No more support for Vista - advice please?

I must confess to being a bit of a Luddite, having stuck with my Windows Vista operating system to this day (HP Pavilion PC) simply because it fulfils all my requirements and I am comfortable with it.
However, Firefox - the last browser to support Vista – are finally going cease supporting Vista in August, which I’m told, will render my PC vulnerable to serious security issues.
I don’t do internet banking and I regularly back-up all my important files to CD. My main on-line activities are low-level Ebay trading (incorporating Paypal, where I hold a small balance in my account), some Facebook time and occasional on-line shopping. I have an active subscription with McAfee “All Access” anti-virus system.

Given all the above, what are the risks if I were to continue using Vista with Firefox unsupported?

Risks would be pretty high even if you don't do online banking. What are your system specs? Maybe you could upgrade to windows 10.

Vista wasn't a permitted Windows 10 upgrade and I think to buy Windows 10 to put on that machine would be money down the drain. If you are going to buy Windows 10 you would be better off buying it with a new computer. Problem with shopping online or Ebaying is you are using your banking details because you will be using a credit or debit card to trade. Even with Pay Pal you have had to use those details and that could be dangerous. Having said that any sort of trading on the web isn't that safe in my opinion with any operating system or browser.

Don't let this crap that just because you can't update a computer make you think you're geeting hacked and malware. I don't even use updates, and I've never been "hacked" or gotten any malware. I even run XP on a netbook that's on 24/7 running PhoneTray, a FTP server and a Teamspeak sever. It's my Kitchen Kiosk. It has never been "hacked" or infected despite XP being old as dirt. It's really all on how you use your computer and what software you use. You can update and update your computer to your little heart's content, but you can still be hacked or get malware. Especially polymorphic malware.

Here's by far the best anti-virus approach. You should sandbox the operating system with something like the free Time Freeze or what I use, Fortres Security Clean Slate. You have to create several exclusions, but it will stop malware from infecting your computer. Even malware that has no signature in an anti-virus software such as polymorphic malware. I tested this by purposely infecting my computer with all kinds of ransomware and viruses. Then I simply rebooted the machine and all was back as it was before. Not a single trace of malware.

If you're interested in sandboxing your OS, I can tell you what exclusions to add. If you chose to go with Win 10, just know it constantly creates analytics on you, has a built in key logger and forces updates on you that can and WILL make your hardware or even the computer blue screen. I have read countless stories about this. Both on computer forums and Facebook pages.

Thanks for all the replies.
I was rather hoping that my McAfee security package (with regular updates) would have been sufficient to keep out most invaders. Also, that the encryption of my card details (by Paypal and mainstream shopping sites) would offer adequate protection to them. So is that not the case?
Still weighing up my options.
My PC has an Athlon Dual Core 4450e/2.30 GHz processor, 2.00 RAM and is 32bit. Is that ok for a Windows 10 upgrade, or should I bin it?
Thanks.

Bin it or whatever. But it wont be enough for windows 10.

The bottom line is that no matter what anyone will tell you people do get hacked. Even huge companies that can afford to have the most up to date encryption facilities do get hacked. The chances of you getting hacked are slim. The chances of you losing money are slim. But in spite of what people will tell you people do lose money. You can get too paranoid about this stuff but you can also become complacent. It is a difficult balance. I do a lot of Ebay buying and I use paypal a lot. I do very very little on line banking but my credit and debit card numbers are all over the place. Mr Smith above will one day come a cropper. The internet is not a safe place to be dealing with money but then no where is. You shove your card into a card machine and who knows where your details go.

I still think that to put Windows 10 on your computer would be a waste of money. Nothing stopping you using Vista and there are other browsers that will run perfectly fine on Vista. You ideally need more RAM for Windows 10 and Windows 10 likes to be 64 bit. But your biggest problem is that Vista isn't upgradeable to Windows 10 so you will have to buy Windows 10. That would probably be half the cost, or more, of a new computer with Windows 10 on it.

Goldie said:

Thanks for all the replies.
I was rather hoping that my McAfee security package (with regular updates) would have been sufficient to keep out most invaders. Also, that the encryption of my card details (by Paypal and mainstream shopping sites) would offer adequate protection to them. So is that not the case?
Still weighing up my options.
My PC has an Athlon Dual Core 4450e/2.30 GHz processor, 2.00 RAM and is 32bit. Is that ok for a Windows 10 upgrade, or should I bin it?
Thanks.

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To be honest, if you were happy with Vista's performance on that machine then 10 should probably run fine on it for you. It's not going to run blazingly fast but I suspect it'll be faster than an old install of Vista - which was never the fastest OS anyway.

It's probably a good idea to either put Windows 10 on the PC or better still get a new machine if you can afford it. Vista is unsupported by most software vendors now meaning that newer software won't be compatible with it for much longer. As you've found, already web browsers and security packages are becoming increasingly difficult to find for Vista.