Question Is it safe to use Youtube and Discord with Windows 7 ?

[Tac 25]

hi, one of my PCs here in the house still runs Windows 7 because I have an old Xbox game that won't work with Windows 10.

question.. is it safe to browse youtube and chat on discord with Windows 7? I sometimes alt + tab out of the game to chat with discord friends.

It's Windows 7 64 bit with SP1 but I've not updated it's drivers much after that. And I practice safe browsing, do not click ads.

 

[kira-faye]

Is it safe? No. You're running an OS that no longer gets security updates - there have doubtless been a number of exploits found in the last 9 months since Microsoft stopped patching and they will likely never be fixed, leaving any machine running 7 vulnerable and unsuitable for use online.

Will anything happen? Probably not, but at minimum I'd make sure you don't access accounts with important personal info (social security, banking, etc) on that machine.

 

[Math Geek]

If you run anti virus n practice safe habits you'll be fine.

Does not matter what OS you run if you are unsafe. Folks act like there's a billion things just sitting there that JUST KNOWS you're on win 7 and are waiting for you. Just silly fear mongering is all

 

[kira-faye]

If you run anti virus n practice safe habits you'll be fine.

Does not matter what OS you run if you are unsafe. Folks act like there's a billion things just sitting there that JUST KNOWS you're on win 7 and are waiting for you. Just silly fear mongering is all

It's very easy for pretty much any website or service to determine your OS, so... Yes, that's basically true?

 

[Tac 25]

If you run anti virus n practice safe habits you'll be fine.

Does not matter what OS you run if you are unsafe. Folks act like there's a billion things just sitting there that JUST KNOWS you're on win 7 and are waiting for you. Just silly fear mongering is all

yeah, I practice safe habits. Always wary of ads. Pretty much never click on them.
and when using Windows 7, I don't really wander off into other places (lol). It's just youtube and discord.

there are three pc here in the house. Two of them are fully on Windows 10 + windows drivers always updated. The third pc, which is the oldest, has both Windows 10 and Windows 7. I sometimes boot with Windows 7, because one of my Xbox games does not start in a W10 environment.

 

[Tac 25]

Will anything happen? Probably not, but at minimum I'd make sure you don't access accounts with important personal info (social security, banking, etc) on that machine.

yeah, I never buy things online in Windows 7 environment.

when buying stuffs from Japan. I'm using a pc with Windows 10. And it has a fully updated ESET Internet Security.

 

[Math Geek]

i have not run an anti-virus or any other such software in 15 years at least. and i promise i take my pc to some of the seediest places on the web and then some. i have never gotten a virus or other malware despite pretty much begging for it to happen. it's all based on safe habits, despite the places i often visit.

until about 6 months ago i used win 7 exclusively and never even gave it a second thought. recently went to linux full time cause i refuse to use win 10/11.

knowing what i do on the web and the fact that 99.99999% of web users won't ever do such things, i feel very safe in restating what i already said.

if you use anti-virus and maintain safe habits, then win 7 is just as safe as win 10/11.

if you practice stupidity on the web, no OS or other software will protect you from your own dumb acts.

 

[hedwar2011]

if you practice stupidity on the web, no OS or other software will protect you from your own dumb acts.

Could not have said it any better @Math Geek! Here Here!

 

[Archon of the Valley]

Slightly late response but here's my philosophy on it: if you're solely using Youtube and not clicking on links (and I mean absolutely NO links), you should be fine. However, you'd probably be wise to use a front-end like Freetube. You can disable comments and video descriptions, effectively turning it into an online video player only.

As for Discord, under no circumstances should you use it on Windows 7. I love that OS, I hate that I had to switch, but with all the threats and social engineering that occurs on Discord, it's just a bad idea, full stop.

One way you can help at least partially protect Windows 7 without software is to use a DNS resolver like Quad9 and enable DNS over HTTPS in your browsers. Quad9 is a private DNS option but they also block malicious sites by default, which can help work as an additional safety measure. Ideally, you shouldn't be browsing at all on Windows 7; just use it for older games, maybe for Youtube through Freetube as I recommended, but don't be using it for browsing. If you want to take your life into your own hands and do so, at least set your browser or ad blocker to disable JavaScript by default.

In general, as much as it sucks that we have to move on, Windows 7 is fundamentally insecure by virtue of the fact that it's completely unsupported now. Avoiding threats isn't always just a measure of having antivirus and avoiding sketchy links. Today, all sorts of malware gets through due to exploits and social engineering.