XP users: Three days to D-Day. Are you prepared?

X

x509

2[H]4U
Joined
Sep 20, 2009
Messages
2,630
Hey everyone who still runs Win XP. Are you prepared for D-Day, which is only 3 days away?
 
Those that insist (for whatever reason) on continuing to use it will, there is that group of people that won't move up until the machine literally blows up. That's their choice. And when the crap hits the fan, well it hits the fan. If I can't convince a XP user after 5 minutes, it's not worth the effort to keep trying. Their machine, their headache. :p
 
In my experience those with newer OSes seem more infected than those running XP. Anyone else notice this?
 
3 still here that I have to keep

working on getting the last updates on and getting ready to disconnect from the network
 
It's not really just 3 days. XP is currently patched and it's not like it will stop working.
 
r-486 said:
In my experience those with newer OSes seem more infected than those running XP. Anyone else notice this?
Click to expand...

No, quite the opposite actually, upwards of 90% of the computers I have to clean up for people on are running XP.
 
For the people still running XP nothing is going to change. Their OS is probably full of ad- malware and viruses as it is so worrying about 0-day threats is kind of moot.
 
eventually, people are going to stop writing viruses and malware for XP, I'd imagine as the years go by it'll become more secure, and obviously less compatible with hardware. Like when you try to install windows 95 on a modern machine and it doesn't know what a wifi card is.
 
Elledan said:
I still have XP running on my previous laptop (came with Vista back in 2007). I very much doubt it's worth upgrading it to Windows 7 as it's fairly slow by now and only a backup laptop.

The UK and Dutch governments apparently also convinced Microsoft to keep patching XP for a while longer: http://arstechnica.com/information-...ish-governments-pay-to-keep-windows-xp-alive/
Click to expand...

Not to be nitpicky, but your language mischaracterizes the situation. MS has always offered private, paid (i.e. very expensive) patching for customers for products that EOL, anybody can continue to get XP patches, they just have to pay a huge sum for it after the end of life date.

mrtckane said:
eventually, people are going to stop writing viruses and malware for XP, I'd imagine as the years go by it'll become more secure, and obviously less compatible with hardware. Like when you try to install windows 95 on a modern machine and it doesn't know what a wifi card is.
Click to expand...

lol, well yea in theory, but honestly imo it'll be so long it will be as irrelevant as Windows 95 by then, Win 95 never had the numbers XP had, also Win 95 is very incompatible with XP on a system level, where as theoretically, you could write malware for say Win 7, and have it work on XP which would be a trivial addition with public exploits for XP that never get patched.
 
I continue to use it in a VM-- VM Workstation 10/Player-- because of two things:

  1. Certain programs DO NOT run in Windows 7 or 8.1 under Compatibility Mode no matter what you try, especially for older programs that are no longer updated and maintained.
  2. Certain games ARE NOT Windows 7 or 8.1 friendly because developers fail to put out an updated and compatible game that does not glitch out Windows 7 or 8.1 in quirky ways.
For #1, some programs will pop up an error telling me the operating system is not compatible OR will throw an EXE error with Windows 7/8.1 asking me if the program ran correctly. Run it in Windows XP and I get no such problem.

For #2, certain games such as some free-to-play Korean games show weird quirks in Windows 7/8.1 Pangya is an example I use a lot when explaining this, and having complained on their forum about it, the developers fail to fix it. In Win 7/8.1, I get the following: Taskbar disappears, Steam crashes, Skype throws an out-of-memory error, the Start Menu (Windows 7) glitches or is unusable until the game is closed, other programs throw out an exception error. Compatibility Mode does not fix it either no matter how many times I've tried even with Admin mode on and off.

If developers for programs and games that are still being used today since Windows XP have been updated for proper Windows 7/8.1 compatibility, then this wouldn't be an issue. But, so many developers have not caught up with the times and it's either a show of laziness or ignorance.

"Sure, we'll fix or update it, but make it work with as little issue as possible in Windows 7/9.1? Forget it, that's too much time and money on our hands..." - Programmer
 
r-486 said:
In my experience those with newer OSes seem more infected than those running XP. Anyone else notice this?
Click to expand...


Well I've noticed that most infections these days are due to ignorant users clicking on things they shouldn't. Banner ads on web pages that offer free games, etc. Nothing that UAC or an improved firewall is going to stop when the user has already decided it's something they want to install, and is already committed to clicking "yes" on anything that pops up. In that context, anyone still on XP all these years later likely only uses their PC for very few or certain specific tasks. The people who habitually click on stuff and get themselves infected wouldn't have lasted this long on XP. I see many Win7/Win8 boxes infected these days simply because that is what newer computers run now.

Also, I don't really feel like someone who doesn't mind using a ~13 year old OS is going to really freak out if they can't get new patches every Tuesday. Obviously being up to date is not their top priority.....
 
Elledan said:
The UK and Dutch governments apparently also convinced Microsoft to keep patching XP for a while longer: http://arstechnica.com/information-...ish-governments-pay-to-keep-windows-xp-alive/
Click to expand...

Not new; they are offering extended support patches to anybody willing to pay.

I. Agencies with Premier agreements –
a. Essentials Custom Support Agreement for Windows XP Extended Support
i. $60,000 enrollment
ii. $7,000 per update + $200 per computer
iii. Only CRITICAL updates will be available

b. Standard Custom Support Agreement for Windows XP Extended Support
i. $150,000 per year – payable in $37,500 quarterly payments
ii. Can opt out with 30 days’ written notice
iii. CRITICAL updates are provided
iv. IMPORTANT updates are available to purchase at $35,000 each

II. Agencies without Premier agreements
a. Essentials Custom Support Agreement for Windows XP Extended Support
i. $38,695 Premier Agreement (12 month, no opt-out)
ii. $60,000 enrollment fee
iii. $7,000 per update + $200 per computer
iv. Only CRITICAL updates will be available

b. Standard Custom Support Agreement for Windows XP Extended Support
i. $38,695 Premier Agreement (12 month, no opt-out)
ii. $150,000 annually – payable in $37,500 quarterly payments
iii. Can opt out with 30 days’ written notice
iv. CRITICAL updates are provided
v. IMPORTANT updates are available to purchase at $35,000 each
Click to expand...
 
B00nie said:
So you actually have seen infected OSX/linux? I've only seen linux hacked but neither one infected.
Click to expand...
Sarcasm is our friend.

I was pointing out that you will see more infections on the most common OSes, playing off what the guy said about "newer OSes" having more infections.
 
I'm replacing the last XP machine in the main office tomorrow morning. I have about a dozen left in the organization scattered around the country which I expect to have done by the end of the month. These would be users at the bottom of the pecking order which I know accomplish little within the organization.
 
I still use xp. The games I play, like Deus ex just run better. I will miss xp, it's still my favorite os.
 
j-sta said:
Not new; they are offering extended support patches to anybody willing to pay.
Click to expand...
Imagine if we had to pay Microsoft to get updates for expired software.
$500 for critical updates.
$100 for each important update.

$40 per computer in household (up to 8 computers) or small business (less than 25 employees).

$6500 yearly for all the above up to 8 computers + $30 per additional computer...
Click to expand...
 
Have quite a few XP boxes at work; probably roughly 50 workstations and a couple others (including one that's a file exchange server for our old POS software with which we cannot use on anything newer unless we upgrade).
Also have quite a few Server 2000 boxes still running; those won't be switched off anytime soon either.
 
I wonder how much more Msoft has made from people buying new OS's since they announced this.
 
ryan_975 said:
No, quite the opposite actually, upwards of 90% of the computers I have to clean up for people on are running XP.
Click to expand...

That's not what I've seen. The newer computers have higher specs, so it will take way more infections and junkware to bog their computer down to being so slow that they drop them off compared to older machines which would take fewer infections and junkware. I've seen older LTs with CPUs running at 100% or all memory used but they're barely infected compared to the newer machines that allow more junk and malware to run.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top