Still On Windows XP? Here’s Some Bad Advice

And thats an issue for the average user...when they are already using smartphones and using Chrome/Facebook/Twitter/Amazon etc. etc. already?

It's a bit too late to be shy now.

That is a good point. I sometimes forget that lots of people are basically already sharing pretty much everything.
 
That is a good point. I sometimes forget that lots of people are basically already sharing pretty much everything.

I know it, it's been a slow steady invasion. But then again would I go back to Internet 1998 style? Probably not.
 
True, but not everyone wants to use Windows 8 on any device be it a tablet, laptop, or desktop as made obvious by the slow uptake of the OS by comsumers and businesses. There are alternatives and not everyone is gonna ignore them. In fact, Macs sold a lot better in 2013, possibly due to Windows 8's lack of appeal.

http://appleinsider.com/articles/14...les-surge-285-as-overall-pc-market-shrinks-75

Mac sales worldwide for 2013 were down a bit over 2012, the 4th quarter was the only one that saw growth for Macs in 2013. We've been through this song and dance with Vista where everyone was going to get a Mac or go to Linux and then Windows 7 came out and that was that. Until Windows 8 came out, now everyone is going to a Mac or Linux or a Chromebook except when you look at market share numbers. And the story there is that Windows 8.x has more market share than OS X, Linux and Chromebooks combined. Then Windows 9 will come out, fix the major issues with 8, and the process will repeat again.
 
Mac sales worldwide for 2013 were down a bit over 2012, the 4th quarter was the only one that saw growth for Macs in 2013. We've been through this song and dance with Vista where everyone was going to get a Mac or go to Linux and then Windows 7 came out and that was that. Until Windows 8 came out, now everyone is going to a Mac or Linux or a Chromebook except when you look at market share numbers. And the story there is that Windows 8.x has more market share than OS X, Linux and Chromebooks combined. Then Windows 9 will come out, fix the major issues with 8, and the process will repeat again.

Did you, heatlesssun of all people, just say Windows 9 will fix the major issues with 8?! *grabs and shakes* Who are you and what did you to do our favorite tablet-loving [H] forum resident!
 
Okay, his GOOD advice is "Get a Mac?"

*Facepalm*

If they're going to hate on Win8 and Linux, they're going to hate the fuck out of MacOS too you stupid douchebag!

It's a good thing I don't own a gun. The urge to kill stupid people is overwhelming at times. Like right now...
 
For most normal users, worrying about the intrusiveness of Chromebooks (or google) into your personal usage habits is like a balding man in a nudist colony trying to fix his comb-over.
 
Okay, his GOOD advice is "Get a Mac?"

*Facepalm*

If they're going to hate on Win8 and Linux, they're going to hate the fuck out of MacOS too you stupid douchebag!

It's a good thing I don't own a gun. The urge to kill stupid people is overwhelming at times. Like right now...

Wow really? The urge to kill people over their recommendation to use a certain company's computer or operating system? It's no wonder the VR people are getting death threats. :(
 
Did you, heatlesssun of all people, just say Windows 9 will fix the major issues with 8?! *grabs and shakes* Who are you and what did you to do our favorite tablet-loving [H] forum resident!

I've never said that Windows 8 was perfect and that the new UI and desktops needed better integration and more configuration options. I simply think that what 8.1 right now especially with the coming update is not at all that big of a deal to use effectively with KBM at least as for as using desktop apps.

And yes, still a Windows tablet fan, just got an Asus Vivotab Note 8 last week. Fantastic little Windows tablet thus far, the Wacom digitizer is considerably better than the Synaptics one in the Dell Venue 8 Pro. As these kinds of devices improve along with Windows and the prices continue where they are or even come down a bit, I think that they will become pretty popular. Just a lot of functionality for not a lot of money.
 
Not even close.

I am on a Motorola wireless dish that is encrypted both upload and download [by the ISP] and I have my own firewall on my router then I have a firewall on my computer.

I am sure if some really good hacker out of the millions of computers out there just decides to find mine and crack it it won't matter what OS I have if they are that good.

I am sure I'd notice a huge spike in CPU power and upload throttling if my computer turned into a bot, I am not that oblivious.
 
It's time to UPDATE

Why? it's not broken.

My programs work, my older games work, my internet works.

The theme here is it works, that is what I paid for and that is what it does.

That's like saying just because your 12 year old Toyota has 200K miles on it but it is great shape and works you just have to go out and buy a new car because you NEED more bells and whistles.

Well what if you do not need those?
 
Opinions wanted:

Best firewall, and AV for old xp machine?

Avast & Comodo. Up-to-date Firefox with NoScript & Flashblock plugins, uninstall Java. Disable any unnecessary services (see Black Viper & Elder Geek). Watch your logs and traffic regularly.

Jmo, and I won't mention how many years I've been running my XP machine with updates turned off.. we'll find out next week if it explodes. So yeah, good luck :D
 
Why? it's not broken.

My programs work, my older games work, my internet works.

The problem with XP and the Internet is that even when you are properly patched you are still significantly more vulnerable than you are with modern OSes. This becomes even more problematic if you are connected directly to the Internet via PPPoE or some such.
 
Most computers old computers with Intels will work with windows 8 32bit or even 64bit. AMD cpus run into trouble with the 754 socket when going 64bit but i think they run 32bit fine. Athlon XP won't work since they didn't have SSE2 intructions in them. Windows 8 requires as much memory as 7 pretty much. 1GB Min but 2GB or more is much better. A lot of times you could use old drivers from vista or 7 to work on 8. 2000/XP drivers can work but you gotta use 32bit version of 8. Its a hit or miss usually for drivers that old though. One requirement also thats free is Classicshell after your windows installation ;)
 
Anyone that feels that Windows XP still fulfills their requirements could probably move to a tablet or quality smartphone frankly.

Buying any Apple product for the sake of "just because" is a dumb argument. If your use to XP then getting use to iOS as a desktop isn't going to be easy and especially so for those set in their ways.

Shitty article.
 
I am on a Motorola wireless dish that is encrypted both upload and download [by the ISP] and I have my own firewall on my router then I have a firewall on my computer.

I am sure if some really good hacker out of the millions of computers out there just decides to find mine and crack it it won't matter what OS I have if they are that good.

I am sure I'd notice a huge spike in CPU power and upload throttling if my computer turned into a bot, I am not that oblivious.

There are a lot more vectors of attack than break through a couple of firewalls. Pretty much any sort of data you pull down to the machine from the internet won't get stopped by a firewall because you requested it. It could contain malware that slips past AV and takes advantage of what will be a growing number of unpatched exploits that are discovered over time to do nasty stuff to your PC.

That doesn't mean it's gonna suddenly get mega infected as soon as support ends, but your risk will gradually increase as time goes on and new security holes are discovered.

Like for me, I had XP on a computer up until last year and I finally stopped using it, getting rid of some old computers and at least moving to Vista and newer or a modern Linux OS like Mint. I didn't want to since I still had no problems with XP, but it really is time to move on.
 
Avast & Comodo. Up-to-date Firefox with NoScript & Flashblock plugins, uninstall Java. Disable any unnecessary services (see Black Viper & Elder Geek). Watch your logs and traffic regularly.

Jmo, and I won't mention how many years I've been running my XP machine with updates turned off.. we'll find out next week if it explodes. So yeah, good luck :D

Thanks, i will try all that (though equivalent things through chrome maybe?)

-------

There is some dbag who pretends to be computer literate who insists on putting pirated windows 7 as a necessary upgrade, on a friend's parent's 2003 computer, he has tried like three times to make it work and im certain that im going to have to undo the damage and stick with xp.

But they are old and they dont do anything other than type and check email.
 
Avast & Comodo. Up-to-date Firefox with NoScript & Flashblock plugins, uninstall Java. Disable any unnecessary services (see Black Viper & Elder Geek). Watch your logs and traffic regularly.

Jmo, and I won't mention how many years I've been running my XP machine with updates turned off.. we'll find out next week if it explodes. So yeah, good luck :D

Sounds like your average non-technical XP user! :D
 
The problem with XP and the Internet is that even when you are properly patched you are still significantly more vulnerable than you are with modern OSes. This becomes even more problematic if you are connected directly to the Internet via PPPoE or some such.

Going to a standard user account would help significantly. However, A lot of the people who stay on XP do it because they hate UAC, so having to put a password in whenever they want to change something would also likely be asking too much.
 
Did you, heatlesssun of all people, just say Windows 9 will fix the major issues with 8?! *grabs and shakes* Who are you and what did you to do our favorite tablet-loving [H] forum resident!

We better send out a search party. Metro/Modern team and a Desktop team. Make it hybrid or something. :p
 
None of that is good advice at all. Ultimately it's based on the persons needs. Let me break it down.

Type #1 Parents

Good chance your parents or grand parents aren't using the computer beyond a web browser and document printing. And if you have a horny old dad or grand dad, then they likely visit a lot of porn websites. The best solution would be Linux, or Ubuntu in this case. They of course can't set it up themselves, but hopefully you have a grand child that's tech savvy enough to do it. It's only a problem if they need to use Netflix.

Type #2 Gamer

No matter what game it is they want to play, then you have no choice but to get Windows 7 or 8. As much as I hate Windows 8, there's a lot of tools out there that'll turn it into a fake 7. You could get away with gaming on a Mac, but mostly only Blizzard games work.

Type #3 Picture whore

These people need a picture to store all their pictures of things they did or do, that nobody wants to see. They obviously need a computer with storage and Macs do have hard drives. A Mac would be perfect, cause they likely have a self esteem issue anyway, and Macs do make you feel special.

Type #4 Poor as hell

Got no money and afford to upgrade your PC or OS? Stick with Windows XP or learn Linux. Seriously, what other choice do you have? Both have their pros and cons. Windows XP can be very secure, so long as you have decent firewall and anti virus software. Also, be careful not to download everything you see that's offered to you. Linux is very easy to setup nowadays, and you could get some Windows applications to work with Wine. Just don't expect to get that far into Linux without learning a thing or two about it.

++1
 
Who says you have to "upgrade" to windows 8. Go with 7, and if it's an older "XP era" computer (some of those even had trouble running XP) then put Linux on it, and if you need Windows get a new PC and reuse the old one for something else that can work with Linux. People who have PCs that shipped with XP are long overdue for a PC upgrade anyway.
 
Zarathustra[H];1040735836 said:
That's the RDF at work! :p

Yep the RDF is mighty potent considering it extends all the way to the statistics which point that the iPhone is the most secure choice for a phone and that OSX does not get attacked against.
 
Zarathustra[H];1040736236 said:
...if you ignore the examples I just gave, sure. Reading my linked article may shed some light as well...

Your article pointed out very nicely that there are one or two cases where a theoretical threat may have faced users but no widespread attacks were ever launched, especially if people have not visited warez sites.

1200 days is pretty marginal compared to windows vulnerabilities which existed since the DOS times untill just recently lol. And the windows vulnerabilities are counted in a few hundreds of thousands vs OSX a few. I'll take my chances thanks :D
 
Your article pointed out very nicely that there are one or two cases where a theoretical threat may have faced users but no widespread attacks were ever launched, especially if people have not visited warez sites.

1200 days is pretty marginal compared to windows vulnerabilities which existed since the DOS times untill just recently lol. And the windows vulnerabilities are counted in a few hundreds of thousands vs OSX a few. I'll take my chances thanks :D

DOS had Windows vulnerabilities? Wow... whoda thunk it?
 
Yep the RDF is mighty potent considering it extends all the way to the statistics which point that the iPhone is the most secure choice for a phone and that OSX does not get attacked against.

Oh yes... iOS is WAAAAY more secure than QNX!! That's why Apple has received certification for their phones from the US Department of Defense!

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/blackberry-first-to-receive-coveted-full-operational-capability-on-us-department-of-defense-networks-2014-03-27-12173125?reflink=MW_news_stmp
 
Friends don't let friends buy Mac's...

Hey! I encourage my friends to buy Macs because I don't mind supporting them. I discourage them from buying Windows 8/Windows 8.1 because I hate supporting it. :D

I'm still running Windows XP on an old gaming box at home, but I don't care about being vulnerable on the Internet with that box. If it gets hosed, I restore it from my backup image and continue about my gaming day. It could run Windows 8/Windows 8.1 just fine, from a hardware standpoint, as could many XP machines that are still out there, but then I would lose compatibility with some of my old-school RTS games.

I upgraded my MacBook to Windows 7 Professional from XP Professional a while back. I feel no need to bother with 8.1 on it. I might set up a dual-boot configuration between XP and 8.1 on my new AMD build just for fun since the drivers are available.
 
Hey! I encourage my friends to buy Macs because I don't mind supporting them.

Or even better yet, you can just tell them to setup an appointment with a closeby genius bar. Unfortunately, there's no windows manufacture with Apple's level of physical presence.

I don't own a mac, but I have bought my family all mac products with extended support.
 
XP computers wont automatically get virus just being plugged into the internet. People think if you just go on any website you'll get a virus. You'll get a virus regardless of what operating system is installed if your going to virus prone websites and downloading possible virus infected files. Antivirus programs never really work in reality. You can't prevent a user from shooting himself in the foot. Most viruses that infect people are newer and virus programs don't have the remedy usually for those. Old viruses are usually phased out after its first attacks early in life. The only prevention there is is a smart user. You could run windows 98 and be safe online if you know what your doing. Every operating system has holes that only hackers know. No one is protected on any operating system.
 
Good logic, warez and blacklisted sites are good to stay away from.

Avast has come a long way in it's ability to catch viruses using heuristics.

They now have a hardened mode if you want more protection.

I've only had one virus in over a decade and I had Norton's at the time.
 
XP computers wont automatically get virus just being plugged into the internet. People think if you just go on any website you'll get a virus. You'll get a virus regardless of what operating system is installed if your going to virus prone websites and downloading possible virus infected files. Antivirus programs never really work in reality. You can't prevent a user from shooting himself in the foot. Most viruses that infect people are newer and virus programs don't have the remedy usually for those. Old viruses are usually phased out after its first attacks early in life. The only prevention there is is a smart user. You could run windows 98 and be safe online if you know what your doing. Every operating system has holes that only hackers know. No one is protected on any operating system.

Websites aren't the main platform for attacks. Email is significantly easily to exploit with social engineering.
 
Websites aren't the main platform for attacks. Email is significantly easily to exploit with social engineering.
Which OS will stop someone "clicking the attachment", as admin, any better than XP with decent Anti-virus?

Maybe some Linux where the default setup is to not log in as root are a little better than the rest.
 
I wouldn't say that moving to Ubuntu is a bad idea. Yes, the interface is different than Windows. For the average user, it's no more difficult to install and use though. There's no more of this cooking home-brew aspect. You can one-click install and use virtually everything you could with Windows XP without having to even see a command line. Yes, you won't get MS Office. Yes, the open source office applications are different. That's about the only difference. If I didn't want to fire up the occasional game every now and then, I wouldn't use Windows, I'd use ubuntu.

I also wouldn't say that getting a chromebook is a bad thing either. Chromebooks don't need an internet connection to function, so that argument is moot. For average users, most of their work is done online anyway, so the 'it needs an internet connection' argument wouldn't matter anyway. I'm not saying that people should go out and get one, but it's not bad advice.
 
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