People are still running XP just fine, what's the worse that could happen? What's this end of life nonsense? It's not like it's in hospice. Everything functions just fine, at least for me. I've never called Microsoft for any support in over 20 years. Doubt I would now.This has to be said over and over and over again: Windows 7 is end-of-life'd. It is extremely unwise to continue using it in an internet-facing capacity.
Windows 7 support ended on January 14, 2020 - Microsoft Support
Learn about end of support for Windows 7 and find out what you need to know to upgrade Windows or find a new PC.support.microsoft.com
If you need to breathe new life into an older system and you need to do the basics (but would prefer to do the basics more privately, securely, stably and efficiently) use any one of the myriad Linux-based OS's out there.
Windows 7 Questions
- Thread starter Lubener
- Start date
Even a core2 duo is getting too slow for modern web browser, modern web design relies on a lot of intensive client side code, and websites are moving to media formats like h265 and vp9 which require quite a lot of CPU power to decode, if you can find someone throwing out a 10 year old computer, even the lowest end machine you could get 10 years ago will run circles around any netburst era intel CPUs.
It is a shame on a board with oodles of people with technical expertise instead of learning you choose to counter or dismiss any suggestions by people who clearly are knowledgeable in an area. You are missing an opportunity by not asking "Why is using an unsupported operating system dangerous?"
And to answer your inevitable response, this is not a question; it is a dismissive comment.
did you read about the ransomware attack @ the hospital? Probably not a EOL OS, but "is that bad enough?"
No they are not unless they go off grid. The only thing you should be doing on XP by now is industrial applications and off grid access to old stuff that has no drivers on Win 7 and beyond.
Dad had a Pentium D Dell server (PowerEdge SC420 I think) as his main PC for years. It was cheap to by back then, like $300, and I could mod the PCIe slot to put in a real GPU to offload some of the stuff. However, that thing was power hungry and after so many years, it is time to just junk it for the electric bill. I think he had 2 PC since then and each of them only cost like $400.
These days even dumpster diving can get you a free PC faster and more energy-efficient than Pentium D. I'd settle for at least a Core Duo but if you are buying, there are many capable ones out there for cheap.
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They're always finding new vulnerabilities in old software. They just no longer patch it. I never call Microsoft either but I apply the patches when they come out. I suppose if you don't have anything sensitive on it, the worse might just be the system being used as a bot in a botnet attack on other people.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentium_D too hungry, too weak. time to retire.
also there is hw security risk (not just software), it has not the latest protections.
it is matter of time when old components will finally break and release magic smoke.
also there is hw security risk (not just software), it has not the latest protections.
it is matter of time when old components will finally break and release magic smoke.
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I think it's absurd how people keep expecting 15+ year old hardware to still be useful on the modern internet, like in 2005 when the Pentium D made it's debut, nobody was using a 486DX 33 expecting it to run any modern software.
just for laugh, new 8 desktop cores -vs- 2012 topmodel 16 server cores.
speedup (and security features) in daily use are more than just the two numbers compared.
speedup (and security features) in daily use are more than just the two numbers compared.
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OK, there's a BIOS setting that will limit memory in the manner in which you are experiencing, it was a compatibility flag and I remember running into it a few times back in the day. Do you happen to know your motherboard model # off-hand?
Also, I'll echo what many others have said, get Windows 7 off there, upgrade to Windows 10 or do a fresh install of Windows 10 (there's a guide I created on here, pinned post) and activate it with your 7 key. You are at significant risk running an OS that no longer receives security updates.
Also, I'll echo what many others have said, get Windows 7 off there, upgrade to Windows 10 or do a fresh install of Windows 10 (there's a guide I created on here, pinned post) and activate it with your 7 key. You are at significant risk running an OS that no longer receives security updates.
A lot of the old chipsets from the time of the pentium D and early core2 era have a fixed 32bit address space and with all the reserved addresses for peripherials you'll never have more than 3-3.5gbs of useable ram.
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I've never run into one that would register 8GB and not be useable without there being a switch for it in the BIOS to make that memory addressable. I'm sure they exist, but I've never seen one and I've handled a computer or two in the last 30 years.
You are comparing a ransomware attack at a hospital to what may happen to an individuals personal computer? There is either nothing on mine that I would pay anyone to get back or I have copies to restore from.
As for saying it is a dismissive comment, nope, I asked it as a question. I use common sense precautions like not opening attachments in unknown emails so it's not like I'm being reckless.
You don't have to be reckless to be successfully hacked. There have been been a number of "zero-click" attacks in the wild. Since Win 7 is not being patched it's just a matter of time. If you must keep using Win 7, you can buy an extended security update service subscription but the availability ends January 10, 2023.
In the mid 2000s there was a time when an unpatched installation of Windows 2000 with an internet connection had a mean time of being hacked of less than 5 minutes. I learned that the hard way when installing a server for my father in law. W2K finished installing and before I could launch the service pack installer, the box was hacked. I remember it like yesterday because it was really embarrassing to have every web page I opened get redirected to gay porn sites.
People's hacked computers can also be used as a participant in a DDOS attack; you may be contributing to the harming of others
With the cost of that you'd be better off throwing any old machine out and finding a $100 computer of cragislist that can run Windows 10, plus I thought that was mostly a service offered to volume license customers.
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And quite frankly, if a computer can run 7, it can run 10. The requirements for 10 are not lofty.
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He just used an example, we could cite many others, but the point is that you are using an OS that is vulnerable because it is not receiving security updates. Eventually you won't get updates for Chrome or Firefox either so then you won't even have a safe browser option. It's one thing to use a legacy OS in place without an internet connection to run a piece of equipment where a newer OS won't work (CAD machine for example), but it's quite another to willfully avoid upgrading a computer that can easily accept the newer version due to stubbornness, ignorance, or both.
It was rhetorical, so yes, it was dismissive. You really don't care about "what could happen" if examples were cited, because you are confident in your position, regardless of what those who work in the industry advise you to the contrary. It's like the running different brands of tires on different sides of a vehicle all over again, you aren't really interested in feedback that runs contrary to what you are already doing, you are quite dismissive of much of the advice you receive on here if we are being blunt.
Thousands? After how many years of security updates from Microsoft.
Microsoft Windows 7 : List of security vulnerabilities
Security vulnerabilities of Microsoft Windows 7 : List of all related CVE security vulnerabilities. CVSS Scores, vulnerability details and links to full CVE details and references.
www.cvedetails.com
2077 to be exact.
So is a Win7 machine going to get hacked just by connecting to the internet, or does the user need to visit unknown websites and start clicking on things they don't know what the link is going to do?
