Windows 7 SP1 with no other updates is just fine, stop all the scare mongering, yes you might get a virus or whatever, but easy to fix, not worth losing sleep over. Laptop's got XP don't let on the internet much, but it's fine aswell these days. IT Developer, using old 32bit software so stuck with 32bit, if it's not broken, don't fix it.
That comment can be considered offensive to the OP. It's like your saying he is so stupid he doesn't know how to learn to make his operating system any better. Give the guy a break. All he has to do is watch a couple of youtube videos and he can upgrade his computer for free. And guess who makes the viruses that eventually bipasses the antivirus programs out there? The same people who make the anti virus programs. Because in order for them to keep making money, they have to come out with a bigger and better virus than the previous one, and then come out with a better and more secure patch for the antivirus they've already created. There's tons of money in antivirus software if you know how to make viruses and anti virus programs. That's why it's better for the OP to make his life easier and learn. And if he is too stupid to learn. Well then, he should learn how to become smart...
It's a pretty important life skill to understand what life looks like from another's position in life. It's not empathy, because you're actually displaying empathy here by thinking "how would I feel in this situation". The problem with empathy is it's centered on "I" instead of thinking "how would the OP feel in this situation given their completely different skill set and interest in life from me". Interestingly I find tech people and specifically computer and EE types to be the absolute worst at doing this (I is one and run a tech company so my sample size is pretty big). And yes, linux is daunting for the vast majority of people out there, your MSFT conspiracy theories aside that's why it's got almost no uptake among non-tech folks. That's not because they're stupid, many of them are brilliant. But not in computers. They're not like you, no matter how easy it is for you to "watch a couple of youtube videos" it's simply not that easy for them. Sorry, that's life. The OP may be perfectly capable of installing and using linux, but assuming they are because "anyone can be" is a mistake.
You're probably already compromised without knowing. W7 has all the same vulnerabilities that W8 and W10 has and a few more. It's rarely targeted exclusively. Linux?
That's also not their goal really. They tend to assume you're up to date or at least not far behind. The focus isn't on users who are years behind in security updates. It's quite scary how many people think it's not a big thing at all, not realizing that most viruses don't actually destroy your whole system in minutes but sit in the background and do various nefarious things such as DDoS, trying other devices on the network, stealing passwords, running mining code etc.
You Can Still Upgrade to Windows 10 For Free, Here's How To get Windows 10, you'll just have to download and run Media Creation Tool on Windows 7/8/8.1 and upgrade the PC to Windows 10. After the upgrade, connect to the internet and your older Windows license will be converted to a Windows 10 license.