Windows 10 concerns

Martingonn

Martingonn

I have a habit of looking at embedded systems (cash registers, automated kiosks, etc.) "in the wild" whenever I can. Everywhere I go these days, whether it is the library, the kiosk or a smaller family business, they all use... Windows 10!

We all know Windows 10 is not supported anymore. I doubt the small businesses pay for extended support - that is very expensive and used by larger businesses and corporations. These people probably don't know, but their data is probably leaking everywhere and their cash registers are running botnets.

If you have any info on how one could secure their Windows 10 (maybe Legacy Update?), like closing unused services and ports, please drop them down below.
 
Best way to secure is to never let it hook the internet... Neighbor gave me a nice practically new Dell 5555 some years ago with a fresh windows 10 & I used it for almost 3 years pretty heavy OFFLINE only (And boy it wanted to be hooked to the net like a druggy) & never, ever had a single issue... Wife's machine was no longer cutting it I gave her the machine which immediately went online then all kinda problems ensued, settings changed all the time whether you turned them off previously or not, machine slowed even offline in use, a few months later SSD went out total...

Right now I AM using win10 online as a few places won't open with latest XP browsers but it's a dedicated HDD I have alternate much larger XP HDD I can switch out at any time (6 minutes) but I don't hook my precious XP machines to internet anymore, seems like I/We only have problems with machines that have 'seen' the internet...
 
BellicoseBloke said:
Best way to secure is to never let it hook the internet... Neighbor gave me a nice practically new Dell 5555 some years ago with a fresh windows 10 & I used it for almost 3 years pretty heavy OFFLINE only (And boy it wanted to be hooked to the net like a druggy) & never, ever had a single issue... Wife's machine was no longer cutting it I gave her the machine which immediately went online then all kinda problems ensued, settings changed all the time whether you turned them off previously or not, machine slowed even offline in use, a few months later SSD went out total...

Right now I AM using win10 online as a few places won't open with latest XP browsers but it's a dedicated HDD I have alternate much larger XP HDD I can switch out at any time (6 minutes) but I don't hook my precious XP machines to internet anymore, seems like I/We only have problems with machines that have 'seen' the internet...
Click to expand...
Yeah, I know about connecting to the internet being bad as I have made botnet PoC on older VMs for people who did not believe me. I had a friend who actively played and hosted CS 1.6 on his Windows 7 laptop - not only was he vulnreable to 7's botnets (he did not apply any patches/close any ports), he was also hosting an outdated 1.6 server client vulnreable to the Belonard Trojan.

However, some are connected to the internet, even if only for backup-making. They often use a light .NET cash register app or outright Excel with macros to manage transactions, so they don't feel their devices probably slowing down due to cryptojacking/other exploitation.

Some people should just need to be aware of this for their digital safety's sake. Maybe Microsoft could release a warning if you have some ports open? They don't care enough anyway. Maybe someone will do a broadcast via exploits like they do with printers open to the internet. Maybe it will be me :)

A little sidenote, I had a Windows 7 laptop with 100% CPU use. I took out the network card and thought this is 100% a crypto miner, but then... disabled AVG antivirus. CPU usage below 1%.
 
I have a few XPs offline and in fact they've been stripped/tweaked to do dedicated tasks (2 DAWs, 1 DVW 1 Three bay CD burner. The burner and one DAW are on stripped down WinMe OS.
Stripping 'n tweaking makes for a very fast machine indeed!!
 
TMTGTR said:
I have a few XPs offline and in fact they've been stripped/tweaked to do dedicated tasks (2 DAWs, 1 DVW 1 Three bay CD burner. The burner and one DAW are on stripped down WinMe OS.
Stripping 'n tweaking makes for a very fast machine indeed!!
Click to expand...
Was it a type of Win CE or did you really strip down Windows Me (Millenium Edition)? I know that both are used in embedded devices.

Yes, it does increase performance. I tried on Windows 2000 SP4 by closing online services - RAM use became a third of what it was and only two ports were open (which turned out to be localhost ports). That is what Windows 10 users should do if they need to stay online so hard.

Controversial opinion: people who cannot upgrade to 11 and want to stay Windows-only need to aquire Win2k patched for online use - there aren't any new botnets from what I've last checked.
 
I cut my teeth on Win98FE and assembled my first DAW with a Supermicro MB. Good times. I soon graduated to ABIT and win 98SE. That's when I really dived into stripping/tweaking. I still have that machine and it's fully functional but I went with standard WinME eventually on it.
If you remember 98lLite I was all over that and the concepts behind embedded Windows on dedicated hardware. It was all trial and error as I tried to apply that concept to my needs on a desktop PC.
I went to XP next and that was where I settled and been ever since. I use PCLite (Abandonware), and years of trial and error tweaking/stripping. The XP DAW and DVW are XP Pro SP3 but my office XP Pro is unofficial SP4.
I learned concepts from customizing the offline machines to make more fluid online machines.
 
TMTGTR said:
I cut my teeth on Win98FE and assembled my first DAW with a Supermicro MB. Good times. I soon graduated to ABIT and win 98SE. That's when I really dived into stripping/tweaking. I still have that machine and it's fully functional but I went with standard WinME eventually on it.
If you remember 98lLite I was all over that and the concepts behind embedded Windows on dedicated hardware. It was all trial and error as I tried to apply that concept to my needs on a desktop PC.
I went to XP next and that was where I settled and been ever since. I use PCLite (Abandonware), and years of trial and error tweaking/stripping. The XP DAW and DVW are XP Pro SP3 but my office XP Pro is unofficial SP4.
I learned concepts from customizing the offline machines to make more fluid online machines.
Click to expand...
Yeah, trial-and-error is a great learning tool for learning to install and manage operating systems and their components. Is PCLite something like NTLite (being able to cut out features from Windows)?
 
Just read about the GNU InetUtils telnetd versions 1.9.3 through 2.7 exploit affecting 800,000 IP adresses. Seems some people think running legacy online software is safe or they just forgot. When you go on shodan.io or other monitoring websites, you can see countless Windows Server 2003 or old cameras open to the internet not just in less-developed countries. If you cannot/will not use modern software for online use, go offline or patch it up.
 
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