A question about Windows Vista.

whattochoose

In April 2017, I believe that all support for Windows Vista will end, and to all intents and purposes it looks like that support may already have ceased, since it's been months since I last had any updates, despite leaving my PC on all day sometimes.
However, despite this, my laptop continues to work pretty smoothly. I have Kaspersky AV and check frequently with Malwarebytes, and, fingers crossed, I don't appear to be experiencing any malware attacks.
So, I'm wondering once Vista support officially ends next year whether I should continue with my trusty old laptop. After all, I presume my AV will continue to work and I will still be able to download updates to the software I have on my computer, which are presently notified to me by Glary Utilities.
Then again, could I be deceiving myself, and will all the nasties out there be in a better position to wreak havoc on my aging machine next year?
What do you think?
Thank you.

AndyPix

The thing is , that vulnerabilities are discovered all the time in operating systems.
These are flaws, that an attacker can exploit to take control of your machine.


When these are discovered, they are patched (in time) by microsoft by way of update, to close that particular hole.


When Vista becomes end of life, people will still be looking for/discovering these holes, and these holes will NEVER be fixed. So as they become more widely known, more scripts will be written for the script kiddies that make use of these holes, and more malware will be written that exploits them to its own end.


Although malwarebytes may find and remove them, there will be nothing to stop script kiddies or even more proficient hackers from getting into your system.
This might be by way of specially crafted pdf files, or even images or maybe by simply visiting a website infected with a malicious payload.


You may get lucky and be totally fine, but as time goes on, the likelyhood will increase of you getting hit.
For example, vulns used to get discovered in XP all the time, and would get closed within a week or 2. But now it is possible for me to hack ANY XP machine in seconds flat (excluding government ones and some banks as they have paid microsoft big $$ to keep supporting them)


I would say its still totally fine to use the machine, but id be a little more cautious about what i saved/did on there and just keep it in the back of your mind that a (growing) possibility exists that what you are doing is not private.
ie dont use it for banking/sensitive emails etc


Why not just upgrade it to windows 10 now ??!

whattochoose

AndyPix wrote: »

ie dont use it for banking/sensitive emails etc
Why not just upgrade it to windows 10 now ??!

Many thanks for the long and detailed answer.
Re the banking question I do bank and when doing so carry out any tasks under the umbrella of a safe money option that I have with Kaspersky. Is this enough do you think please?
Also I presume the fact I'm not currently getting any updates means I'm probably vulnerable now equivalent to the situation I'll be in when April 2017 comes if I continue using my present laptop?
I'm most probably going to buy a laptop with Windows 10 already on it, but thought I could get away with my present one until next year, but perhaps I should invest in a new one before then?
Thanks again Andy.

jamesperrett

If the laptop will run Vista then it will almost certainly run Windows 10. Have you looked at doing an upgrade to your existing Laptop?

whattochoose

jamesperrett wrote: »

If the laptop will run Vista then it will almost certainly run Windows 10. Have you looked at doing an upgrade to your existing Laptop?

The trouble is I've had it since 2009, so perhaps a bit long in the tooth now, and also it's got a wonky ethernet port site which I believe would have to be soldered back in place, so I have used a USB/ethernet connector so I can access the internet.
So, all in all, I think it will probably be best to invest in a new model, perhaps in the New Year sales. That said, I was hoping to get a few more months use, say up to next April.
Referring back to Andy's comments about lack of privacy, looking at this....
http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-spyware-and-adware-remover.htm
perhaps I should consider downloading something like Spybot (as well as Malwarebytes) since I do not appear to be receiving Windows updates any more?
Thank you.

bsod

whattochoose wrote: »

so I have used a USB/ethernet connector so I can access the internet.
perhaps I should consider downloading something like Spybot
Thank you.

You mentioned PC, then laptop - a 2009 laptop will have wireless capability.

wobbly ethernet port, or broken lead.

all it will do is increase anxiety unnecessarily, kaspersky and malwarebytes covers it

Unless you do something stupid, (backups undo stupids) it is likely to last another 5 years before it starts to feel long in the tooth, without incident, updates or no updates, just update the browser every 6 months, use an ad blocker, and if you can get away without it, uninstall flash player. Make sure your banking session has the padlock, and it's from a trusted certificate authority.

whattochoose

bsod wrote: »

You mentioned PC, then laptop - a 2009 laptop will have wireless capability.

wobbly ethernet port, or broken lead.

all it will do is increase anxiety unnecessarily, kaspersky and malwarebytes covers it

Unless you do something stupid, (backups undo stupids) it is likely to last another 5 years without incident, updates or no updates, just update the browser every 6 months, use an ad blocker, and if you can get away without it, uninstall flash player

Thank you bsod. At present I use Opera browser as my main one, and also Moxilla Firefox. I find Glary Utilities excellent for notifying me when new versions and updates are available. And, as you advise, I use adblocks on both browsers.
PS - the ethernet port built into my laptop is wobbly. Also, one of those irrational things I know, but I just prefer a wired connection to Wi-Fi.
I know Flash Player is risky, but I don't think I could manage without it, and I am always checking the version I have is up to date.

bsod

iplayer, youtube and a lot of others work wthout it, the rest will move that way.

missing out on the benefits of a laptops portability is irrational, there's probably about 2 others doing similar in every city, reasons unknown. Radio signals are passing through heads regardless, and the security hasn't been a problem for some years, I'd be more worried about what those browsers are doing behind the scenes, the out of the box configuration is very nosey/undesirable.

whattochoose

bsod wrote: »

iplayer, youtube works wthout it, the rest will move that way.

missing out on the benefits of a laptops portability is irrational, there's probably about 2 others doing similar in every city, reasons unknown. Radio signals are passing through heads regardless, and the security hasn't been a problem for some years.

Yup, that's me.:o

donnajunkie

jamesperrett wrote: »

If the laptop will run Vista then it will almost certainly run Windows 10. Have you looked at doing an upgrade to your existing Laptop?

Is it worth the cost on an old system? How easy is it to do? What's the likelihood of there being bugs causing problems afterwards?
When my phone upgraded from lollipop to marshmallow I had all sorts of buggy problems.

donnajunkie

The latest Kaspersky internet security has a vunerability scan function and also tells you when software needs updating.