Question is proper. In the title. Got an old laptop (around 10 years old). Never had an anti-virus program on it and I used to download Sims 3 mods (package files that I unzipped with 7Zip). And once I downloaded a game from Chip and it installed a program that took up my entire PC. So a client or something. Anyway, I then reset everything and then luckily it was gone. But that was also a long time ago. Recently I've been terrified that I've caught something. Actually everything works normally, except that when I shut down the laptop, background programs are always closed. If I have a virus or a Trojan, it has been there for years. What would be the worst that could happen? Do my private things end up in the deep web or what? Or why is everyone so afraid of viruses etc?
It's hard to make money with that today. Cybercrime is more likely that they try to blackmail themselves according to some scheme or use your system as a bot for attacks or mining.
So I don't need to be afraid? I'm afraid that my data (especially pictures) will end up in the deep web, as I said, and I will never find out: / Or you don't do something like that because. What would that do for them?
There are many scenarios, only a few apply to private individuals. The spectrum ranges from data theft, extortion and espionage to using your device as part of a botnet. Windows 7 is no longer supported, so you should definitely use an anti-virus program.
Yes, what good would it do for you? Most of all I can tell you - nobody bothered to attack you specifically - why should they?
In the worst case, it saves everything you type on the keyboard and sends this data back to the perpetrator.
Your microphone, if you have one, or your webcam can also be tapped.
You can still upgrade to Windows 10 for free. The Windows 7 product key is also accepted when activating Windows 10.
To do this, first read out the Windows 7 key with this tool and write it down: https://www.chip.de/...63752.html
Then create a Windows 10 USB boot stick with the Media Creation Tool https://www.microsoft.com/...ndows10%20 or use it to upgrade to Windows 10. With the upgrade method, your programs and settings are retained.
After completing the installation / upgrade and starting Windows 10 for the first time, the initial setup wizard offers to create a Microsoft account. You should do that if you don't have one yet. Otherwise, log in to Windows 10 as a user with your existing Microsoft account.
Then you go into activation. There you then enter the Windows 7 key you noted down. The activation will then also be permanently saved in your Microsoft account. It can also be that if you have done the upgrade method the activation has already been carried out. This is then also permanently saved in your Microsoft account.
If you turn off all the desktop effects in Windows 10, it even runs a little faster than Windows 7.
Now you also have an up-to-date system and good protection with the Defender.
I also have a 10 year old laptop with a first generation i3 and I switched from Windows 7 to Windows 10 there. It works very well on it.
