Old Windows

Old Windows: a reader asks…

I was working on my old desktop and opened up Google Chrome and received an interesting alert. Do I have any options or just have to update Windows? Or just switch internet browsers? I only use this computer for remote office access via google chrome, surfing the Internet, Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel.

This has less to do with your Chrome web browser than with overall computer security. This warning simply means that Google doesn’t consider either Windows XP nor Windows Vista safe – neither should you! Updating Windows depends on whether that’s even possible (or worthwhile), while switching internet browsers does nothing for the underlying security issue. You really don’t have other options except to ignore such warnings and wait for me to say “I told you so…”.

So the first thing to get out of the way is whether the computer is running Windows XP or Vista. If the computer is running Windows XP, You can’t upgrade it without major expense – a new desktop CPU is going to be cheaper. So wipe the hard drive and recycle the computer. Windows XP is horribly unsafe to use for anything having to do with the internet, and using it for remote office access should be strictly verboten.

If you have Windows Vista, the situation is a little less clear. The computer should be able to run Windows 7, so you could upgrade (assuming there’s enough RAM). But unless you happen to have a Windows 7 upgrade license lying around, and can do the upgrade yourself, it’s probably cheaper to just by a new desktop CPU – and certainly simpler for you.

Yes, you could ignore the above and just go back to using Internet Explorer, but I think that security should trump everything else. You should really consider whether the risk is worth it. Windows XP has not been getting any basic critical security patches since April 2014. Windows Vista is still getting basic security patches (that ends April 2017). Even Windows 7 is now only getting those basic security patches going forward (since January 2015). Visit http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/lifecycle for more information on the end of support for each version of Windows, and read the fine print.

The specific risks you’re running include:

1. Remote office access means that everything that you can get to in the office is at risk of being captured by hackers. That includes your login credentials and any files or information on the remote system or network. It doesn’t even matter if you use an encrypted VPN to connect to the office, because there’s the possibility that a hacker has control of your computer system and can monitor and record every keystroke you make and every screen view you display.
2. Surfing the internet means that every place you search for and/or visit can be monitored by a hacker. While that’s also true for Google (who is watching everything you do online in order to market products to you), hackers have a much more nefarious purpose. They capture login credentials as well as bits and pieces of anything you do online, and build a database of information about you. Why? So they can steal your identity and quite possibly your money.
3. Using Microsoft Office programs doesn’t entail a big risk by themselves, but if you use Excel or Word to record personal information, write your next big novel, or put anything you value in those spreadsheets or documents, there’s a real risk that a hacker will get to it.

While having a protection program (internet security suite, antivirus, anti-malware, etc.) can help mitigate this risk, these programs can’t provide even the level of protection they’re designed for, due to the inherent weakness of the Windows operating system that you’re using. I’m all for getting the most out of your consumer technology and for avoiding spending money you don’t have to, but that desktop computer you’re piloting has long outlived its usefulness. If you continue using your old computer, consider yourself warned.