DaveDDS wrote on 2025-09-19, 15:39:

Oh... I doubt I actually NEED it ... I'm sure I could assign IP addresses and block the individual systems on my primary router. […]
Show full quote

Shagittarius wrote on 2025-09-19, 14:19:

What is your setup like that you need a separate router to stop internet access ...

Oh... I doubt I actually NEED it ... I'm sure I could assign IP addresses
and block the individual systems on my primary router... I just tend to take
the "easy" way when I can...

On my primary router I can block any traffic from the connection port to the
gateway... makes it easy - and if I'm trying something tricky, I can unplug
one cable to make sure they are disconnected from "the world".

I happen to have a "box" in my basement with probably nearly a dozen
old routers, was very easy to just use one of those, and as most of
my older systems are near each other, also avoided running long cables.

Plus some of my older laptops can't do WPA2 .. so the second router
provides easy wifi access without having to spend days trying to find
(quite probably non-existant) drivers for old hardware.

Thanks for the explanation, I see how the older standards could be of particular use without compromising your main setup.

I stopped using Windows 7 as main OS about 2 years ago when I got a new laptop.

My AM2+ system has Windows 7 on it as well as Windows XP. AM3+ with Vishera will have Windows 10 as it is still a relatively modern system. It will get a better GPU once they drop in price. Eventually it may be replaced with AM4 once it becomes useless.

I consider Windows XP suitable mostly for 2002-2006, Windows Vista for 2007-2009, Windows 7 2010-2012. Because it makes little sense to have 3 OSes, I settled just for Windows XP and 7. Windows 7 covers also Windows Vista era and dx10. If you play a game with dx10 support then it makes little sense to run it on Windows XP. If you play a game with dx9 support only, you can use Windows XP. Windows 7 seems to offer better performance on AM2+ than XP though. I typically look at game release date, and if it's from 2008 or newer it goes to Windows 7.

Windows 7 can handle newer games, newer hardware and GTX 980Ti is somewhat limiting it.

I have one Opteron Build with Win7 as Main OS and currently building a FM2+ Build with Win7 as Main OS as well. It is the Last good "offline" Windows (no SaaS BS), however I May struggle with Steam on the latter one while the opteron Build is just an exotic drive machine and not for Gaming.

I started using Windows 7 before the final version was released, but I was also quick to start experimenting with Win8, though if I recall, I switched sometime after 8.1 was released (to 8.1). I just liked installing the next new thing, Windows 7 wasn't used much even on virtual machine after main OS was switched to 8.1.

Windows 7 is my favourite version of Windows. XP being second. But sadly I currently have no PCs running it. I did used to dual Boot XP and 7 on my GTX 970 / Intel QX9650 system. But that is out of action at the moment after the SSD got corrupted. I think that build wasn't very balanced. The CPU held the GPU back

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2025-09-19, 05:44:

Not trying to fear-monger here, but when you say they are up to date as of last year, what do you mean? Windows 7 hasn't gotten regular security updates in almost six years. Any updates it gets are simply anti-virus definitions, or in rare cases MS can roll out patches for extremely serious vulnerabilities, but I don't know if they have actually done this since the end of support.

They are real updates, but you have to look for them.

If you have IE11 on your Windows 7, the About screen contains the sub version, which reflects the last proper windows update that's installed.

For example, my IE11 is version 11.0.9600.22214 - the important bit is the last number - 22214. I'll bet that your sub version will be quite a lot older.

Robbbert wrote on 2025-09-19, 23:59:

They are real updates, but you have to look for them. […]
Show full quote

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2025-09-19, 05:44:

Not trying to fear-monger here, but when you say they are up to date as of last year, what do you mean? Windows 7 hasn't gotten regular security updates in almost six years. Any updates it gets are simply anti-virus definitions, or in rare cases MS can roll out patches for extremely serious vulnerabilities, but I don't know if they have actually done this since the end of support.

They are real updates, but you have to look for them.

If you have IE11 on your Windows 7, the About screen contains the sub version, which reflects the last proper windows update that's installed.

For example, my IE11 is version 11.0.9600.22214 - the important bit is the last number - 22214. I'll bet that your sub version will be quite a lot older.

Interesting. I was just reading something about a program called BypassESU giving Windows 7 users (probably illegal?) free access to the paid Server 2008 extended support updates, which are still going to be applied until January of 2026. I also read some comments suggesting that the updates are meant for server use, and that normal consumer\browsing use is not recommended. Of course, they would say that... but it is food for thought.

This is honestly all news to me. I've never heard of doing this. I made the switch from 7 to 10 in probably ~2017 to get full DX12 support among some other things. Still, it is interesting that people have been able to keep 7 at least somewhat up to date all this time.

Other than IE11 updates and anti-virus definitions, how many security updates would you say you're installing on Windows 7 in a given year?

(As for what version of IE11 I have... I don't use it, I use Firefox. I think I can jump through some hoops to get IE11 to load, but by default the OS will force Edge to load in place of IE for most things that specifically try to open IE.)

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2025-09-20, 00:35:

Other than IE11 updates and anti-virus definitions, how many security updates would you say you're installing on Windows 7 in a given year?

(As for what version of IE11 I have... I don't use it, I use Firefox. I think I can jump through some hoops to get IE11 to load, but by default the OS will force Edge to load in place of IE for most things that specifically try to open IE.)

I have lots of Windows 7 computers in my collection, 3 are 64-bit, the remainder 32-bit. In my main setup here I have one 32-bit and one 64-bit always on the internet, and 2 other 32-bit offline.

Support for 32-bit completely ended in October 2024, so that's the last security update that exists. Support for 64-bit is ongoing, but due to some horrible bugs last year, I had to roll back to July 2024 and haven't been confident to proceed to the newest update which is July 2025. Usually there was an update each month, but they are rollups, so if you missed a month, it would be included in the next month. There was also dot-net separate updates every few months, and the occasional servicing stack upgrade.

Updates for Anti-Malware and normal virus signatures continues as normal. Anti-Malware was updated every month but now it's more like 2 months. Virus signatures update every few days in the background.

I also use Firefox ESR as my main browser, although Edge is installed too. IE11 is by far the fastest, but also the least capable browser.

On Windows 10, they killed off IE11, but it can be made to run again, in a fashion. Not really worth worrying about though, as the Windows 10 sub-version is available in Winver or at the command prompt.

This is an interesting thread that has opened my eyes somewhat.

Short answer for me is no.

I'd completely written it off Windows 7 (along wth Vista) for my use cases. I associate it with the steam-era of gaming and so I figure if steam doesn't work why would I bother with it when windows 10 is more capable. That's my logic, not necessarily correct, and I think this thread has proved me wrong. But for context, I ditched windows in 2009 and moved to Mac OS for my daily driver (still use Mac OS to this day). I stopped PC gaming around that time as I didn't gel with Steam and had other priorities, but my 2009 iMac was dual booted with windows XP so I could still play a bit of Civilisation IV, that lasted me a good 7 years or so. So I don't really have nostalgia for windows 7, not like I do for DOS, 9x and XP.

My set up for 2002+ games is an ivy bridge with 980ti, dual booting windows XP and 10. I don't run steam on this rig, strictly GOG and CDs, and that seems to work fine. It's still online (on windows 10 at least) but I'm doing some renovations and once they're done it will probably stay offline and connected to my network for NAS access.

For steam and other newer stuff that won't run on the XP/10 rig (which isn't that many games) I'm currently experimenting with Virtual Machines on an unraid server with an rx6600 XT passed through. I'm using Bazzite with some success and have a Windows 11 VM to play around on too.

So for me, no strong use case for 7, other than maybe if I want to run all versions of windows from 3.1-11 some day!

My daily driver ASUS laptop runs Win7. Can't be arsed to upgrade since it can handle all my fav music software just fine and I don't think I can install the drivers for my old Canon EOS 300D that I still use on Win10.

Im still using XP, but one day will be impossible to use web browsers anymore... maybe i will update to Vista SP2 or 7.. no idea, win7 i dont like much the taskbar, is possible to mod, but anyways look a little ugly

I do have a couple of old(er) systems with Win7. I guess they can be called retro nowadays.

XP: MyPal68 works ok, runs Youtube without issue. The other browsers are either horribly slow or no longer have the required capabilities.

Vista these days has no advantage over XP, except for the fact that windows update still works, once you've applied some KB's. Of course, there's no new updates, but you might pick up a few older ones.

But that's all off topic. Back to Windows 7...

Robbbert wrote on 52 minutes ago:

XP: MyPal68 works ok, runs Youtube without issue. The other browsers are either horribly slow or no longer have the required capabilities.

Vista these days has no advantage over XP, except for the fact that windows update still works, once you've applied some KB's. Of course, there's no new updates, but you might pick up a few older ones.

But that's all off topic. Back to Windows 7...

No no, in XP you have Supermium and Thorium Legacy. Mypal68 is outdated and not stable