I’ve heard that the last time I said I till use 7, six months ago. Still waiting for that malware. You understand the only way to get this malware is to actively download it and install it, yes?
Thats not remotely true, there’s many ways to inject things through ads or hacked websites onto your computer without you intentionally installing or downloading anything. Much much more rare and on updated systems generally will be better protected from those things, however using an outdated OS intentionally is asking for trouble.
Using an adblocker solves that. Not sure how that is specific to Win 7. Hacked websites? Name an example, source it. Difficulty: not from a movie with a skull and crossbones laughing on my screen.
None of these hacker fantasies happen in real life.
You do have a big hosts file and manage your router, yes?
Give me a link to a “hacked website” (F! U! D! Oh my!) right now that I can click on and will install malware on my Windows 7 PC.
Adversaries may gain access to a system through a user visiting a website over the normal course of browsing. Multiple ways of delivering exploit code to a browser exist (i.e., Drive-by Target), including:
A legitimate website is compromised, allowing adversaries to inject malicious code
Script files served to a legitimate website from a publicly writeable cloud storage bucket are modified by an adversary
Malicious ads are paid for and served through legitimate ad providers (i.e., Malvertising)
Built-in web application interfaces that allow user-controllable content are leveraged for the insertion of malicious scripts or iFrames (e.g., cross-site scripting)
Browser push notifications may also be abused by adversaries and leveraged for malicious code injection via User Execution. By clicking “allow” on browser push notifications, users may be granting a website permission to run JavaScript code on their browser.
It’s not Hollywood fantasy, as you claim. It is a well documented attack vector.
Maybe try ReviOS? It’s a “playbook” file you run on a clean Windows 11 install that strips out all of the telemetry and junk, and mostly “just works”. The only big potential pain point, imho, is not getting automatic driver updates from Windows Update.
I just installed CachyOS with virt-manager running ReviOS in a virtual machine. For my needs, it’s amazing. Arch Linux allows for easy updates to the latest versions of software and CachyOS further improves it with optimized, pre-compiled packages, which is particularly relevant for a smooth gaming experience. (Outdated packages aren’t a good mix with new games, and the optimized packages improve performance.)
The only “big” challenge I’ve had with Windows is getting videoconferencing working smoothly (my webcam is flickery), but that’s not a big deal. Zoom in Linux works great, and Teams/Zoom both work well in browser (in Linux). So, most of my work stuff is in the VM, but I have Zoom and a separate browser (for Teams meetings) installed in Linux.
This setup requires a bit of technical skill; you need to be able to find and follow guides. (Ex. I needed to troubleshoot why I couldn’t change the VM resolution, and the fix was to download a set of VM tools in Windows.) If you have light technical skills to search for and read guides, it shouldn’t be too challenging.
Can I run Windows 7 in a VM if I am forced to use 10 or 11 somehow?
Don’t use 7, you’re just asking for malware
I’ve heard that the last time I said I till use 7, six months ago. Still waiting for that malware. You understand the only way to get this malware is to actively download it and install it, yes?
Thats not remotely true, there’s many ways to inject things through ads or hacked websites onto your computer without you intentionally installing or downloading anything. Much much more rare and on updated systems generally will be better protected from those things, however using an outdated OS intentionally is asking for trouble.
Using an adblocker solves that. Not sure how that is specific to Win 7. Hacked websites? Name an example, source it. Difficulty: not from a movie with a skull and crossbones laughing on my screen. None of these hacker fantasies happen in real life. You do have a big hosts file and manage your router, yes? Give me a link to a “hacked website” (F! U! D! Oh my!) right now that I can click on and will install malware on my Windows 7 PC.
Simply untrue. Hollywood fantasies.
It’s called a Drive-by Compromise:
A legitimate website is compromised, allowing adversaries to inject malicious code
Script files served to a legitimate website from a publicly writeable cloud storage bucket are modified by an adversary
Malicious ads are paid for and served through legitimate ad providers (i.e., Malvertising)
Built-in web application interfaces that allow user-controllable content are leveraged for the insertion of malicious scripts or iFrames (e.g., cross-site scripting)
It’s not Hollywood fantasy, as you claim. It is a well documented attack vector.
Maybe try ReviOS? It’s a “playbook” file you run on a clean Windows 11 install that strips out all of the telemetry and junk, and mostly “just works”. The only big potential pain point, imho, is not getting automatic driver updates from Windows Update.
I just installed CachyOS with virt-manager running ReviOS in a virtual machine. For my needs, it’s amazing. Arch Linux allows for easy updates to the latest versions of software and CachyOS further improves it with optimized, pre-compiled packages, which is particularly relevant for a smooth gaming experience. (Outdated packages aren’t a good mix with new games, and the optimized packages improve performance.)
The only “big” challenge I’ve had with Windows is getting videoconferencing working smoothly (my webcam is flickery), but that’s not a big deal. Zoom in Linux works great, and Teams/Zoom both work well in browser (in Linux). So, most of my work stuff is in the VM, but I have Zoom and a separate browser (for Teams meetings) installed in Linux.
This setup requires a bit of technical skill; you need to be able to find and follow guides. (Ex. I needed to troubleshoot why I couldn’t change the VM resolution, and the fix was to download a set of VM tools in Windows.) If you have light technical skills to search for and read guides, it shouldn’t be too challenging.
(I use Arch, by the way.)
Why the hell would you want to?
In case I want to use a OS that still works, as opposed to the user-hostile resource-depleting exhausting visual messes like Windows 11?