ensete Is this true only if you dont update Win 7 after September or October 2022? Because in this thread (https://ledstrain.org/d/1949-word-of-warning-for-any-other-win-7-users-out-there) you mentioned that Nov 2022 Security Rollup changed your OS (Win 7 I guess) and triggered eye strain.
Thanks to your post people have realized that it is not only Win 10 and Win 11 causing eye strain/issues but also Win 7 which was before praised by people as the best OS. So I guess even Win 8 or 8.1 must have caused eye strain after updates in November 2022 or later to someone. Basically all windows editions have been affected. But strange thing is that also Linux and Mac OS and maybe some other operating systems are unusable for some people. Does it seem like all operating systems in this world share something similar in recent past and present that causes these eye issues?
You also mentioned that you can take perfectly fine Windows 7 system, install Windows 10 in a virtual machine on that system, and that Windows 10 will give you the same issues, even though it's running inside the windows 7 OS. Did it work also the other way around (install fine windows 7 in virtual machine which is running on bad windows 10)?
You suspected that some .NET Security Updates might be the real cause. So then you restored your PC from 2 weeks old image (safe Win 7 which had last update in May 2022) and eye problems vanished. Then in Virtual Machine you tried to identify which Win 7 update caused it by running Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct and Nov updates.
Then you came up with this list of updates in december 2022 (I google them and I added name and release date of each update) which you uninstalled after which your eye strain vanished:
Update for Windows 7 (KB4040980) = Security and Quality Rollup for .NET Framework 3.5.1 for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 (14-Nov-2017)
Update for Windows 7 (KB4019990) = Update for Windows 7 (30-May-2017) or Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (30-May-2017)
Update for Windows 7 (KB2836942) = NET Framework 3.5.1 on Windows 7 SP1 x86 (11-Feb-2014)
Update for Windows 7 (KB2786081) = Update for Windows 7 (31-May-2017)
Update for Windows 7 (KB2552343) = Update for Windows 7 (12-Aug-2014) or Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (2-Sep-2014)
Update for Windows 7 (KB2506014) = Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (2-Sep-2014)
Update for Windows 7 (KB971033) = from year 2013 or 2014
Update for Windows 7 (KB2836943) = Update for Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5.1 on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 for x64-based Systems (11-Feb-2014)
Update for Windows 7 (KB2999226) = Update for Windows Vista for x64-based Systems (13-Oct-2015) or Update for Windows Server 2008 x64 Edition (13-Oct-2015)
Update for Windows 7 (KB3138612) = Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (8-Mar-2016)
Update for Windows 7 (KB2809215) = from year 2013 or 2014
Very strange thing is that all those updates that you listed are old updates (from 2013-2017) but you mentioned that Nov 2022 Security Rollup changed your OS and triggered eye strain. Did those old updates really install with Nov 2022 update? How such old updates could get installed in nov 2022 automatic updates?