Solved End of mainstream support

[despuit]

What are the effects of updating windows, the program will take up a lot more memory on the disk. But is there known decrease in performance. Computer boots at 350-430MB in memory now, and even when browsing 600-700. Rarely go above a 1gb of memory regardless of what I am doing, have ten services running at a time or less and it works very well for me. I don't use the security center, defender, or firewall and have no altertnative programs for any of that and have never updated once. Been running a computer like this for over 5 years now without problem, though saw end of support and wondering what the community thinks. Eg. is it worth the time or not

Solution:

Thanks to everyone and Club googled the WinSxS directory and was able to find I can indeed use symlink for that without problems as well as a few other directories involving windows updates. Once done I will update the important/security updates as well as server pack 1 to another image and test the performance impact and if it's not too much of an impact I will use it locally as well.

 

[richc46]

OK, everyone in this Forum would agree not to update when it is offered is a big mistake.
Bottom line the world is very bad. There are viruses that can let people into your computer and steal your passwords, bank accounts, and steal your identity. Download the updates, now. You do not need the window dressing, but at least download the security updates and the ones marked important.
And if you do not have SP1, do that, it is important. You say that you do not have Defender etc, but I do hope you have an antivirus. Either way, the updates will protect you.
You do have Defender, go to search by the start button and type Defender, it may be off, but you do have it.

 

[cluberti]

richc46 is correct - at least install the critical security updates, because those have known exploits that even the Windows security boundaries and mechanisms won't protect you from without that patch. As a community we would also recommend important updates as well, because while those can be mitigated (hence why they're "important" and not "critical"), the last thing you want is for someone to figure out how to bypass the mitigation and making that "important" update a "critical" one that you could have already been patched against.

If you're concerned about updates and disk space, install the update and run disk cleanup every so often and clean up previous updates (you won't be able to uninstall them after that point, but the old binaries will get removed from WinSxS).

 

[despuit]

I unistall all that stuff from the computer. Nope no AntiVirus, netstat doesn't show any unauthorised connections. If I need to scan I will use commodo on another computer to check the drive, only if I am having problems though which is rare. I don't think I've had any problems since like 10 or so years when MSN first came up cause I was young and stupid and download stuipid stupid stuff lol.

I will update the security patches though on your reccommendations and check through the important updates, is the service pack really that important does that add to the services or help to increase memory usage? (that's really my main concern when I talk about memory is ram, not disk space)

Regarding club, what do you mean cleaning up old updates. Like if I update now and install sec update 1.0 is that mandatory in order to install 2.0 or I can I skip or if it is mandatory I can't unistall 1.0 but can remove it?

Wanted to use symlink for other resources dependant on log files and such, is this possible for certiain aspects of windows updates? Sorry I just never dealt with windows update in a long time. Most I did with was for adminstartion purposes and ensuring the service end was working, not the system end if you know what I mean.

 

[cluberti]

The Service Pack is required for other updates - Windows 7 prior to SP1 stopped getting updates in 2013. One other update I recommend, which is not a security update, is to install KB2775511 after you install SP1. It contains an enormous number of bugfixes since SP1 that I would also recommend (partially because I had involvement in the release of that package, but partially because it is a really good rollup of bugfixes for Windows 7 / Windows 2008 R2 SP1).

As to your second question, the way Windows Vista and higher handle patching and updates is through something called "component based servicing", or CBS, and the "component servicing infrastructure", or CSI. This means that when an update is installed, it doesn't necessarily always remove or replace older components like you'd be used to if you were familiar with how Windows XP / Server 2003 and older were patched in the past. Instead, updates are "staged" inside the WinSxS folder, and that solves some issues with older apps that require specific file versions amongst other things. However, if you're sure everything is working after installing updates, you can force removal of any and all prior binaries that are no longer needed by the system (thus freeing up otherwise used disk space) by doing what I linked above. You can no longer uninstall updates that have been removed, but you also don't spend disk space keeping around older binaries in WinSxS that are no longer needed for regular system operation either. Note that even Service Packs are delivered this way, so after you install SP1 you should go into disk cleanup and cleanup anything RTM still left behind before patching further.

 

[despuit]

All right, appreciate the answer. I am using 11/20GB on my C:/ right now, and that folder you mentioned is using about 5GBs without any updates ever made. Based on what you said is this then one of the main components allowing compatibility mode to take place? And can I instead offload this folder onto another drive in entirety, through symlinking it to a network drive.

 

[LMiller7]

I unistall all that stuff from the computer. Nope no AntiVirus, netstat doesn't show any unauthorised connections. If I need to scan I will use commodo on another computer to check the drive, only if I am having problems though which is rare. I don't think I've had any problems since like 10 or so years when MSN first came up cause I was young and stupid and download stuipid stupid stuff lol.

The was a time when passive file scanning was adequate to detect viruses but that time is past. Modern malware is VERY sophisticated and high in it's priorities is avoiding detection. The goal is to avoid detection by even the best AV products with the latest definitions. Some malware has remained hidden for years, completely unknown to the computer owner.

Good security consists of multiple layers of protection. You need to be careful of what you download and what sites you visit. You need a good up to date AV product. And you need the updates provided by Microsoft. Even then some malware will get through. All you can do is follow best practices and hope for the best, and have an image backup you can restore from if you do get hit.

 

[despuit]

Instead couldn't you create an image of windows 7 and boot from the USB key and when you log off or turn off the computer everything goes back to how you configured the image. Then logon again and whatever programs you want and their files are there.

I understand layering security options but on the host machine it just feels detrimental. Like if I have a good firewall or IPS/IDS on the backend checking all the network data before it reaches me then that should be enough. And when you don't have it as soon as you shutdown its gone anyways.

I was really curious about the updates and there impact on performance mainly. The smaller I can make the image size, and the amount of ram consumed the better. Like if windows 7 performs faster and more efficiently with an update then it's worth my time and I can include it into the image.

That's also why I am glad to hear about the WinSxS folder because if I can offload that it frees up 5 gbs or more depending and I can use the same folder for any machine as they're just copies only the user configuartion is different.

 

[cluberti]

I would ***not*** recommend you move WinSxS - you will change the makeup and behavior of the folder if you do so.

Watch out if you do.

http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/174815-moving-winsxs-folder.html

 

[despuit]

Thanks for that. I read the space consumption can be deceiving elsewhere, want to source those links back to their original directories and go off that. There are so many aspects to the windows operating system that it can be overwhelming. My goal is create to the most miminal install of windows, if it can be outsourced while being bootable then I will do it. What I've found with finicking with the service dependancies is even 10mb is a lot gained in the long run.

From what you sent there was lots of other information as well, this is the best desc I could find from that: Disk Space - Engineering Windows 7 - Site Home - MSDN Blogs MicroSofts library of information is insane so much information.