So, I recently pointed out a problem with a mod for Skyrim Special Edition on NexusMods. It was a Windows 7 specific problem and not wanting to be harassed over it, I was deliberately vague.
That vagueness backfired, and my original comment was misunderstood, so I had to explain it, and in so doing, had to explain that this is Windows 7 specific. Once that was out of the way, the comments started pouring in:
“You really should upgrade your OS.”
“Windows 7 is hugely insecure.”
“Windows 7 hasn’t received security updates in over 6 years, you should upgrade.”
“You’re a walking security risk if you’re using Windows 7.”
“If you keep using Windows 7 you’re stupid and need to be prevented from using computers ever again.”
“If you use Windows 7 your computer will get twenty million viruses by simply hooking up your Ethernet cable to an active modem.”
“I know you want nostalgia, but Windows 7 isn’t the way to get it.”
“You can make windows 10 and 11 look just like Windows 7, yanno.”
(Some of these are exaggerations, others are things said to me in other places. They’re here because it’s always the gist of what people are really saying when they express their “concern” over you using old operating systems)
I’ve asked them to stop the harassment, as my comment was an FYI, nothing more, and they’re turning it into a shitshow. I don’t expect them to stop, but to ramp it up since I asked them to stop it. It’s how humans are. Doesn’t mean I have to like it.
But...
Windows 7, and me using Windows 7, isn’t the problem.
I’ve been using computers since 1982. My first ever use of one was an ATARI desktop where I used the BASIC programming language to make an ASCII rocketship that launched from the bottom of the screen and flew up to the top. In 1989, I used the Terrapin Logo Language on a floppy disc in an Apple IIe to draw a very detailed Model T Ford touring car. I went to a vocational school in 1995 and 96 to learn about the basics of computers and especially Windows computers. Used a 486 computer with Windows 3.11 to learn how to use business applications, and also learned about viruses and what can cause them and what can’t.
I bought my first PC in 1999, a Compaq Presario desktop that was manufactured before the merger with HP. It had Windows 98 Second Edition preinstalled, 64 MB of RAM, a 10 GB hard drive, and an AMD K6-2 processor running at 500MHz. I had so many problems with getting Windows to run that I asked my cousin, a techie, what I could do, and he gave me lots of pointers.
One of the first ones he told me: never let Windows decide what is best for my computer. Reason: Windows doesn’t actually know what’s best for my computer!
I learned how to protect against viruses using ad blockers in 2009, after a site I frequented repeatedly installed a rogue anti-virus called VirusDoctor on my machine. Every single antivirus I could get was unable to remove it, except Malwarebytes, and only an ad blocker stopped it from installing because it was embedded in an ad.
Experience, sometimes referred to as “The School of Hard Knocks,” is a far better teacher than some random person on the Internet pontificating about how insecure you are for not having the newest, shiniest toy from Microsoft installed on your machine.
I’m not an idiot, and I’m not some random old fart who doesn’t know the difference between a PC keyboard and a piano keyboard. Using Windows 7 doesn’t magically make me a dumbshit the way the commenters seem hell-bent on making me look like.
So like I said, neither Windows 7, nor me using Windows 7, is the problem.
These harassers are. They parrot total lies that Microsoft wants them to believe. Contrary to popular belief, your computer being updated does nothing to prevent viruses from getting onto your computer, and once they get there it’s going to be MUCH harder to get rid of them than it would be to just prevent them from downloading in the first place. Also contrary to popular belief, simply hooking a Windows 7 PC up to the Internet will NOT automatically put viruses onto your computer. Finally, and also contrary to popular belief, malware makers target the widest possible marks or, if they have a particular target in mind, major institutions like hospitals, banks, big businesses, and so on. Most such places are running Windows 10 or 11, thus most malware out today is written with Windows 10 and 11 in mind, NOT Windows 7.
But what makes these people the problem is that their harassment makes it so that people who want to file a bug report are now faced with weighing whether they can handle the harassment or not in their decision to do so. I wanted people to know that the bug existed, so I told people, but I also knew the harassers would come out of the woodwork to preach at me about how horrible Windows 7 is and how great Windows 10 and 11 are, or how great Linux is. Knowledge is power, and I gave knowledge, but they want conformity, so I’m being harassed. The words may be more polite, but it’s the same tired old crap I dealt with in elementary school. It’s little more than “See my thumb? Gee you’re dumb!” style bullying.
I shouldn’t have to risk my sanity just to post a bug report on a Skyrim mod.
~Lilith
