Betty's & Facebook are Linux.

Yes, Linux is safer & more secure. But because most users are on Windows, Apple, or Android, rather than Linux, Linux is also targeted & attacked less.

Linux Zorin used to be my favorite for decent fast computers. But then they got too big, bloated, resource-hungry, buggy, & less user-friendly. I've heard their newest versions are a little better, but I haven't tried them again in over a year. Distro Astro Linux is another favorite of mine (if you like astronomy), but they haven't been supported in a couple years. It still works fine though, comes in 32 & 64 bit, plus all the new/updated popular browsers, & media players still run on it.

I'm running my primary desktop with Linux Mint, & Windows 7 in dual boot configuration. Mint does well on it. On a few old 2005-2007 single core (1.3-1.8ghz) laptops, including an old 2005 ibook, I'm running Linux Xubuntu fine alongside Windows 7, in dual boot. Another choice, Linux Lubuntu is almost the same thing.

Xubuntu is great for older or slow computers because it's the least resource hungry while still being a full-featured OS that's easy to use. That ancient ibook really flies well with it... as long as you remember to get the Linux version designed for ibook's old, special "power pc" CPU configuration. Ordinary Linux will fail on it.

Here's a whole channel on Linux. Scroll through to stuff for beginners or other topics of interest. I don't agree with everything he says, but there's still a lot of useful stuff there.

https://www.youtube.com/user/homergfunk/videos

Get yourself a used cheap computer from a refurbished shop first, to poke with & experiment on so you don't break your only or primary computer by a mistake or glitch installing or transferring you files. Friends or family may even have a fair one in their attic to give away for free. Add some RAM & a new hard drive, & it might be better than it was new. You can find good used dual core or better desktops in reputable stores for around $100 or less, & laptops for around $200 or less with a warranty & return policy... even Amazon & Walmart has them.

Also by having more than 1 computer in the house, or a spare, if something goes wrong, you can always search google for help, advice or download software & scripts to fix it. Don't search Bing, or Yahoo for help, they're not that good. The spare can also be used to burn rescue or repair software onto a disk or USB fash drive, print instructions, or to read step by step troubleshooting guides.

All the best Linux & its software is 100% free.

Here's another very interesting channel on computing by a cool wizard. But you'll have to scroll around a bit to find stuff about starting with Linux.

https://www.youtube.com/user/explainingcomputers/videos

Don't Panic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIvIeWnJZdI

Top Linux OS's. The first review is for Linux Mint, the last one in the review is for Linux Zorin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYFcTix56e8

Windows 10-s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwZJPrgVncU

[Betty]

If your printer connects through your wifi, try plugging it directly into the computer with a USB cord & see if that works. If it is on a USB connection, try a new cord, or connecting to it with wifi.

https://www.epson-printers.org/epson-et-2710-windows-10-setup/

Isn't an Xerox 2515 a huge, large format, obsolete 20 year old printer? If you did have drivers for that one, W10 probably wiped it out, & you'll have to reinstall them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkhcoQYodVc

[dolly bo peep]

Betty,

Thank you very much for sharing your LINUX knowledge and advice.

I wasn't familiar with the first channel you recommended, but after I viewed several videos, it looks like it's worth subscribing to.

I already subscribe to the Explaining Computers channel and like his videos.

I hope that these postings interest other Betties members in exploring LINUX.

[Betty]

Yes it is. I started this thread because too frequently in my private messages at Betty's Pub, & email from friends of Betty's, I've been getting questions about W7's end of support or alternatives. Because most of them are members or regulars, although the topic isn't sissy-related, it is related to many in our group.

Indeed, looking at traffic stats I've seen a slight increase of Windows 7 users & decrease in W10 users this year here. So W10 isn't winning any more this year among our users. They're either falling back to W7, or walking away from all of it in favor of an android device like phones, tablets, chromebooks, or Amazon Fire. More are going to apple devices too, if they can afford them or get a good deal on them used.

Almost half our visitors though, visit on a mobile device like a phone or pocket tablet. About 2/3 of those portable devices are a Samsung Galaxy with Firefox or Google Chrome.

That's pretty close to worldwide stats. Almost half the people that use the internet these days in the world don't use a real computer, & many of them never had one.

So more people haven't got more computer savvy & are using computers in modern times. They've just found that they can easily use some of the internet with a touch screen pocket device, or a google & adware infested android tablet. If there's not an app for that, many of them are lost.