Greetings from me :)

[Akazi]

Greetings everyone! I was not sure where to put this so I figured better safe than sorry and put it in the Off-Topic section I guess. This is me greeting all of you! I am new to this forum and have a bit of a story to tell. First off I'd like to start by saying I never use any Windows operating system. I live in a strict Linux-only household and currently run Elementary OS as my primary OS(and a dual boot with Arch to do my Archy things). So what am I doing on a Windows 7 forum? Well... Seeing as I was raised in a Linux household I've been given a challenge, that challenge is to use Windows (Seven to be exact) for at least 7 months without an antivirus. Now I know what you're all thinking, I'm absolutely crazy. I mean, if it were Windows 8 it wouldn't be a problem I hear, but 7? I'm out of my mind aren't I? Well, not only will it be a learning experience for me, but it will also be frustration, which is the fun in it all! Learning a new operating system can be fun.

 

[jadinolf]

Welcome aboard Akazi.

Feel free to take a tour of the forums.

 

[whs]

Welcome and install at least MSE which is free.

Microsoft Security Essentials - Microsoft Windows

 

[Layback Bear]

Welcome to our Forum.
Learning how to use Windows 7 for everyday use is not a hard thing to do.
To learn Windows 7 once infected is difficult to do. You never know what is doing what. Is it Windows 7 or is it the infection doing this or that.
Without proper security you will get infected if you go on line; period.

Remember that the bad guys don't create a lot of infection for Linux. The reason is they don't want to waste their time and money.

Why create a infection for 10,000 Linux computer when they can create a Windows infection for a 100,000,000 Windows systems computers.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi and welcome to SevenForums,
http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/215505-welcome-seven-forums-5-a.html

Like many security products for windows 7... many are free and great so please see this thread for some great suggestions,
Good security combination,
http://www.sevenforums.com/system-security/206705-good-free-system-security-combination.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/system-security/297196-top-av-program-use-here-seven.html
Cheers.

 

[Akazi]

Well, the challenge I've been given is to use Windows without any security besides the default firewall, it'd kinda defeat the purpose if I went and installed an antivirus! The machine I'm using doesn't really matter either, if something happens to the hardware... Well let's just say nothing can hurt it more than it's already hurt

 

[Gator]

This is an easy one, don't go to the sexy sites..

 

[Akazi]

This is an easy one, don't go to the sexy sites..

That's pretty obvious

 

[Layback Bear]

Just make sure you don't hook this computer to anybody else's computer like a network.
Don't use this computer to email because your can transfer infections to the receiving computer.

 

[Akazi]

Just make sure you don't hook this computer to anybody else's computer like a network.
Don't use this computer to email because your can transfer infections to the receiving computer.

Shared folders disabled on everything, also, what Windows virus is going to infect a Linux PC? The best it would be able to do is partly destroy Wine xD

 

[Layback Bear]

Believe me Akazi if their was any money in hacking Linux they would create viruses that would hack Linux.

 

[Akazi]

Tell that to Norway's ATMs

 

[andrew129260]

They are some Viruses that exist for Linux, but just like mac osx market share is where it is. Hackers and data thieves want to attack the most amount of people in the least amount of time. That my friends, is why windows is such a popular target.

And welcome Akazi.

I think you will like windows 7.

 

[Akazi]

Update: I am finding Windows 7 very welcoming in general, moderately slower than what I'm used to but keep in mind I am running it on a 2008 machine with 2 gigs of RAM and a Pentium 4. There are some things I found a bit annoying at first, the main thing being I'm a very frugal person and the whole OS isn't exactly frugal when it comes to taking up space.(Keep in mind I'm used to Puppy Linux(Slacko) on the particular machine, which gets it's speed from booting straight into RAM.). I found getting programs to be a bit different but it is overall exactly what I expected, no "software center" of any kind. I do wish the whole thing were a bit more customizable though, I did some registry tweaks to speed up animations and changed window color and background, which it seems is pretty much all I can do besides themes and third party things. Overall, having a decent experience, the desktop itself is beautiful.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
You could probably save some resources by disabling some aero effects,
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1908-visual-effects-settings-change.html
2 gig's a bare minimum for win-7,
Optimizing windows,
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/11728-optimize-windows-7-a.html
Cheers.