Windows 7 End of Life – Former Windows users unlikely to migrate to Linux en-masse

Having worked with windows 10 a few months - I have found (in my opinion) that there are improvements in user-friendliness/ease of use, ect.
Also having worked with linux a few months, I have found that it is not as user-friendly as windows, but work put into linux brings it's own rewards on a personal level, and has brought me to re-think the way I do certain things on windows. I think in order to use linux you have to be willing to put in the work and align yourself with the philosophy. If willing to do so, there are skills to be gained and also some personal growth therein

 

Anything that a Win7 user may dislike in Win10. I've not used Win7 in a long time so I wouldn't know exactly. I've been using Win10 for quite some time and the only major complaint I have would be the upgrade/update schedule which I am not really a fan of. I wish they slow it down for home users. I also have encountered a bug whereby sometimes I'm unable to connect to Wi-Fi and have to restart the OS. Other than that, I can live with Win10 just fine.

 

Have you checked for a driver update for your WiFi card? Also, there are some older WiFi cards have have issues under Windows 10.

 

Indeed, the wifi driver I got from Windows update gave me a lot of grief, until someone downloaded for me from the vendor's website. Now wifi works right.
There are drivers that are poorly maintained by the vendor, and Windows has newer and better ones, and sometimes it is quite the opposite.

 

There's not too much real info around for this but this one is worth a look.

https://dxmtechsupport.com.au/infographic-linux-vs-windows-for-small-business-productivity

Bear in mind that once the usual security software most folks employ is installed the Windows readings, especially browsing, will be much slower thus opening up the gap between it and Mint even further.

 

Maybe another reason to switch?
https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/science-technology/1229865/Windows-10-Snake-Ransomware-Attack

 

We don't use any third party security or sandboxes and we don't get malware. Having backup images is our protection.

Maybe that's why our Win10 is faster than previous Windows OS.

 

We've seen Windows computers that are "useless" for up to 15 minutes after booting, due to high CPU and disk activity. I can't fix it. Our computers settle within 30 seconds after booting.

I like Linux OS but I'm more comfortable with Windows.

 

If you keep your system updated and don't open random email attachments, then you'll quite probably never get infected. With just a little bit of care, it is extremely hard to get infected if you run Windows.

 

email? that's so 2010's
these days i communicate via carrier pigeon (with coded messages of course)

 

There are posts all over the internet about Defender making computers slow so presumably you have yours turned off?

 

No, my Defender is on.

 

The slow down only happens in some circumstances. Not at boot-up. At least from my experience and what I recall from others.

 

I agree. There were some things that Gnu/Linux taught me and I think differently when doing something using Windows. There were some things, such as backup software on Windows, that taught me to think differently about doing things when using Gnu/Linux.

 

Yes, getting comfortable with it is probably the biggest hurdle for anyone looking to migrate to Linux. I think even with Win7's end of support, the majority of its user base will either migrate to 10 or continue with 7, regardless of its EOL. Very few will migrate to Linux. Btw, one needs to use Linux for at least a few weeks, then return to Windows to see that there's a lot more going on "under the hood" of Windows.

 

Those numbers are rather revealing. In my case dual-booting Debian 10 Mate w/Win10 Pro:

from power on to login screen:

Mate: 16s
Win 10: 92s

After clicking Power off button from desktop:

Mate: <3s (literally like 2.5s!)
Win 10: 16s

My security in Win 10 is Defender w/Group Policy settings to reduce scan intervals and folder exclusions, software firewall and SRP. I have some tasks disabled too.

In Debian 10 it's Apparmor of browsers, email client, pdf reader, Libreoffice, Network manager/DHclient, and some other standard processes, then UFW default-deny out/in w/custom rules.

Apparmor running from the kernel, no less, is powerful and light, though I guess not on the same level as Grsecurity or SELinux, but still very powerful.

It's not bad, sure, once it finally finishes all it's startup routines. My "slug" reference was maybe a bit unfair, since I'm comparing it to a lighter than typical distro in Mate 10, but that's also because I've been on Linux for several months, so my sample base is more than adequate for a fair comparison.

 

Articles like that are typically written with a dramatic tone using eye-popping adjectives like "terrifying", but they never delve too much into how the exploits infect, usually through tried and true social engineering of someone falling for an email attachment or link. Recommended security practices will all but eliminate these attacks. Admittedly, using Linux is a bit like wandering through an alpine meadow adorned with colourful wildflowers, surrounded by snow-capped mountains, without the worry there may be dragons lurking in their lairs ready to strike upon their next victim.

 

Exactly!

Statistics tracking malware deliver methods have shown for a number of years that 90%+ malware is delivered via e-mail; especially in business environments. So directing security mitigation efforts to that area will reduce most malware attacks.

 

This is not correct. It certainly applies to the delivery of ransomware via phishing emails but the majority of malware combined uses other methods such as RDP, network worms and drive by downloads via infected sites. A typical drive-by will either exploit vulnerabilities directly on the website itself or install a redirect to another site within their control. Regarding RDP, only two years ago it was estimated that 10 million computers were running publicly with port 3389 open and this figure must be higher now. This is a big target for hackers to exploit and there’s even a free resource (shodan.io) available to help them. Suffice to say malware and delivery methods are constantly evolving and the better organized attack groups even limit the amount of machines they target to minimize the chance of being detected by sys admins before their exploit can gain a foothold.

 

Windows is installed on 1.2 billion PCs. For the simplicity of calculations lets say 1.0 billion is connected to Internet. 10 million is just a 1 percent of all Windows computers. Keep in mind considerable amount of these PCs are up to date with all security patches released by Microsoft and may have some AV software.

 

This is a result of poorly administered security throughout the client and network levels, and lack of timely patching.

Excellent point. The numbers can look overwhelming at first, but when put into perspective as a percentage of the whole, they are rather underwhelming.

 

https://enterprise.verizon.com/resources/

I am not going to debate it. Search the web for the stats; there a plenty of sources. Use of web mail for example could very well expose one to additional threats such as drive-by downloads and the like mentioned.

-EDIT- My original posting frame of reference was to corporate e-mail. Unlike retail consumers who get their e-mail via their ISP or using one of the web e-mail providers who pre-screen e-mail prior to delivery, e-mail arrives on corp. e-mail server's totally un-screened. These being high valued concerns are the primary targets of today's attackers.

One web reference:

https://blog.sanebox.com/2019/06/18/10-tips-on-how-to-identify-a-malware-email/

 

Most of the people I knows, my wife included, who have Win 7 either don't even know it's end of life or don't care. The majority of them have either never heard of Linux or find it confusing and not as user friendly as Windows.

Most of them have old software that might not work on Win 10, and they don't want to chance losing it or going through the bother of upgrading to 10 to find out. OR, they just like Windows 7 and think moving up to 10 is a gimmick to force them to buy a lot of new software to replace their old.

Lots of reasons people might not upgrade. The above are just some I've heard.

I made the switch a few months ago and now can't go back because my last backup removed the backup I kept 'just in case' Win 10 did something to annoy me.

 

. The only thing I hope MS will fix by the time I use Defender is its performance impact. Windows Defender is definitely slower than Avira and Kaspersky on my machines (both intel core i7). Not a deal breaker though, but I have still a year of paid licenses.

 

I agree with you that Linux is lighter. However, Windows 10 is fast enough for me, not to feel the need to use a lighter alternative. While I do acknowledge that there are plenty of people who have performance or other issues with Windows 10, for the most part, for me, Windows 10 works well with zero issues.