Windows 7

Windows 7 has around the 100+ million users worldwide and is praised for it’s stability and outstanding performance.

The Aero theme is loved by many with its glass look and sleek animation.

Windows 7 is super lightweight as it comes ad-free, less bloatware and less constant data collection (telemetry) like Windows 8.1, 10 and 11.

Please don’t connect Win7 device to the internet (or even local LAN or WiFi-network) since you will risk hacks, we would advice to use it on a seperated VLAN outside your companies network structure and/or filter incoming and outgoing traffic by MAC-ADDRESS or IP-ADDRESS. If you use Windows 7 for purely gaming or creative purposes like Music Production or Video Editting we would recommend to keep it offline.

If you have no choice because you only have Windows 7 at the moment and need to browse the web at least:
1. Install all correct drivers with Driver Snappy Origin (https://www.snappy-driver-installer.org/)
2. Install all updates (till ESU) with Windows Update MiniTool 22.04.2022 or Legacy Update
you could use an ESU bypasser to get the ESU-updates between 2020 and 2023
but beware for virusses and trojans so do your research if you want to go this route.
3. Update Microsoft Security Essentials to the latest anti- virus & spyware definitions
These are the same definitions Windows 10 and 11 are using but doesn’t give the best real-time protection in comparison to Win11.
4. use a supported webbrowser like [Mozilla Firefox 115 Extended Support Release]
5. run the webbrowser always in Sandboxie plus
This seperates it’s process from all other applications in Win7: adding security
6. Create a second user-account WITH NO administrator-rights and use it for internet surfing only
7. Disable file, printer and network sharing for both home, private and public networks
8. Disable UPnP (will improvate local network security)
9. Disable PowerShell (eventually only on the second user-account)

Windows 7 going to Windows 8
At the time Windows 8 came out I (Maikel van Esdonk) was working as a salesman at IT Sales in the MediaMarkt: selling for brands like Lenovo, MSI, Asus, Microsoft, HP, Apple, Samsung and many other populair high-end tech brands (gaming) notebooks, (gaming) PCs, monitors, routers, tablets, 2-in-1-portables, NAS servers and gaming accessoires. Later I became an Apple Professional for our Apple Shop-in-Shop.

I understand the decision from Microsoft with Windows being a local OS to an more data and cloud based OS.

End of life of Windows 7
After Windows 7 Security Updates were discontinued on January 14th, 2020 for it’s normal Windows 7: Home, Professional and Ultimate users – Microsoft still released Extended Security Updates (ESU) for developers and companies that use Windows 7 Embedded for their custom build application(s) that were still running on Windows 7 up till January 10th, 2023.

ESU-updates: devs had to pay Microsoft a yearly fee till in order to receive security updates and patches against zero-day leaks so they could continiue with unning their custom-build software running safely in Windows 7. Because of many old (unsecure) .NET libraries aren’t available anymore in Windows 10 and Windows 11 which their old application relies on they cannot upgrade easily to Windows 10 or 11.

The risk of getting hacked or infected with ransomware and/or zero-click exploits increases everyday since ESU-updates are discontinued since January 10th, 2023.

So the risk of getting a fine is also increased daily.

Especially with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) you should consider calculating the costs when a hack (data-breach) happens, being active in Europe a data breach with personal information about your clients would be a disaster and the maximum fine is €20 million of 4% of annual worldwide turnover if you are still running the application on Windows 7.

he maximum fine is €20 million of 4% of annual worldwide turnover if it concerns a large company (breaking the GDPR law by not running up-to-date software).

With cookies on your site being not well-checked you risk the exact same fine, we are also experts in this field and could support you with the best solution within your companies structure for it.

Hire some developers to recode the custom-build application
If you create a Credit management strategy and fully integrated into your company’s business plan you could get credit from a bank or another approach would be finding angel investors. I can create one for you and support you in getting an investment by showing them the profit will be higher in the long-term for both parties. With this money you can hire programmers (developers) that wil re-code your application for Windows 10 and 11 and it’s more secured .NET code libraries.

Intergrate Cloud Azure
Make the newewly coded application future proof by connecting it with Microsoft’s Azure structure and using the power of the cloud for doing heavy calculations which will reduce both your companies hardware costs (since you don’t have to buy more advanced servers and hardware) + companies electricity bill (less power is needed to do the calculations).

No need to upgrade your hardware (servers) for doing calculations
By using the power of the cloud (Azure) you won’t need to upgrade all you servers/hardware (which is expensive) so this will save you costs and also costs in the future since it would intergrate better with newer version of Windows. Also with Azure: back-ups are guaranteed by Microsoft and if you’re lucky and Microsoft sees something in your service: maybe they want to buy your company making you rich instantly (LOL!).

Minimuze the risk of getting infected by using an supported webbrowser on Windows 7 like Mozilla Firefox 115 Extended Support Release or Maxthon Browser and consider running it inside a Sandbox (Core Isolation alternative) on a second user-account (with no admin rights) so it can’t install anything or run any scripts trough CMD or PowerShell.

Blocking devices within your network from attacking your Windows 7 device:
Disable UPnP completely and turn off network sharing for both local and private networks.

Microsoft Security Essentials on Windows 7
Update it to the latest anti- virus and spyware definitions, these are the same definitions as Windows Defender is using in Windows 10 and 11.
Error while updating? Disable Windows Firewall and update MSE again. When the update is succesfull: enable Windows Firewall again.

Make your LAN/WiFi-card work
Find out the name of your LAN/WiFi-card on by going to the Device Manager from Windows 7 and download it’s drivers from an different device.
Transfer them to your Windows 7 device trough a USB-port or CD-ROM and install them.

Get all your drivers:
Driver Snappy Origin (https://www.snappy-driver-installer.org/) can download and find all remaining drivers easily.

Get all the updates:
1. Get all Windows 7 Security Updates: Windows Update MiniTool 22.04.2022 or use Legacy Update
2. Get Extended Security Updates (ESU) we won’t recommend using a bypasser
3. Update Microsoft Security Essentials to the latest (same as Win10 and 11) anti- virus and spyware definitions.

Use a supported browser:
Since the Internet Explorer, Edge and Chrome are not officialy supported on Windows 7 try Firefox 115 or Maxthon Browser.

Add more protection layers w/ Sandbox and new user-account
1. Download & install: Sandboxie Plus
2. Create a (new) user-account: don’t give it admin rights
3. Run the webbrowser in a Sandbox on this second user-account when browsing the web.

Extra’s
1. Disable UPnP in Windows 7
2. Disable PowerShell in Windows 7

Extra protection layer in Win 10 and 11
Windows 10 and 11 are using Core Isolation: which adds an extra layer of protection. With Windows 10 and 11 you get real-time protection since updates are being done automatically in the background while you can keep using your device: vulnerabilities are being patched real-time.