The case against knee-jerk installation of Windows patches

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I finally had a chance to put together a manifesto for a heretical position I’ve taken publicly for more than a decade: Windows Automatic update is fo
[See the full post at: The case against knee-jerk installation of Windows patches]

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Demeter, Raptor007, Elly, Cybertooth, geekdom, Pepsiboy, abbodi86

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I quite agree. Waiting to find out more before doing anything in my computer I did not know enough about yet, particularly installing new patches, has been my default position for many years. I used to roam the Web after patches came out, looking for news and opinions about them and avoiding those I would hear more than a few times that were causing problems. Now I come here to find out what is going on, and then use that information as a starting point to look elsewhere as well, when that seems necessary. And can also have a look at the informative articles others helpfully point out.

And in all the years using Windows (from Windows 95 through 7), I can’t remember a single occasion when I had a problem definitely caused by a bad patch. Problems? Yes, sure, several, including, for example, one with the hardware that required taking a PC to a repair shop.  But problems because of bad patches? No.

Of course, I own my PC and can use it exactly the way I like, so can always wait until it seems safe to proceed and I feel that have gained a sufficient understanding of what is best to do; others may not be as free to decide what to do and when. And so I have managed to stay free from major trouble. These days it continues to be so, to  a considerable extent, thanks to the advice of a number of people here, at Woody’s, to all of whom I am very grateful for their generous help.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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Pepsiboy

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What is a good approach for the “dead-zone” operating systems of Windows 7 and Windows 8.1? Windows 10 is for sure problematic.

On permanent hiatus {with backup and coffee}
offline▸ Win10Pro 2004.19041.572 x64 i3-3220 RAM8GB HDD Firefox83.0b3 WindowsDefender
offline▸ Acer TravelMate P215-52 RAM8GB Win11Pro 22H2.22621.1265 x64 i5-10210U SSD Firefox106.0 MicrosoftDefender
online▸ Win11Pro 22H2.22621.1992 x64 i5-9400 RAM16GB HDD Firefox116.0b3 MicrosoftDefender

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Have you thought about installing Windows 8.1 in dual boot with Windows 7? Doing that, one could use 8.1 to do all the work on the Internet (Web + email), while still getting safely patched for three more years after the EOL of Windows 7.

My own decision has been to install Linux Mint in dual boot with Windows 7 on my PC, so I am not going to go into that “dead zone.” For me it is going to be: “goodbye, MS, and best of luck to you.” (Who knows, MS might need it.)

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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Woody knows already I am group W, but let me tell you how well it is working out….

I have about 130 Win7 client computers. Not one has had a single Microsoft update in 25 months now. That is 3250 computer use months. Not a single case of any kind of a problem. Certainly no infections.

These computers are all:
1. protected with BitDefender Antivirus +
2. Use Chrome not IE
3. Have Adobe Flash and Reader uninstalled as well as Java
4. have a system image of the system prior to data and dynamic apps.

My support work has fallen off to near zero. These computers just run day in day out without ever having a problem

For us, January 2020 has come and gone. We expect to be still using Win7, 5 years from now

CT

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Noel Carboni, Elly, woody, OscarCP, Raptor007, Sessh, Cybertooth, Seff

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Excellent article Woody, riddled if I may say so with commonsense!

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Elly, woody

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Excellent piece by Woody, one of the best I’ve ever seen on the topic of OS security patching.

With respect to the probabilities of getting infected by various threats, does anybody here know if there’s anything in the Windows world comparable in detail to this report by Google on their Android operating system?

 

Keep Running Windows 7 Safely for Years to Come  
Make Windows 10 look and work like Windows 7

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Check out the Microsoft Security Intelligence Report, Volume 24 – https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/operations/security-intelligence-report

Not exactly the same as Google’s but roughly comparable.

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Cybertooth

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An excellent article —

I have eight computers I look after — my own, my wife’s, and 6 others where I do voluntary work twice a week. All are running Windows 7 pro 64bit OS. I stopped updating in December 2017. I am now moving to using Firefox browser on all the computers (IE is finished). All is well so far.

As an aside — Yesterday I went into the office of a hire car company near us and was surprised to see two high end big screen iMac Apple Desktop computers being used in stead of the usual Microsoft windows, as I would have expected. May be companies are moving away from Windows 10? I was impressed — I wish I could afford an Apple iMac.

mbhelwig

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OscarCP

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