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Hello. I am one, of the reportedly few people, that has not upgraded to Windows 10, when given the opportunity, and remained with 8.1.

I avoid the tile system and installed Classic Shell, in this way my system resembles the old beloved Window XP or 7, systems and I am happy with it.

I am not interested in the new features, offered by the new OS’s, I am using the laptop mainly for email and web browsing and the desktop with VS 2019 for a multi-year sw project, plus some OpenOffice sometimes. All these applications will continue to work, but as you know, the support for Windows 8.1 will end Jan 10th , so I am faced with the option, and the burden, of upgrading or not.

What we are told is that our system will be much more vulnerable without the security upgrade from MS, but I say “don't I have WSA?”

What do I have WSA for what? Can't I count only on the protection offered by WSA, plus the firewall, plus the router?

The problem is complicated also because i have an incompatible hw, with Window 11 or even Windows 10 (the laptop) and because this is a critical time, so I wonder if I can at least delay this change.

@Glauco 

To answer your questions regarding why you have WSA and can you count on WSA plus the firewall, plus router, I can say that yes, you have a level of protection with Webroot, your firewall, your router, BUT they are only parts or “layers” of security. 

The other part is having an “up-to-date” OS that has inherently better built in security AND has updates and is still supported by the manufacturer. 

An Endpoint Protection product and firewall won’t protect your system from an attacker that can exploit a system OS because a new zero day was discovered and since the manufacturer doesn't support it, can easily use that to take advantage of people still using that. That could be simply to steal information, product pop-ups, or worst case scenario, ransom a system/steal info/impersonate and or steal an identity.  There are many other bad things that can happen that are too many to name here. 

Updates are ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL to a holistic/layered strategy of protecting yourself against things that can happen to your system and the data contained within.

While your system might not be compatible with Windows 11, Windows 10 is still supported and continues to receive updates for now. I STRONGLY advise upgrading to get at least a couple more years left, then consider replacement. 

I constantly hear clients tell me, “oh I ONLY use my computer for email, web browsing and some light office work.” and that “I don’t really need anything fancy.”

Email, and web browsing are high risk activities. Any system connected to a network (especially the internet) runs the risk of facing attacks from all sorts of angles. 

The “not needing anything fancy” attitude stems from clients or people who believe using just an AV is enough, combined with their ISP modem/firewall/router. Lord help me here. 

You have to try and protect yourself as much as reasonably possible within your means. 

  • use email? Have spam/phishing protection
  • web browsing? Use an up to date browser, pop up blocker (ublock origin) etc..
  • Any OS? An up to date Endpoint Protection solution and ensure your OS is updated.
  • Office work? Make sure it’s backed up using 3-2-1 rule
  •   

And so on….. 

So, please, reconsider your choices and think about how staying put (although you feel very comfortable and used to what you have) puts you and your data at risk. 

 

Hope this helps

Happy New Year

John

Although a bit late (I waited for someother answers) I want to thank jhartnerd123.
It'a wise advice and I imagned an answer of this kind, only that I wasn't 100% convinced and I tried to escape difficulties, only that... it's better to face them.
--- Glauco

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