Setting up Windows 7 64-bit on Skylake processor
Setting up Windows 7 64-bit on Skylake processor
Your comment suggests you believe Win7 no longer receives updates. That's incorrect—support for older versions like Win7 is still available.
I didn't intend to trigger a major conflict. I have some childhood games that run smoothly on Windows 7, and I prefer not to set up a virtual machine. Windows 10 seems unnecessary to me, honestly. I’m not sure why I should upgrade unless it’s for performance reasons. For hardware upgrades, an i5-7500 is better than i5-6400, and I’m curious about surveillance updates. Security patches are important—being informed helps. Malware protection is a priority, and I’ve never encountered any issues online. Still, I’m worried about potential exploits after Microsoft stops supporting the platform in 2020. Would cloning the drive or creating an image be a safer approach?
Some users dislike the interface of Windows 8.x, yet it receives support for three years longer than Windows 7 and lacks the tracking features found in Windows 10.
Many people think telemetry is disabled, but keeping Windows 7 and 8 updated keeps it active. See the links for more details. If you need a backup, creating a safe copy and restoring it works well instead of wiping everything.
These updates are currently optional, and the software can be turned off easily. Generally speaking, security since 2020 calls for a reliable browser with strong ad blocking, operating as a restricted user account and backed by a hardware firewall. For humor, last year I installed WinNT 4.0 SP6 without any ad blockers, video or audio support, or a firewall. I ran it from a public IP address for several months handling normal network tasks—though it didn’t work well—I dismantled it, moved the drive to an external bay, and ran a malware scan. Nothing found. Just the facts...
In reality, Windows 10 ranks as the most vulnerable OS in terms of security. The count of discovered security flaws each year for a given Windows version (source: Cvedetails) looks like this: https://www.cvedetails.com/top-50-produc...?year=2016. In 2016 the numbers were: 95 vulnerabilities per year, dropping to 31 in 2017. Windows NT 64-bit came in with 28 and 24 respectively, while XP recorded 18 and 31. Microsoft’s own data shows 10 in 2018, with 47 in 2019 and 61 in 2020. These figures highlight the importance of staying current with updates to protect against emerging threats. Additionally, Edge ranks among the least secure browsers online. If users pay close attention to their software updates and avoid third-party tools, they might maintain a functional system without installing telemetry in older versions like Windows 7.
I understand this well, but claiming Windows 7 has no telemetry is misleading. The user who stays updated will navigate to the Windows update section and apply all recommended changes. The links I shared detail which updates and services need to be turned off for Windows 7 to function without telemetry (I’m aware of the context).