On 15.01.2020 18:39, The Wanderer wrote: > >> It also means Microsoft will now change many downloadable support >> packages so they won't run anymore on Windows 7 > Possible, although I wouldn't expect them to bother to go and make > changes en-masse. It's more likely that they just won't bother to make > sure that future changes to such packages remain compatible with Windows 7. It happened before with Windows XP, so I'm expecting this trend will continue with Windows 7 and Windows 8.x I know that, because to this day I still have to maintain several Windows XP hosts for various reasons.
>> and delete TechNet articles about Windows 7, > Are you sure? I've never seen them do that with previous releases; at > the least, I'm fairly sure I keep running across Technet articles (and > other support documents) marked as being for older Windows versions, > when I'm looking for ones that apply to something newer. Yes, I'm sure. Windows GUI, Control Panel applets, etc, contain many URLs that lead to help pages and articles, but when you actually click on them you will get "Page not found or moved" page from "*.microsoft.com" domain as a result. If you will search manually for official documentation you may find it, but accuracy and completeness of it won't be guaranteed. I've seen too many TechNet\Microsoft hosted articles with broken URLs to think otherwise. > >> and also 3rd party software developers now have rights to deny any >> support for Windows 7. > They had that before; it just wasn't a particularly good idea in many > cases. Some of them will probably start doing this, while others will > probably continue offering as much support as they did before, at least > for a good while. I'm talking mostly about niche software, like banking software, CAD, Adobe and Microsoft products, anti-virus software, anything that depends on the Internet, like browsers and email clients, etc and of course, WHQL driver updates for all kinds of hardware. > >> If Windows 7 is unsupported it doesn't means it will stop function, >> it means, in terms of support and maintenance, you're on your own. It >> will stay as secure as it is to this day > Modulo the discovery of new security vulnerabilities, which currently > exist but aren't yet known about, anyway. So technically true, but > doesn't mean what it might appear to mean at first glance. > > Personally, I'm half-expecting one or more previously unknown zero-day > vulnerabilities to be revealed and start being actively exploited today, > now that the only people who will be getting patches for them are the > ones who have paid extended-support contracts with Microsoft. Yes, if you agreed to maintain a legacy software you have to understand all the risks and develop a strong protection scheme along with disaster recovery backup plan. A configuration of a firewall simply won't be sufficient. >> and it doesn't really depend on firewall, if you won't open >> (port-forward) high risk service ports (like RDP, SMB, etc) to the >> internet, of course. > I'm not really sure what you're talking about here. While yes, if you > wall a Windows 7 computer off from access to the Internet any security > vulnerabilities it may have will become far closer to irrelevant than > otherwise be the case, anything short of that will still leave ways by > which it could get infected (especially assuming less-than-perfect > security behavior on the part of users) - and the full wall-off would > most likely be impractical for real-world use. > That is because you've ommited last part of the quote, probably. I'm assuming OP is having very basic understanding about IT security, so I tried to warn him about firewall wouldn't be the ultimate solution for every and all security problems. It will help, but only for some cases. That said, I think it is impossible to suggest anything more than that without knowing additional information about OP's current infrastructure. -- With kindest regards, Alexander. ⢀⣴⠾⠻⢶⣦⠀ ⣾⠁⢠⠒⠀⣿⡁ Debian - The universal operating system ⢿⡄⠘⠷⠚⠋⠀ https://www.debian.org ⠈⠳⣄⠀⠀⠀⠀
