4 ms·

I have been proudly using the same instance of Windows 7 as my "daily driver" for 11 years.

iforgotpassword 3y ago
I guess as long as daily driving (regarding online activities) isn't much more than browsing reddit and Facebook that might work, but wouldn't using Online-Banking/PayPal/Amazon on a system that hasn't been patched in years make you nervous? I mean the browser is a good sandbox but still...
- carlosjobim 3y ago
  The opposite I would say. Facebook and Reddit are the worst hogs you can find. Advanced productivity software and most websites have no problems running on old machines.
  - iforgotpassword 3y ago
    Ah that was worded poorly I guess; I was saying that in regards to security, but that sentence got awful long now that I re-read it. As in, you're probably not doing anything too critical on there.
  - FirmwareBurner 3y ago
    The recent Reddit frontend update is insanely bad for both UX and performance. I had no idea further enshitification was even possible but holy crap they knocked it out of the park this time. I wonder at what point having a company with a terrible product like that on your resume ruins your chances of being hired somewhere that actually cares about quality products?
- Jerrrry 3y ago
  Reddit, Facebook, Paypal, Amazon are all the only sites this computer connects to. The attack vector of malicious ads on these sites are the largest attack vector - which is nearly abysmally small since Chrome is a better sandbox than windows is. Aside from 0-days, which are basically/practically out of scope, the only thing to worry of is automated scans and 3 letter agencies. I am behind a NAT, and the 3 letter agencies are inescapable - but a defense of "my computer is old and insecure" may retro-actively be the only plausible deniability that the "layman" such as myself can muster. Hypothetically. Similar to having an open wifi network for the sole purpose of muddying the waters and adding noise to a signal.
  - saagarjha 3y ago
    The browser sandbox is reliant on functional OS features to work. I would not recommend using something that old.
bambax 3y ago
Me too!
apexalpha 3y ago
I hope you realise that that OS has not been receiving any security patches since 2020 or so.
- Jerrrry 3y ago
  The ROI on targeting older machines in Western countries is so asymmetrical, that I only fear targeted attacks - given my personal risk assessment, I'd rather allow a targeted attack and be alerted when my honeypot accounts get compromised, then join the ranks of Win11 botnets and a juxtapositionally genuine false sense of security.
  - apexalpha 3y ago
    I think you're miscalculating here. Most of the 'hacks' taking place are scripts scanning the entire internet looking for non-patched machines running knows vulnerabilities. The risk of being targeted by one of these is near 100% on a long enough timeline. I'd _seriously_ advice you to never put a WinXP machine on the internet, even with a firewall in between. At least get the extended support thingy.

I guess as long as daily driving (regarding online activities) isn't much more than browsing reddit and Facebook that might work, but wouldn't using Online-Banking/PayPal/Amazon on a system that hasn't been patched in years make you nervous? I mean the browser is a good sandbox but still...

carlosjobim 3y ago
The opposite I would say. Facebook and Reddit are the worst hogs you can find. Advanced productivity software and most websites have no problems running on old machines.
- iforgotpassword 3y ago
  Ah that was worded poorly I guess; I was saying that in regards to security, but that sentence got awful long now that I re-read it. As in, you're probably not doing anything too critical on there.
- FirmwareBurner 3y ago
  The recent Reddit frontend update is insanely bad for both UX and performance. I had no idea further enshitification was even possible but holy crap they knocked it out of the park this time. I wonder at what point having a company with a terrible product like that on your resume ruins your chances of being hired somewhere that actually cares about quality products?
Jerrrry 3y ago
Reddit, Facebook, Paypal, Amazon are all the only sites this computer connects to. The attack vector of malicious ads on these sites are the largest attack vector - which is nearly abysmally small since Chrome is a better sandbox than windows is. Aside from 0-days, which are basically/practically out of scope, the only thing to worry of is automated scans and 3 letter agencies. I am behind a NAT, and the 3 letter agencies are inescapable - but a defense of "my computer is old and insecure" may retro-actively be the only plausible deniability that the "layman" such as myself can muster. Hypothetically. Similar to having an open wifi network for the sole purpose of muddying the waters and adding noise to a signal.
- saagarjha 3y ago
  The browser sandbox is reliant on functional OS features to work. I would not recommend using something that old.

bambax 3y ago

Me too!

apexalpha 3y ago

I hope you realise that that OS has not been receiving any security patches since 2020 or so.

Jerrrry 3y ago
The ROI on targeting older machines in Western countries is so asymmetrical, that I only fear targeted attacks - given my personal risk assessment, I'd rather allow a targeted attack and be alerted when my honeypot accounts get compromised, then join the ranks of Win11 botnets and a juxtapositionally genuine false sense of security.
- apexalpha 3y ago
  I think you're miscalculating here. Most of the 'hacks' taking place are scripts scanning the entire internet looking for non-patched machines running knows vulnerabilities. The risk of being targeted by one of these is near 100% on a long enough timeline. I'd _seriously_ advice you to never put a WinXP machine on the internet, even with a firewall in between. At least get the extended support thingy.