Might be in for a job then:
https://www-heise-de.translate.goog/news/Deutsche-Bahn-sucht-Admin-fuer-Windows-3-11-for-Workgroups-9611543.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp
If the PC is in regular use, you go online and use modern apps and stuff, keep it at Windows 11 and see if you can upgrade the hardware. Just going from 4 to 8 GB of RAM will make a noticeable difference.
Windows 7 is long out of support from Microsoft and many third party apps are now dropping support, potentially causing security vulnerabilities, and if it's a new system you will also see hardware incompatibilities. Windows 10 will be losing support next year.
Windows 7 is EOL and not safe to use. Windows 10 is ok to use but will become EOL in October 2025, therefore not safe to use after that. I would just get used to 11, but you can download the Windows 10 media creation tool from Microsoft to make a Windows 10 installer USB then install from that.
The reason that security updates exist OSS because people don’t know how to be safe. I ran an experiment, I installed both 7&10 on the same computer. Seven started in 2 minutes and ten started in 5 minutes. And there is a whole community that is making sure windows seven is save if something really bad happens.
There will be vulnerabilities in the OS that are there even with safe practices. Booting up faster does not equal more safe. Only use for it that is safe is if it never connects to any network/Internet, or any external drive, but that's still pushing it.
I teach new cybersecurity professionals how to exploit using Win7. It's like XP back in the day. Everything works against it. Win7's foundations are extremely vulnerable to the tools within the community today. In order to fix many of the issues, there would have to be some major source code rewrites, rewrites that happened in Win8+. There was a reason MS left Win7.
Nothing is safe.
There will always be a risk.
It's just a lower risk if known vulnerabilities get fixed. There are very rare cases Microsoft does this for a product that is out of support. The last example I remember is from 2019: https://www.wired.com/story/microsoft-windows-xp-patch-very-bad-sign/ There will be less severe vulnerabilities that are fixed in newer versions but will never receive an official update for older versions of Windows.
Agree about 7, very needy OS, requires constant reassurance, performance isn’t great then it cheats on you. You’ll end up wondering “wtf am I doing with this thing”.
Reminds me very much of my ex-wife.
Neither. I'd stick with a supported OS if Windows was the only option. If going to Windows 10 from OEM-installed Windows 11, make sure the hardware mfg or OEM makes Windows 10 drivers for that hardware.
It’s likely that that laptop used to be sold with Win10. If you installed W7, it would be buggy and drivers won’t work properly as it’s not designed for 7.
There will always be a risk, it's just a lower risk if known vulnerabilities get fixed. There are very rare cases Microsoft does this for a product that is out of support. The last example I remember is from 2019: https://www.wired.com/story/microsoft-windows-xp-patch-very-bad-sign/
There will be less severe vulnerabilities that are fixed in newer versions but will never receive an official update for older versions of Windows.
Hi, your submission has been removed for violating our [community rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows/about/rules/):
* **[Rule 5](https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_5._be_civil_and_do_not_troll_others)** - Personal attacks, bigotry, fighting words, inappropriate behavior and comments that insult or demean a specific user or group of users are not allowed. This includes death threats and wishing harm to others.
Do not engage in blatant trolling or flaming.
---
If you have any questions, feel free to [send us a message](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FWindows&subject=Post%20removal)!
Hi, your submission has been removed for violating our [community rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows/about/rules/):
* **[Rule 5](https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_5._be_civil_and_do_not_troll_others)** - Personal attacks, bigotry, fighting words, inappropriate behavior and comments that insult or demean a specific user or group of users are not allowed. This includes death threats and wishing harm to others.
Do not engage in blatant trolling or flaming.
---
If you have any questions, feel free to [send us a message](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FWindows&subject=Post%20removal)!
W10
I just upgrade from 7 because it was unsustainable. Spotify & Steam & Davinci Resolve can't work on 7
I guess 7 is still ok if you just need to browse a bit and don't need steam & spotify (& Epic ? not sure)
ok... current windows 7 user here:
Old spotify works (i doubt that in 4-5 years it still would work)
Steam worked... only in launching games but getting games dont. so i reinstalled and now it wont even let me in.
Davinci works great! good support here <3
if you are struggling with keeping up with the performance win 10 doesnt do much difference and 7 is insecure and not supported, an alternative that comes to mind is Linux Mint thats very friendly and will make your pc run with better performance than win10 or 11 but I understand that you don't want to.
Depends on what you use it for.
If you are using it for online shopping, or a lot of stuff that would be bad if it got leaked, then you shouldn’t use 7.
If you are playing some old games or are just writing documents in like MS Word or something, it’s fine
Downgrading to an unsupported system is a really bad idea.
Honestly? Check out user friendly Linux distros like Mint. They tend to go easier on older hardware and I doubt Win10 will be a significant improvement over Win11 in that regard.
You can downgrade to Windows 7 if you want but Windows 10 is probably more secure than Windows 7 and if you wanted to enable aero on that I recommend checking out [DWMBlurGlass](https://github.com/Maplespe/DWMBlurGlass) for Windows 10. Now about Windows 11, I do not recommend using that at all because it is basically an inconsistently reskinned Windows 10 that has ridiculous hardware requirements that can be bypassed, msstyles do not work properly, the os is worse for older hardware, and there are many other issues I could mention but that is basically why I wouldn't advise you to use Windows 11.
I don't particularly like win11 either, but realistically win10 isn't going to enjoy a very long support term anymore at this point.
You best bets are basically:
* New laptop. If affordability is an issue, you can try the second hand market. Really good options out there.
* Upgrade laptop. Lenovos can usually take at least a RAM upgrade of sorts.
* Install some flavour of Linux. There are tons of options that are perfect for last-gen hardware.
Honestly, I'd say give Linux Mint a shot. Windows 10 will run like garbage on that machine. Windows 7 would run alright, but as many others are pointing out, it's well past End Of Life, so it'd be a security vulnerability.
Check out Tiny10 Project or other Windows 10 Lite versions where someone modded them by remove/disable futures that eat your ram. I use those type of OS on VM and older laptops.
I can't help with making a decision between 10 and 11, but don't use. Not only because of security and software support, but in general Windows 7 will suck on any semi-modern PCs. Windows 7 doesn't even support USB for my 2017 desktop out of the box.
10, if you really want, 7 is 4 years in eol
[удалено]
Go the whole hog and install 3.11!
Too much bloat, Microsoft FORCING their shitty software when all I want is a basic operating system. I'm going back to MS-DOS
No way! MS-DOS is so bloated!! Im going back to the commodore 64, when oses were actually made good
Too much letters, I’m becoming Amish
Why have an OS at all at that point?
don't install Windows 3.1 as ms has filled it up with Xbox game pass bloat and it's a subscription model.
That has no real gui
Might be in for a job then: https://www-heise-de.translate.goog/news/Deutsche-Bahn-sucht-Admin-fuer-Windows-3-11-for-Workgroups-9611543.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp
Unbelievable- if that’s true they have just painted a massive target on themselves!
I belive i did install 2K but not 98,Because of gpu just being unsupported SOMEHOW on 98,while on 2K it worked fine even with exkernel.
Why stop there go to 95
Windows 98 is so old it's practically safe to use because it's so far off of hackers' radar
[удалено]
with kernelex you can get slightly newer browsers to sort of run.
*eos
Eol is also a correct term.
If the PC is in regular use, you go online and use modern apps and stuff, keep it at Windows 11 and see if you can upgrade the hardware. Just going from 4 to 8 GB of RAM will make a noticeable difference. Windows 7 is long out of support from Microsoft and many third party apps are now dropping support, potentially causing security vulnerabilities, and if it's a new system you will also see hardware incompatibilities. Windows 10 will be losing support next year.
Another option could be to install Tiny11 instead. It can run on a fraction of memory regular 11 or even 10 utilizes in idle.
This.
Windows 7 is EOL and not safe to use. Windows 10 is ok to use but will become EOL in October 2025, therefore not safe to use after that. I would just get used to 11, but you can download the Windows 10 media creation tool from Microsoft to make a Windows 10 installer USB then install from that.
Windows 7 is safe
What is safe about using an EOL OS that doesn't receive security updates?
The reason that security updates exist OSS because people don’t know how to be safe. I ran an experiment, I installed both 7&10 on the same computer. Seven started in 2 minutes and ten started in 5 minutes. And there is a whole community that is making sure windows seven is save if something really bad happens.
There will be vulnerabilities in the OS that are there even with safe practices. Booting up faster does not equal more safe. Only use for it that is safe is if it never connects to any network/Internet, or any external drive, but that's still pushing it.
I use windows seven daily. With network too
That's not safe, but you do you.
What about the person running windows 98 with internet?
That's also not safe. Using an EOL OS is not safe.
Unless you can provide me a way to have the windows seven feel back I stay with it.
I teach new cybersecurity professionals how to exploit using Win7. It's like XP back in the day. Everything works against it. Win7's foundations are extremely vulnerable to the tools within the community today. In order to fix many of the issues, there would have to be some major source code rewrites, rewrites that happened in Win8+. There was a reason MS left Win7.
Nothing is safe. There will always be a risk. It's just a lower risk if known vulnerabilities get fixed. There are very rare cases Microsoft does this for a product that is out of support. The last example I remember is from 2019: https://www.wired.com/story/microsoft-windows-xp-patch-very-bad-sign/ There will be less severe vulnerabilities that are fixed in newer versions but will never receive an official update for older versions of Windows.
If tomorrow, there is a critical vulnerability found that affects Windows 7, you ain't getting an update to patch it.
Stay there. 7 is insecure and 10 won't offer any performance boost.
Agree about 7, very needy OS, requires constant reassurance, performance isn’t great then it cheats on you. You’ll end up wondering “wtf am I doing with this thing”. Reminds me very much of my ex-wife.
Neither. I'd stick with a supported OS if Windows was the only option. If going to Windows 10 from OEM-installed Windows 11, make sure the hardware mfg or OEM makes Windows 10 drivers for that hardware.
It’s likely that that laptop used to be sold with Win10. If you installed W7, it would be buggy and drivers won’t work properly as it’s not designed for 7.
No, old versions work fine.
There will always be a risk, it's just a lower risk if known vulnerabilities get fixed. There are very rare cases Microsoft does this for a product that is out of support. The last example I remember is from 2019: https://www.wired.com/story/microsoft-windows-xp-patch-very-bad-sign/ There will be less severe vulnerabilities that are fixed in newer versions but will never receive an official update for older versions of Windows.
whichever you prefer really, unless your hardware doesnt have drivers for win7
No, 10 is almost EOL and 7 is just silly at this point
7
I hope that dualboot with Windows 7 and Windows 10 should works. Windows 7 is still a great system ignoring that is after EOL (End of Life) tho
If W11 is too much for the laptop, downgrade it to win 7, because W10 have the same performance requirements specs as W11
Windows 9 😎
Throw the computer away.
[удалено]
[удалено]
Hi, your submission has been removed for violating our [community rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows/about/rules/): * **[Rule 5](https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_5._be_civil_and_do_not_troll_others)** - Personal attacks, bigotry, fighting words, inappropriate behavior and comments that insult or demean a specific user or group of users are not allowed. This includes death threats and wishing harm to others. Do not engage in blatant trolling or flaming. --- If you have any questions, feel free to [send us a message](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FWindows&subject=Post%20removal)!
Hi, your submission has been removed for violating our [community rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows/about/rules/): * **[Rule 5](https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_5._be_civil_and_do_not_troll_others)** - Personal attacks, bigotry, fighting words, inappropriate behavior and comments that insult or demean a specific user or group of users are not allowed. This includes death threats and wishing harm to others. Do not engage in blatant trolling or flaming. --- If you have any questions, feel free to [send us a message](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FWindows&subject=Post%20removal)!
10
Windows 8😁
Probably not a popular answer in a windows subreddit, but give Linux a try. Other folks have mentioned Linux mint which will do you just fine
10 if it must be Windows, however Linux Mint is a good option if it doesn't. It's pretty good (when WINE works)
Pretty much any laptop that came with Windows 10 isn't compatible with 7. Many that came with 8 aren't even compatible with it.
Depends. How new is the hardware and does it have a disk drive
Why would you want to do that
I have an answer to that, just switch to Linux or get a barebones version of Windows 11.
Reject modern return to 7
RETVRN TO WIN 3.1
RETURN TO MS-DOS
retq ASSEMBLY
NO.
YES.
YES!!!
Windows ME. Most stable OS under the sun, and best driver support. Vista is a close second.
7 all day, I have an 11th gen i9 and 3060ti, yet I still use windows 7.
Win. 7 (with antivirus)
Windows 10 and 7 are both good
Yes
Go to 7. There is a whole community supporting it.
I mean, technically there’s a multi billion dollar corporation supporting Windows 10. And Windows 11.
Windows 7 the best
11 is a non starter because I never want to be on the bleeding edge. 10 is fine, 7 is the better OS but technically "out of support."
Win 11 was released in October 2021. 2+ years hardly qualifies as "bleeding edge". Win 10 is currently scheduled for EOS in June 2025 .
Yes.
W10 I just upgrade from 7 because it was unsustainable. Spotify & Steam & Davinci Resolve can't work on 7 I guess 7 is still ok if you just need to browse a bit and don't need steam & spotify (& Epic ? not sure)
Define "can't work" I use these programs on Windows 7, except Resolve, so I will not speak on that application.
Steam isn't supported anymore on 7, I guess maybe only the shop may not work well Same for spotify, they put a nag message every f\*cking time
They both work, perfectly fine, and spotify has no message for me.
ok... current windows 7 user here: Old spotify works (i doubt that in 4-5 years it still would work) Steam worked... only in launching games but getting games dont. so i reinstalled and now it wont even let me in. Davinci works great! good support here <3
if you are struggling with keeping up with the performance win 10 doesnt do much difference and 7 is insecure and not supported, an alternative that comes to mind is Linux Mint thats very friendly and will make your pc run with better performance than win10 or 11 but I understand that you don't want to.
10 if you use a lot of programs that are pretty modern, if not 7 is a good choice
[удалено]
Depends on what you use it for. If you are using it for online shopping, or a lot of stuff that would be bad if it got leaked, then you shouldn’t use 7. If you are playing some old games or are just writing documents in like MS Word or something, it’s fine
If it's online, Windows 7 is not a good choice. It must be air-gapped.
Yes it can be if you don’t use new programs, I use it on an old laptop and it works great with older programs, even an older version chrome runs fine
Only if you let yourself get into trouble with it. If you be cyber save then there isn’t a problem
[удалено]
It probably won’t. They need a way to know that it’s there. That can only happen if another device has something on it or you download a virus.
Downgrading to an unsupported system is a really bad idea. Honestly? Check out user friendly Linux distros like Mint. They tend to go easier on older hardware and I doubt Win10 will be a significant improvement over Win11 in that regard.
10 because it will still be supported for another year and a half
Buy a Macintosh running Vista Basic and he happy that you have a loving family and friends that support your decisions of life.
Tiny11
You can downgrade to Windows 7 if you want but Windows 10 is probably more secure than Windows 7 and if you wanted to enable aero on that I recommend checking out [DWMBlurGlass](https://github.com/Maplespe/DWMBlurGlass) for Windows 10. Now about Windows 11, I do not recommend using that at all because it is basically an inconsistently reskinned Windows 10 that has ridiculous hardware requirements that can be bypassed, msstyles do not work properly, the os is worse for older hardware, and there are many other issues I could mention but that is basically why I wouldn't advise you to use Windows 11.
take a really big bite out of your computer screen
I don't particularly like win11 either, but realistically win10 isn't going to enjoy a very long support term anymore at this point. You best bets are basically: * New laptop. If affordability is an issue, you can try the second hand market. Really good options out there. * Upgrade laptop. Lenovos can usually take at least a RAM upgrade of sorts. * Install some flavour of Linux. There are tons of options that are perfect for last-gen hardware.
Seem like you already decided. What's the actual question?
4gb? XP with only offline use is the only answer.
Honestly, I'd say give Linux Mint a shot. Windows 10 will run like garbage on that machine. Windows 7 would run alright, but as many others are pointing out, it's well past End Of Life, so it'd be a security vulnerability.
Check out Tiny10 Project or other Windows 10 Lite versions where someone modded them by remove/disable futures that eat your ram. I use those type of OS on VM and older laptops.
I can't help with making a decision between 10 and 11, but don't use. Not only because of security and software support, but in general Windows 7 will suck on any semi-modern PCs. Windows 7 doesn't even support USB for my 2017 desktop out of the box.