In early April, I succumbed to Microsoft’s ongoing campaign to rule my life and livelihood. Updated most of my XP machines to Windows 8.0/8.1. In one case was more or less forced to purchase a brand new desktop PC (to replace one that was then and always has been working just fine and doing everything I want) in order to overcome alleged “hardware limitations”.
It’s pretty obvious that Win8 is way over-engineered in favor of “dumbing down” for the multitude of unsophisticated users it probably appeals to. I find it pretty hateful, but suppose I will get used to it at some point.
I still have one laptop which has not been updated to Win8 as yet, although I have purchased the upgrade Win8 OS for it. Have not used this machine connected to the internet for many weeks, but today I decided to go out on a limb and see if anything bad would happen. Nothing to report so far, It still works just fine running XP for all purposes, although it is adamant in telling me that it is an “unprotected” machine. I will reluctantly go ahead and update it to Win8 eventually, but it still has more work to do for me in XP before that happens.
So I was just curious if anyone out there still has XP running, and has it caused any problems so far?
No problems so far though I am cautious about what I do online. Heck I still have a computer running windows 2000 that gets used on a regular basis.
You should have probably upgraded to Windows 7 much sooner so that you were not forced all the way to Windows 8. UI wise Windows 7 feels much like Windows XP, but better. For those apps that just plain won't work in Windows 7 or 8, you can run them in a Windows XP virtual machine. That works well for pretty much anything that isn't a game wanting low level video hardware access.
Still running XP on the laptop, 98 on one desktop, and 6.22 on the other desktop. All networked together. I can get on my 98 computer and copy files from the 6.22 computer to a flash drive on the laptop. XP and 6.22 won't communicate directly for some odd reason. 😉
James
I'm still on XP
N
We upgraded from XP to Windows 7 at the office and the only problem we experienced was making LDD 2006 run on a 64 bit machine. Longbow software solved that for $50. http://www.longbowsoftware.com/
SWMBO has Windows 8 and hated the “start” page so I installed a windows shell program (free) that emulates Windows 7/XP and it works great. http://www.classicshell.net/ B-)
We are still running XP at the office and, so far, have had no problems.
Interesting note; at our local Wal-Mart they pulled ALL of the laptops one week. New stock came in. ALL are now offered with Windows 7.
Check out the Dell Precision computers. ALL come with Windows 7 and an upgrade to 8 if you so desire.
There are still a lot of CAD packages in use that are not blessing Windows 8 yet.
I got my two year old windows 7pro machine set up for daily use connected to the internet. I wirelessly connected my workstation with XP to have access to the printers. I set the windows explorer settings as high as I could for cookies and safe sites. I turned off "check for updates" for most of the software in order to keep my machine off the internet. Microsoft security essentials keeps telling me that I am unprotected, but I am calling it mostly BS. It is a little extra work to print from the XP machine, but as long as both computers are logged on, printing is no problem. I am behind a firewall on both machines, and I enable a wireless connection when I want to print from the XP machine, and then disable it when I finish. It does not have a continuous exposure to the www. Computer associates antivirus and security essentials are still running. CA is allowed to update on a weekly basis when I am sitting at my XP machine. So far, so good. What else could I do? No horror stories to report (yet?)
On another note, I bought a 64 gig thumb drive from staples the other day for cheap. It is slightly bigger in capacity than my old 60 gig USB external hard drive, but not near as big as my 1 terabyte external hard drive. That thing is like taking a whiz in the ocean! I have four computers file copies on it and one computer multiple times, and I still have room to spare. My win7pro machine has a 1.5 terabyte second hard drive in it for copies of copies of old data files. I feel like I have a swimming pool trying to fill it up with a gallon bucket! 😀
I think I screwed up
Maybe I don't understand what happened, but I missed the cutoff day to update my XP machines (a Dell laptop and a Samsung netbook) with the last latest and greatest XP updates. Is there some sort of legacy site where I can get them?
As far as boosting the 'puters up to Win 7, Lappy only has 1 gig of RAM, Netbook 2. Pretty slow processors, also. Probably won't work so well, huh? Any suggestions about what to do with these machines?
Also, though I've scanned repeatedly with different security software with "everything is OK" results, my laptop runs excruciatingly slow and hangs up spinning its wheels a lot. (Yes, I've defragged.) Worries me about malware.
Anyway, I'll stop rambling now. Thanks.
I think I screwed up
Avast! still supports xp. They have a free version.
I think I screwed up
Thanks
There is no such thing as being cautious on-line. Unless you mean avoiding explicit web sites 😉
You can get a virus from simply viewing a news story at a legitimate site that has paid advertisements. You don't even have to click on them.
> There is no such thing as being cautious on-line. Unless you mean avoiding explicit web sites 😉
>
> You can get a virus from simply viewing a news story at a legitimate site that has paid advertisements. You don't even have to click on them.
Avoiding explicit sites, file sharing sites, pirating sites, not clicking on unknown links, being cautious on opening emails, etc. It is not fool proof but stops the vast majority of junk. I am a very heavy computer user and I have never had a virus.
I follow the same protocol. I've only had 2 viruses (on heavily protected PC's), but they led to a re-format both times. Now that I think of it, both PC's were XP Pro.
I think I screwed up
> my laptop runs excruciatingly slow and hangs up spinning its wheels a lot.
I had this problem, too, then I read that there's a bug in the Windows update software that runs away with processing cycles. Disabling automatic updates cured it.
XP user - dropped IE
I'm still using XP on my home laptop (which doesn't get much use), Avast seems to do a good job. I also stopped using IE as a browser, as version 8 seemed to be the latest XP would run. Switched over to using google chrome and searching seems faster. Not quite ready to make that laptop a boat anchor (not heavy enough), but it's days are getting numbered as we try and decide what portable tablet will work best for us.
I think I screwed up
Thanks, Jim - I'll check that out! :good:
XP user - dropped IE
> I'm still using XP on my home laptop (which doesn't get much use), Avast seems to do a good job.
.....
but is it really, or did it ever?
http://www.techweekeurope.co.uk/news/anti-virus-dead-or-dying-symantec-144954
a fun read anyway;-)
