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by Arainach 1843 days ago
All sorts of security features in the browser only work on newer operating systems:

Hardware-enforced Stack Protection: https://www.zdnet.com/article/google-chrome-this-new-feature...

Significant improvements to ASLR starting in Windows 8: https://msrc-blog.microsoft.com/2013/12/11/software-defense-...

And many more things. New Windows releases aren't just coats of paint.
2 comments
atatatat 1843 days ago
Understanding the difference between security and privacy is why I actually use Edge on Windows for some desktop tasks.
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ocdtrekkie 1843 days ago
There is no difference between security and privacy. If you have no privacy, compromising your security is easy. If you have no security, compromising your privacy is easy.

Guarding one protects the other.

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atatatat 1842 days ago
Correct.

Need to do those in different ways at different times.

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sunsipples 1843 days ago
I would not have thought the improvements would have been that significant (I'm old and ignorant). HeSP is dependent on the cpu? (article noting intel gen 11 and amd ryzen 3 are needed) and ASLR still being implemented on Win7 with http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2639308

We still have to keep a couple winxp and nt boxes alive at work for diagnostic gear (none are online). Thankfully not my job as I am obviously a risk :)

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Arainach 1842 days ago
Forced ASLR isn't the important feature (the browsers already opted themselves in). The increased entropy, which doesn't exist on Win7, is important however.
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