My son uses Windows 7 in dual-boot with Windows 10. I know Microsoft is not securing it any more, so my concern is that having a PC on the same network as our other PCs and devices may put all the network at risk.
Should he uninstall Windows 7? Is this compromising our other devices, online banking, the SOHO router, etc, even if he himself is careful not to do anything risky on his PC?
Any advice much appreciated
Hello @rodion15,
Obviously as time goes on, the LESS secure it will become, regardless of how vigilant and security wise he is.
As a start . . .
[1] What are the specific reasons that he is still using Win 7?
[2] Are there certain programs that he uses that he has found doNOTwork in Win 7?
[3] If it is because of programs, what are they?
[4] What AV, Malware, and Firewall does he use?
[5] What sort of Websites does he visit?
I personally would disconnect it from theLAN.
I hope this helps.
..to be honest, I don't know, I don't want to trespass into his privacy, he's not a kid any more. He does Visual C++ programming, gaming etc. I just would like to know if his Windows 7 may be compromising our usage, banking etc on other computers, which I think it probably is. If so, I'll ask him to uninstall Windows 7.
He's wise enough not to enter any sensitive information himself, I'm sure.
Thanks a lot for your answer.
He is adding a vulnerability into your network.
Any malware that manages to penetrate into Windows 7 will interrogate the rest of the network from its secure base and it is not impossible that it will succeed in penetrating into your Windows 10 computers from that secure base.
But it is arguable that malware capable of penetrating into your Windows 10 computers would have done so from the internet even without that Windows 7 base.
So I am afraid that all you can be certain about is that internal network traffic can be subverted by that Windows 7 computer so if you exchange confidential data you are at risk.
Other than that there's nothing definitive that can be said. Windows 7 represents a network vulnerability but there is no proof that it will facilitate malware penetration into your other computers.
Personally, I'd remove Windows 7 because I'd be nervous about it but my own peace of mind is not a persuasive argument.
That's about it, I'm afraid,
Denis
If there is a security issue... It is sitting in front of the screen...
Whatever the Operating System.
If it was my network, I would not allow any Windows 7 users on it.
If it was absolutely necessary, I would insist it is run in a virtual machine, with networking disabled, and preferably internet access as well.
I would also disable access to other hard drives, or grudgingly only one specific "sacrificial" drive.
Even then, I would make sure that drive is regularly scanned.
How does your son's PC connect to the router?
If it's using Wi-Fi then does your router support a Guest network that your son could use to segregate his network traffic from the rest of your LAN? If not, consider getting a cheap USB Wi-Fi adapter for his PC.
Alternatively, consider getting a cheap (second-hand?) secondary router piggy-backed onto the primary router. This would save the expense and aggro of having to get a more expensive router that allowed VLANs or having to flash your own router with a variant of Tomato (if even possible).
Have a look at How to Connect Two Routers on a Home Network for more info.
Hope this helps...
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