So if Zwift’s infrastructure was attacked and temporarily became a host for malware, how would your computer defend against that?
I’m pretty sure, given the number of users, I’d find out about it promptly.
Even so, since I run a dedicated machine for Strava, and only run Strava on that machine, I’m not at all concerned about spreading anything to other machine on my internal network.
The concern over antivirus software on modern os is (almost) totally overblown. As I said, almost all the risk is from user negligence. I am not very negligent.
I’m not worried
Ah, the good old “I’ll rely on luck” defence.
That’s ok then! What could possibly go wrong?
You are still not understanding how routing, firewalls and NAT works.
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Ummm, I think I have a pretty good idea.
I used to run my own DNS server instance (bind) for my own domain (for apache and sendmail), hosted on a machine in my house, sitting behind a DSN modem/router.
It’s pretty hard to set that up without a pretty good understanding of “routing, firewalls and NAT”
But, we’ve now completely left the actual topic.
I think the original question was “Why would anyone want to keep an internet-connected PC on an unsupported operating system that has no ongoing security updates?”
And the answer is simply, because it works - and when configured correctly, there’s no reason to fear for “security”. And, if it works, why change it ?
Again, most (I’d hazard to say nearly all) of the security issues faced by Windows users are down to user error. A knowledgeable person can set up a totally secure machine which has access to Zwift servers without any kind of firewall on the machine itself, and certainly without anti-virus crap-ware slowing the system down.
I don’t care anymore. Stick to your old, outdated, unsupported OS.
I still don’t understand the resistance some have to upgrading to Win10, I guess some are just scared of change.
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It won’t work in January. 
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Right, but, not for any good reason.
OK, so, clearly if there’s some great new feature in the latest version of OpenGL that the Zwfit devs just have to use in order to move Zwift to the proverbial “next level”, and there’s no chance of getting that feature when running a previous Windows version, because Microsoft doesn’t open source their end-of-life software, then, yes, we are pretty much forced to update the OS.
I was responding to the contention that routers will allow outside programs to connect to local ports behind the router, not security exploits on clients that are already connected to ports on servers…
Actually if they want all the new 3D features they’d probably have to move to Vulkan or Direct X12 (which is completely different from earlier DirectX’s in resembling Vulkan in being a lower level API). Actually moving to Vulkan might be quite a good idea, given that it is directly supported on Windows, Android and Linux and indirectly supported on iOS through MoltenVk.
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Yesterday I tried upgrade from 8.1 to 10 on my Alienware Alpha. Spent 3 hours trying to figure out error codes and searching the internet for answers. The install just gives you an “Installation failed” and you have to look through cryptic log files to get any info. Very frustrating. This is why I didn’t want to upgrade for free when Win10 first come out. Anyway, today I just decided to wipe the HD clean and install WIn10 from scratch. That worked fine
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Clean install is always a far better idea anyway. 
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About Zwift:
The cycling platform is nice
for people to get an indoor workout.
I hope that everyone has a nice holiday
season. It was nice talking with everyone.
Take care and be safe during this pandemic.
Its time for me to go take a ride on Zwift.
Ride on !!!
to only run zwift in the back room ?
Gang - seeing how this thread has devolved into off topic “I’m right, you’re wrong” arguments, I’m locking this thread.
We’re giving fair notice that the aforementioned operating systems will be deprecated in the near future. Please plan accordingly.
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Update:
January’s game release v1.21 will end support for Windows 7 and Windows 8.
What Win7 and Win8 users can expect to see:
- Zwift launcher will fire up, but the Zwift game app will not.
- Instead, you will see this Wndows System message:
If you are using Windows 7 or 8 - it may be possible to upgrade to Windows 10 (for free) depending on what hardware you have. Please upgrade your computer if this is an option.
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