And android/chrome based systems don't give a true 'desktop' experience, as they get detected as android, and you end up using a 'mobile' type of interface, which isn't as robust. I wish I could suggest a free Linux distro, but I just don't know how 'friendly' they are to complete novices. I do pay for malwarebytes for AV (although I have a 2nd AV on my system as well)īut I'm guessing finding a web browser for Windows 7 is going to be a LOT easier than for Vista, if money is the reason for not being able to upgrade. I use a freeware firewall that notifies me of outgoing things as well, and it picks up on the occasional 'odd' item that tries to sneak out. (including ads, some of which can be malicious) But I also have things like 'NoScript' enabled on my firefox browser which protects me from a LOT of crap on the web. Granted, I'm a bit more advanced than most with regards to computer security, but I run my system about 6 months behind on patches, and haven't had any problems.

I have a lot of software installed on my Win7 box, and if you've seen what Windows 10 scrapes up (which, in my opinion has NO business being scraped, like the first X characters of any word document you create, or X seconds of the web cam when in use), I'm choosing not to have that kind of info collected.

Justin Masters said: True, but you can sufficiently harden your system to avoid most problems, and just be smart about where you go on the web, and what you open as email and attachments.

Rootsmagic 7 upgrade