Windows7 updates from OPatch

https://betanews.com/2020/01/23/windows-7-updates-0patch/

Sample quote

Using 0patch mean that you don't have to pay out a penny to Microsoft, but it doesn't necessarily mean that you will be able to keep Windows 7 updated and secure free of charge. 0patch offers three service tiers -- Free, Pro and Enterprise. The Free tier, obviously, doesn't cost anything, but no Windows 7 patches are guaranteed to be released for free. The company explains:

0patch FREE will continue to be available and we'll continue to add select micropatches to the FREE plan but we need to emphasize that 0patch FREE is by no means a suitable method for keeping Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 reasonably secure after their EOS.

Despite the name, the Pro tier is suitable for both home and professional users and it includes access to both Windows 7 post-EOS patches and Windows Server 2008 post-EOS patches. Unlike Microsoft's Extended Security Updates, 0patch Pro is very competitively priced -- just $25.95 (or €22.95) per agent per year.

Clearly relying on a third party to secure your operating system requires something of a leap of faith and trust in a company you may be unfamiliar with. But over the years 0patch has proved its worth, and for anyone who -- for whatever reason -- is going to continue using Windows 7, its micropatches could represent the most cost-effective and sensible way of keeping the unsupported operated system secure.
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Fixed that

Interesting.

Does anyone have any experience with this company?

Linux Mint and all those issues disappear.

i have thought about Linux, but my windhose 7 has been trouble free on this machine [desk top] since it was bought.
using the windhose defender, malware bites, avasast, and addblocker plus.
kind of afraid to change something that ain't broke [yet ! ]

Any good sources for a boot able USB with Linux Mint that has support?

I talked with my computer repair place (these guys have been by far the BEST I've ever found BTW) earlier this week about Linux & he said don't do it. He said it's REALLY different than anything. He said the thing to do is install Windows 10 & be done with it. I still use Win 7 on my laptop & my desktop & I DO NOT want to switch to 10!

If you're interested in moving to Win10, Cnet shows a way to do it through Microsoft's site for free. This gets you a licensed copy.

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/can-i-still-download-windows-10-free-yes-heres-how/

It worked smoothly for me, but the process took my PC a little over an hour.

how does 10 compare to 7 [in your opinion], and do you like it ?

I have run both Windows 7 and Windows 10 for years. I still like Windows 7 better but can use 10 just fine.

I was an I.T. Manager at a bank and one of the reasons I retired was I was tired of fighting the hundreds of thousands for folks all over the work trying to break in our system.

So eventually I will moving my Windows 7 computers to different operating systems.

Man is this the truth. I am an IT Manager for a city and the constant barrage of attempts on our firewall is ridiculous. That and fending off Ransomware makes for a stressful job.

About all I use this desktop for is email, Internet, and some photo editing with Gimp, so the operating system isn't real visible to me as long as it works. I just like having a full-size monitor, keyboard and mouse. It was not getting any more security updates that pushed me into the change.

Not trying to offend, but sounds like someone who doesn't run Linux. There are so many flavors and different window managers it's not even funny. I'm moving family over to Linux now that Windows 7 is EOL. Ten is crap. The under-the-hood bits of it make for an excellent OS, but what is on top make it junk. It's nothing more than a vehicle to toss ads into your face. As far as I'm concerned it's Linux, MacOS or even ChromeOS moving forward.

Using 10 after changing a bunch of settings...in general unless you are doing control panel or whatever, it doesn't work that much different than 7.

The boot time is WAY better on the same machine, I have updated quite a few of them. Now a lot of consumer grade stuff that's older isn't supported.

A great cheap way into windows 10 for a laptop is an HP Probook 650 G1 or the smaller 640 G1. Completely supported by HP and a solid machine. Install a solid state drive and it flies.

He told you that because he doesn't want to lose a customer! Look at the screenshots of Linux Mint. Looks a lot like Windows.

I work for a city in IT as well. Phishing emails are what we really worry about.

Yep! Most of the time I forget I'm not on a Windows machine. While the OS guts are likely very different than Win(likely why it's so safe and stable)...the interface we see is very much like the Windows you're used to. Right click,left click,scroll,copy/paste,file structure etc.....all very Windows like...only a LOT safer/stable/easier. Wife was just cussing at her Win 10 pos today(again) Had to do the famous restart in order to make it run right(again). I haven't shut this ancient Dell running Linux down in weeks. Zero issues.

One reason to have a bootable Linux DVD or USB Flash drive is to find out if a problem is software or hardware related.
If your computer boots up ok on Linux,
then you have the valuable info that it is software related.

Both Apple iOS and Android smart phones have Linux as their “guts” so nearly everyone has used Linux, just do not know they have.

I carry Knoppix Linux on a tiny 8 GB usb flash drive the thickness of a nickel in my wallet.
This can be done with Linux Mint, Ubuntu Linux, Red Hat Linux or whatever.

Puppy Linux is a special flavor for running on really old computers.

If you can troubleshoot an old car,
you can learn to run Linux on a computer.

An article that compares running stock Windows 10 against Linux on a $200 Walmart laptop:

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=ryzen3-windows-linux&num=1

Notice there are 9 pages of comparison tests to be seen by clicking on the rather small green lettering links.

Sample quote

On 60% of the tests Linux ran faster than Windows 10

Typically Linux was 15% faster.

Linux’s file system was a major factor in speed.

End quote

I use one of my Window 7 machines almost excursively for remote access to a Windows 10 machine and as a central repository for files.

Will Linux easily support those functions?

Thanks!

https://www.fosslinux.com/8703/how-to-setup-samba-file-sharing-server-on-ubuntu.htm

Samba is the best known file sharing program, but there are many others.

Linux is running “The Cloud” file access that is such a fad now days as offered by Amazon and others.

I have not remotely controlled a Windows 10 pc from a Linux machine but there are probably ways to do this.

https://www.techradar.com/news/inte...dows-10-and-ubuntu-on-cheap-amd-hardware

Sample quote

The Phoronix website ran a series of benchmarks on a super-cheap AMD laptop from Walmart, and found that Intel Clear Linux beat popular Linux distros Fedora and Ubuntu for 78% of the tests.

Not only is it remarkable that a relatively unknown Linux distro is so easily outperforming established operating systems, the fact that Intel is the company behind the distro is particularly ironic.

As you can imagine, Clear Linux is optimized for Intel processors, but it seems like it works brilliantly on AMD hardware as well.

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https://www.zdnet.com/article/how-t...menu-without-questionable-cleanup-tools/