Windows 7

Nobert said:
If, one, does not use, any browsers, on the computers that he trades with, does that makes his computer, - safer , against all malware stuff ?

E.g, the only thing that i would run on my laptop would be TDA and that's it, - how much safer it becomes ?

Or that crap would find way in, with browsers or without them ?
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Sort of.

If you are operating behind a NAT and haven't opened any ports in your DMZ then an unpatched box is probably safe from a random attack from a IP scanner.

I emphasize sort of because as long as you're wired into the network you are vulnerable. Imagine you are hard wired to a router with a wireless network using an insecure password or vulnerable encryption scheme. With a rainbow table and some elbow grease a would-be attacker could gain access to your network from across the street and use your unpatched Windows 7 box as a point of ingress into the rest of your network. Your threat surface is multiplied by the fact that thing is sitting on your network. If you insist on keeping it hooked up to a network blocking external traffic and only allowing it to connect to the LAN is marginally safer but the risk I mentioned before is still there because every other system on your network, if compromised, would immediately begin attacking your unpatched system (trying to get a persistent backdoor on it since there will be no more patches).

There's also the human risk. Assume you've completely locked down your computer and you feel safe. You get some software from your broker (ostensibly via snail mail since you're not using the network) and you install it. Little did you know a hacker had broken into your broker's server and placed a small malware loader in the boot sector of the USB/CD. You are now exploited and you had no idea. Or imagine you had a friend over who brought some music for you to listen to on a thumb drive. He had an old exploit lurking in his system that performed the same attack. You are always vulnerable, and consciously running an unpatched box requires extreme caution and full knowledge of your threat surface. Airgapping it won't help due to this type of attack, so you may as well upgrade as soon as you can afford it. You would be better off running a lightweight Linux installation with WINE or a VM on top of it, which will reduce your core threat surface down to the standard issue attacks.

I used to run honeypots for fun when I was working security in IT. On a simple SSH honeypot in 2 hours I would have hundreds of attacks on my server some various IPs. Hackers run IP scanners and will find you before you can patch your box. Once you're found, a bot will drop a backdoor for a real hacker to come in on later. It's very entertaining to watch (especially when they realize its a honeypot and they've been logged for hours) but frightening if it's actually your system. My system would report 10-20 IPs a day to ICANN and associated ISPs. Some of them are fraudulent (particularly Russian ISPs tend to allow this behavior) but I got a lot of response emails from ISPs telling them they didn't know these attacks were happening and they would shut down their service immediately. On one of my servers I manage now I get something like 200 fail2ban alerts a day. The amount of attacks going on these days is insane.
 
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There are no dumb questions when it comes to PC security. I use Avast as well, but keep in mind that it is only as good as the OS security updates which will CEASE in Jan 2020. Any vulnerabilities will probably fly past any AV program that is not installed on an updated OS.

We all mourn the loss of Win 7.
 
Amateurs....

Start running a simple operating system like Linux and viruses will become a thing of the past...

I have dual booted windows 10 and Linux Mint in my computer, and I use windows for running programs and applications, and Linux Mint for browsing the internet.

Also using Brave browser on both operating systems for even more simplicity and speed.

See when you are smart like I am, there is no need to waste your time thinking about being attacked with a virus. When you run with the lions you eat with them, and when you have fear with the Mice you get trampled on.

With Linux Mint your enemies become a foot stool for your feet...
 
You want to go with a modern name brand router which will give you superior protection than a software firewall like Avast. This will free up your computer resources & will ensure it is not interfering with your trading program.

If you want top notch security than buy a hardware firewall from a vendor like Cisco, Sonicwall, Fortinet, Ubiquiti, etc. The only thing better is to have private leased line to your broker but that will cost about $500 -$1,500 per month.

Brokers typically have a SSL interface for their trading platform - this is adequate security. You really don't need a VPN unless you are using a public WIFI.

Once you have a good router or a hardware firewall you still have more to do. Any Windows computer has many settings than need to be disabled for security & some tweaks to improve the speed - you can hire a geek to do this for you.

You will never be secure if you go to seedy sites, open email files outside of a sandbox, or download free programs.

Passwords should never be typed from your keyboard or stored in the web browser. Get a program like Keepass or whatever that does encryption & allows you to use only your mouse to input or change passwords.
 
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Bekim said:
This may be a dumb question but I run Avast security on my computer and a vpn would this block the attack on windows 7 or no?
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Unfortunately, no. Virus scanners run heuristics so current threats and things similar to current threats would be identified by any new threats wouldn't. Generally antivirus companies keep up to date on the latest threats for old operating systems but you are really hoping they are on top of their game all the time.

A VPN can be thought of as a "mask" for your IP address. It doesn't protect you from attack, it just changes the knowledge of the origin IP from your ISP to the VPN provider.

Your best bet is to do one of three things in terms of technical savvy:

1. Upgrade to Windows 10 (cheap these days)
2. Purchase an older macbook pro (OS X is upgraded for free so you never have to worry). You can use parallels or a VM for Windows software.
3. Install a Linux distribution such as Ubuntu and run WINE, which should run most trading software fine.

Unfortunately, with an unpatched system you are playing with fire. It's important to stay up to date with patches.
 
Not leaving Windows 7 for Windows 10 which is pure spyware. I suppose it may be possible to scrub some of it out but that could take months.

There are still many enterprise networks that will not allow a Windows 10 puter to be plugged into the LAN.

If you have a proper hardware firewall and follow the best practices than you should be o.k. Hate being bullied by MS to buy new crap from them.
 
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The problem with the linux evangelists isn't that you're wrong about security, because you're generally not. It's that you're preaching something that is beyond the capabilities of the guy who can't manage to make it past Windows 7 and clearly has limited technical expertise. You can preach how easy it is all day to Sunday, and for us no doubt it's trivial, but for the guy having a hard time getting past Windows 7 it's really nearly unobtanium to switch to linux making it not really a viable option and probably not the best advice.
 
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