@TwistedTwigleg said: Somehow I completely skipped Windows 7. Went from Windows XP to Visa, then from Visa straight to Windows 8…

I skipped Win 8, 10 and moved from 7 to 11 the same way.

It seems okay though. The thing I’d worry about now with Windows 7 is security, since I do not think it is getting security updates anymore right?

The personal version doesn't get updates, but with normal antivirus and minimal hygiene it's not a problem.

I never had a problem with viruses when I used Windows 7 either. And if we're talking about skipping OS, I went from Windows XP to Windows 98 to Mac OS 8, then I decided I wanted an actual childhood for a bit. I came back just in time to experience Windows 8.1.

From a very, very young age, I had a bad habit of breaking operating systems.

@duane said:

You definitely want to check your hardware for compatibility, but I haven't managed to find any hardware that didn't have drivers in the last ten years. Maybe I just didn't look hard enough.

It was at the very end of 2008… a little over 10 years ago. LGA1366 processors had just appeared and I immediately got one. As far as I remember (and if I'm not mistaken, and it's a long time ago), it seems that Linux didn't support booting from SATA yet. Maybe they did it later, but as we say "a little bit of a sore spot left on my mind".

Windows 7 has several pretty huge security holes that make your PC wide open. It's honestly reckless to run it (some can be injected by malicious ads, without you even clicking anything, or remotely). It's like going to a party where everyone has COVID and not wearing a mask, or doing something else that's inappropriate to talk about on the forum.

Theoretically, you can run less secure software safely, if you pay attention and know what you're doing. However, one lapse at the wrong time, and you're scrambling for backups, and hoping no one (including you) managed to sabotage your backup process. [You do have a backup process, right?]

Of course, if all you ever do on your windows 7 machine is play games, it's not so much of an issue. We have a name for over-emphasizing security where it's not necessary -- it's called "bad security". :)

@duane said: Theoretically, you can run less secure software safely, if you pay attention and know what you're doing.

Theoretically, you can jump out a plane and fall 2 miles and live (it's happened) but I wouldn't suggest it.

@duane said:
Of course, if all you ever do on your windows 7 machine is play games, it's not so much of an issue.

Our whole life is a game. Creating games and programming is also a game.

@cybereality said:
Windows […] has several pretty huge security holes that make your PC wide open. It's honestly reckless to run it (some can be injected by malicious ads, without you even clicking anything, or remotely). It's like going to a party where everyone has COVID and not wearing a mask, or doing something else that's inappropriate to talk about on the forum.

This can be said about any version of Windows. =)

@Tomcat said: Our whole life is a game. Creating games and programming is also a game.

I used to tell everyone that I didn't need to play games -- when you use linux, the operating system is a game.

And, I had a t-shirt printed that said, "Making games is more fun than playing them." :)

In fact, I still have the graphic...

@duane said:
I used to tell everyone that I didn't need to play games -- when you use linux, the operating system is a game.

From my point of view this is a disadvantage of the operating system. I expect the OS to simply run a program or a game. I can no longer name the year in which I installed my Win 7. It has survived installing service-packs, removing telemetry, 2 moves via cloning: HDD 2Tb -> HDD 4Tb -> SSD 960Mb and works fine.

Is it suggested to install a new system every 10 years?!!! Pardon mi…

Maybe I'll try Linux in the future, but there's a pretty big psychological barrier to overcome.

@cybereality said:
Making games is another type of game.

Creating games is probably the most fascinating type of game. Unfortunately underrated. Not everyone can create games from scratch, but a significant number of people can refine games they like to create additional content to them. Very few games allow players to expand on them. NWN has an add-on coming out 20 (twenty!) years after the game's release!!

@Tomcat said:

Is it suggested to install a new system every 10 years?!!! Pardon mi…

There are some of the school of thought that for best results one should reformat and reinstall windows once every year. But that's old school back from XP days and before.

one should reformat and reinstall windows

That should be "one should reformat and install Linux".

I might be inclined to share that sentiment, but I wasn't making a joke there. It was a consensus among quite a few techies that to keep the registry nice and clean one should reformat and reinstall once a year.

That was an old Windows XP thing. You don't have to reformat as often, or at all, unless there are serious issues.

@Megalomaniak said: It was a consensus among quite a few techies that to keep the registry nice and clean one should reformat and reinstall once a year. I have heard this advice. My practice does not confirm the necessity of regular reinstallation of Windows XP, 7 and 8.1, about other versions I will not say. But I do use registry cleaners.

But the question arises — why exactly one year? People use computers in very different ways: some people install the necessary programs only to update them, and someone rushes to check any new products.

Everyone needs to reinstall the system exactly one year?

That was probably just a convenient number to agree upon, I definitely know some who went for a clean install every 3 or 6 months.

People will do all sorts of things before just accepting that Windows is a bad operating system. Just like McDonald's is the most popular restaurant in the world, doesn't make it good.

That was probably just a convenient number to agree upon, I definitely know some who went for a clean install every 3 or 6 months.

Oh, mein Gott! What needs to be done with Windws that would require "a clean install every 3 or 6 months."? Although… if those who specialize in checking the stability of the system, it's probably okay to reinstall more often… but I doubt that this is a common user scenario…

@cybereality said:
People will do all sorts of things before just accepting that Windows is a bad operating system. Just like McDonald's is the most popular restaurant in the world, doesn't make it good.

To paraphrase a famous saying:
"No one pretends that [Windows] is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that [Windows] is the worst [operating system] except all those other [ systems] that have been tried from time to time." =)