Is it too late to do a fresh install of win7?

[m654321]

Hey Mike,

I'm not quite sure about what privacy differences you are referring to.
TC

@Trinidad,
The privacy settings, I was referring to, are some you can modify when you install win10.  Not just that, but more significantly some important hacks can apparently be done to reduce (but not eliminate) vulnerability.  These are outlined in a link I posted elsewhere (see around halfway through this video, where an English guy gives a tutorial showing you  how to do this (following the 'American interview'),  https://www.youtube.co/watch?v=QEBzc1GHUQE

I attempted the above hacks (unsuccessfully) on my 'free win7 to 10 upgrade' of Home Edition in a VM last year, but it appears to only work in the Pro Edition (I remember I got a pop-up message telling me so). That's why I won't touch win10 HE with a bargepole, as it predisposes itself less to security enhancements.

I'm not as knowledgeable about PCs as yourself (that's clear) but, from what I've understood generally, the accepted wisdom is that Windows OS has pretty leaky security. However, as you know only too well, there isn't any OS that is completely secure.  'Quidsup' (a network security analyst by profession) has shown on Youtube, using win10, how Microsoft tracks you constantly on the internet in real time - the seriousness of this has to be seen to be believed - I was amazed at the scale of this. Furthermore, in his opinion, even the best antivirus/malware software is only around 20% effective, though I  think, like many other PC users,  it's better to use one (for any OS) with the caveat that some protection is better than none.  It seems to me that a significant amount of PC health depends on sensible use of the PC, e.g. avoidance of rogue websites & not clicking on malicious links in rogue e-mails. In this regard useful URL scanners can be found at the websites URLquery or VirusTotal and they are free to use - I have these websites in my web browser's bookmarks bar for quick access - they're pretty useful tools.

Regards
Mike