I had Win98 on a PC for years after formal support ended, and even ran WinXP programs/apps on it with no trouble. Then after I did switch that PC to WinXP I ran it for years after formal support ended, and again with no issues. I only switched to that PC to Win7 when I could not then get current anti-virus software with system requirements that accepted WinXP.
I imagine my one PC with Win7 will continue to do just fine for years to come. Again I expect it will only have to be upgraded to Win???, or replaced, when new versions of antivirus software are not compatible on Win7.
I believe in the “if it’s not broke don’t fix it” standard for PC operating systems and the software running on them.
Having the newest or latest and greatest has most often been not about any real “improvement” of nay necessity but merely newer versions with additional bells and whistles that are almost never needed or used, while what was working just fine gets more complicated to get to.
Time to upgrade to Windows 98SE!
Something about that doesnt sound right. WinXP is NT-based; Win98 is MSDOS-based. They are completely different, and largely incompatible systems. Programs that ran on one could not, by definition, run on the other, if they actually used operating system functions.
So Ive got a question for you, but let me explain why I ask.
It was a difficult undertaking to run Win98 programs on WinXP, but because that was the upgrade path, Microsoft and software manufacturers went to great lengths to convert Win98 software to run on WinXP.
There was no market pressure or motivation to make WinXP programs run on Win98, and Im unaware of anybody doing so for programs that actually used the operating system functions.
If on the other hand a program was a set of interpreted scripts (batch files, BASIC programs, etc.), and ran with an interpreter (i.e. the program didnt use the operating system functions directly), then it could run on either operating system as long as there was an interpreter.
So, what were the WinXP programs you ran on Win98? Im not calling you out on it, mind you but my technical curiosity has gotten the best of me and Id love to know. :-)
I turned off updates years ago on my Windows 7 laptop when Microsoft repeatedly tried to force the Windows 10 “upgrade”. After they finally stopped doing that I turned the updates back on. But as you say, if you can still get decent antivirus and firewall software that can be kept up to date the security argument is not really much of an issue.
I have had more trouble with malware since upgrading most of my machines to Windows 10. That is largely because the malcontents keep getting more sophisticated.