In relation to Win7 soon to be dumped by them?



To my understanding, Win 7 extended support ends on 14th Jan 2020, until then you'll get all security updates. After then it would be foolish to keep using that OS for your mainstream use such as internet browsing, as you'll be vulnerable to drive by attacks exploiting vulnerabilities that will no longer be patched.

So basically: By 2020-01-14 either move to Linux, or move to Win 8+ (if you can get win 8, realistic view is you have to take Win 10).

So,even a good AV wont cover what windows would normally update,then it's time they did as it's an easy out for them.

Another thing you can do is run linux in a virtual machine and do all your browsing from there. Windows vulnerabilities will still be present on your host system, but most computers hit by malware are from compromised websites thru the browser.

I also wonder is there is an upgrade path anymore, paid or not.

AV's do their best, but ultimately if you're running an insecure OS, you're in trouble. Keep in mind that your AV has to run "inside" your OS, so is only able to stop threats once they get beyond that boundary. If there are fundamental OS issues they can't help. Sorry, but my original advice stands (though ZyloxDragon makes a point) Not to the casual user. Business might be able to negiotiate extended support as they did for XP, but us mere mortals have a defined lifespan.
EDIT: Upgrade path - yes, I think win 7 will upgrade to Win 10.

Okay thanks. Yes,I saw that but I cannot go back to it again until all games are compatible with that system.Another question,if I only visit here and just check for emails then this would surely keep it safe?

W7 to W10 is still available as by the nag screens.

Do you really think the updates are really needed?
I mean, I´ve never update windows and the first thing I do when buying a new laptop is uninstall antivirus (and pretty much other pre installed software).
I´m not trolling, this is a legit question.

I had a mate that done the same with his and used to pick up a virus every now and then he just reinstalled windows and wiped it.

When you have removed what you do not want and installed what you always will want to have you can take a snapshot, also called an image, of your hard drive and save it somewhere safe. Copying that to a hard drive is much faster than reinstallling your OS.

Is the risk really that high?
I went without updates for months (maybe even over year) when Microsoft did that nonsense with sneaky updates to WIndows 10, and I didn't encounter problems.
If one keeps to newspaper sites, Amazon, Gog etc., doesn't visit porn sites or any dubious torrent sites, is there really that high a risk?

News websites tend to have ads and they carry malware now and then. In this way people have recieved viruses and ransomware and such from big renowned news sites. UBlock Origin is kind of a must have as long as they cannot be bothered to check the ads.

I guess NoScript and such would work too but that very effectively breaks most web pages.

I use Adblock plus, so I rarely see ads...ublock origin is still more effective?
Also have a Mcafee av program with site advisor...if a site is marked as dangerous or unknown, I don't click on it.
At some point I'll probably have to buy a new laptop anyway...but I'm really not looking forward to adopting WIndows 10 (and can't be bothered to learn how to use Linux).

Not sure but it worked better on my laptop so I adopted it on the desktop as well.