u/Cautious-Intern7254

Hey everyone,

I currently have free time and my first year of college would start soon so I was thinking of starting C programming. I'm trying to set up VS Code locally on my laptop, but I'm running into compatibility walls because of my setup:

- OS: Windows 8.1 (64-bit)

- Hardware: 12-year-old Toshiba, 12GB RAM, HDD.

- The Issue: Latest MSYS2 installers require Windows 10+. I tried a WinLibs build, but VirusTotal flagged it as a Trojan (likely a false positive, but worried me a bit so I came here for advice, It got flagged in VirusTotal, with a 2/39 score).

What I need:

Does anyone have a trusted, clean GCC link for it - MinGW-w64 or WinLibs or MSYS2 build that is confirmed to run on Windows 8.1?

I know the "proper" advice is to install Linux or upgrade to Win 10, but for this semester, I need to stay on this OS for specific reasons. I just want a standalone compiler folder I can extract to C:\ and add to my Path so I can hit the "Run" button in VS Code.

Honestly I don't know anything about coding, I used A.I to make sense here and also I was watching "Bro code" youtube video and I was following it's instructions but got stuck in adding the GCC compiler due to my old machine.

Thanks in advance for the help!

I know my marks are bad but please tell me the best options I can get with my Marks/Rank with a Group 2BG

I'm getting 83 in Kcet and 206 in boards (I KNOW IT'S HORRIBLE BUT due to certain circumstances I only got this much)

I am getting approx 80k rank that is assuming simplified minds kcet rank predictor is correct so which college can i choose i want cse in Cybersecurity or in Information science engineering or any computer field as such, I'm 2BG category

Location should be anywhere near any metro station.

College I looked into is Oxford college of engineering (Do I have a chance in this college, please tell me!?)

But also do suggest any other colleges you know or if I can get into Oxford college of engineering itself!!!

Thanks in advance