XP support ends April 2014

Buy a Mac! Have to say that since I changed from PC to Mac about 6 years ago I haven't looked back. It's never crashed, is easy to operate, updates the o/s without any hassle, no need for anti-virus programmes! All this compared to my work laptop, which is about to be changed out as it runs XP, and is nothing but agro, constantly slow to load, crashes with monotonous regularity, has a penchant for returning to the very first sign on screen for no reason...... need I go on!

 

Windows 7 is just xp anyway. Windows is windows. Except 95ME, which was abysmal. Shove w7 on it. I have no experience of w8 so can't say. But w7 is fine. For windows.

 

Tbh Windows XP was a great OS; however I think windows 8 is pretty good also! The very dark days of Windows Vista seem to be over.

 

Windows 7 all the way

 

i run xp at work, got new computer lined up for April. i got a wee arrangement with an i,t, dude. i fix his car he supply's the hardware and support.

 

Indeed. Windows 8 isnt for PC thou. I believe its more for touch screen devices, mobiles and tablets, that sort of thing. Yeah 95 was torrid.

 

The latest update for windows 8 adds a ton of functionality for PC without touch screen. U can even default into a traditional home screen rather than have to go into the tiles

 

What's wrong with keeping XP?

Just because MS won't support it any longer doesn't mean to say XP will be defunct...........Now that the majority of the XP bugs have been sorted, there isn't much that can go wrong with it.

The only thing I would say that is important to do is make sure that you download Service Pack 3 and save it somewhere because without it, re-loading the OS will be difficult if you ever have to do it.

As for the MS security updates for, say, Defender..........well, most of them don't do anything and are generally late...........Much better off with a decent free AV program.

Anyway, I'm buggered if I'm going to upgrade / dispose of all the programs I have that are XP compatible just to change to the latest OS, when I don't need anything more than I already have.


AL

 

Well - that's not strictly the case. Say for example someone finds a vulnerability in say for example in Remote Desktop Connection. This would be patched. As of April they wont, which means that the vulnerability will always be there, Now, then its up to you trusting your virus protection to close that vulnerability (which I don't think it would) as that vulnerability is MS's problem. Plus if youre on XP youll be on IE8. There are things on IE8 that are now starting not to work as webservers are using newer versions of their OS apache for example (not windows software) which would take advantage of newer browsers capability. Not trying to incite an argument just saying that if you stay where you are (which is fine) then things could become an issue.

Skipping back a little you might/never use Remote desktop but if someone externally found the vulnerability remotely then they could take advantage of it without you knowing.

Case in point....download VNC install it on your machine and then watch as someone runs a port scan, sees the open connection and hey presto your mouse starts moving around...this is a bit extreme but its what can happen.

 

Apart from the fact that I don't allow Remote Desktop Connection or other similar connections, I reckon the majority of attacks will be on the majority; ie those people using the latest 7 & 8.

So far I have tried all types of subscription and free AV and anti-nasty programs and have found that Avast appears to be the one that is the least PC hungry; however if you want to pay for something, even less hungry is Webroot....although you can free trial it regularly....this program will prevent something kicking off because it doesn't recognise it as being safe.

Notwithstanding that, if I am working with my PC, I rarely have the broadband connection enabled...........its a simple matter to enable / disable it for internet access and email.

 

Ok - as I said ive got no argument, someone asked. I answered. Pull up a command line on your machine connect to the net, leave it a few mins and type in netstat -a - so you know everything that those connections are showing....? Trace them, command line again.....tracert and then the ip. Stuff makes connections to your machine that you don't even know about. All I was doing was giving the help and saying "yeah you can stay on that but these are the possible pitfalls" not saying " theres nothing wrong with it, its absolutely fine and secure" after april that is.

 

Yep, I agree with what you say.........However, I consider it is important to check things like the number of Start-Up processes and Running Processes in Task Manager.

For example, I have only 6 Start-Up, plus 30 processes running only when the broadband connection is enabled.............A check on my brother's PC showed he was running 24 Start-Up and 81 running in Task Manager......apart from the security risk of those figures, he wondered why his PC was so slow................(McAfee was shown to be running nine processes!)

I also make a point of examining 'Services' every so often to see what is enabled......in fact IIRC I turned off something like 22 MS processes which aren't necessary.

Still, the way I look at it is that if something does give me grief, I have everything backed up elsewhere and very little on the PC itself..........and when backing up the data is scanned as it transfers.

 

Yup- absolutely true. Obviously you know your way around your pc but for someone that doesn't then the nice comfy blanket of a supported os removes some of those "if's"

 

I did know my way around it..........I'm now trying to puzzle out why 'ipconfig' won't run..........I guess I turned off too much!!

 

ipconfig from command line or the run box? if you run if from the run box itll just disappear....you need to run in from the dos box....

 

Yep, thanks.....just remembered that......

Have you tried Linux or any of the varieties of it?

I gave up with it.....drove me round the bl**dy bend.

 

^^^^^sniggering at the back.