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chip89
Premium Member
join:2012-07-05
Columbia Station, OH

1 recommendation

chip89 to John Galt6

Premium Member

to John Galt6

Re: Strategies for Keeping XP - When You HAVE To Keep XP

Number 1 if possible disconnect from the Internet!
decx
Premium Member
join:2002-06-07
Vancouver, BC

decx to John Galt6

Premium Member

to John Galt6
said by John Galt6:

I also recommend moving all of their valuable files off on to thumbdrives and keeping those disconnected at all times when they are not actively using them.

While the theory is good, in practice it could come back and bit you. Frankly USB flash drives have a rather high failure rate (even on the reputable ones in my experience). Personally I would not keep important data solely on a flash drive.
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Timmn
join:2000-04-23
Tinley Park, IL

Timmn to John Galt6

Member

to John Galt6

Re: Strategies for Keeping XP - When You HAVE To Keep XP

Of course, Windows 7 & 8 won't run on most hardware that's running XP, however it probably wouldn't be to hard for Microsoft to write a new version of Windows to run on them.

However, when Windows 8 was coming out, Microsoft sent me a preview version, and I had it running on a single-core AMD-64 processor (I forget exactly what one it was) with 2 meg of ram. It ran just fine, although I doubt that the latest retail versions would do that.

sivran
Vive Vivaldi
Premium Member
join:2003-09-15
Irving, TX

3 recommendations

sivran

Premium Member

said by Timmn:

with 2 meg of ram

That's quite a feat.

HA Nut
Premium Member
join:2004-05-13
USA

2 recommendations

HA Nut to John Galt6

Premium Member

to John Galt6
Good ideas spread throughout this thread. My 2 cents on them...

If you must keep XP, stay off the web if possible. Or severely limit what it can do or where it can go on the web. No normal email or browsing at all. (What I am doing with the ones I still must keep.)

If you can't limit the web, then only run from a Limited User account. Run an always up-to-date, sandboxed browser (is Chrome the only game here?) Use browser ad blocking and safe search extensions. The earlier Sandboxie suggestion is good but it needs a bit of education and tweaking in order to achieve a good user experience. Plus, Sandboxie has a new owner. They may not support XP for much longer.

Last, migrate to Linux. Sounds like a good idea. But, IMO,average users won't handle the change well.
In my own case, I don't see me ever going Linux. I am very, very comfortable with PCs. That doesn't translate to Linux at all (IMO.) Linux live UFDs are fragile (I can't count the number of ones I've tested and they will only boot a few times before something goes wrong with the saved sessions.) I've only tried installing Linux permanently once and it hosed the drive royally. And to boot, most Linux communities are NOT helpful to newbies. IMO, unless you are willing to lead them by the hand, Linux is not for the average user.

antdude
Matrix Ant
Premium Member
join:2001-03-25
US

antdude to John Galt6

Premium Member

to John Galt6
said by John Galt6:

Most of these people are old-timers (70-80 yo) on fixed incomes. I bake them bread and make soup for them a couple times a week. Most of them are deferring property taxes until they die.

One of them had XP SP0 and was connected directly to his DSL modem. No updates, ever. Risky business that..of course he was totally infected. Got that cleaned up and put behind a donated Linky box.

Bread is ready to go in the oven...gotta go!

Wow, SP0 and he used his infected PC? Wow. How is he able to use it? :O Hey, share some of that bread and soup too with us!
antdude

antdude to sivran

Premium Member

to sivran
said by sivran:

said by Timmn:

with 2 meg of ram

That's quite a feat.

LOL. Good eyes. I missed that.
Timmn
join:2000-04-23
Tinley Park, IL

Timmn to sivran

Member

to sivran
Oops!
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Davesnothere
Change is NOT Necessarily Progress
Premium Member
join:2009-06-15
Canada

Davesnothere to antdude

Premium Member

to antdude

Re: Strategies for Keeping XP - When You HAVE To Keep XP

said by antdude:

said by sivran:

said by Timmn:

with 2 meg of ram

That's quite a feat.

LOL. Good eyes. I missed that.

I saw it, but thought that it was quiet a feet.
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Velnias
join:2004-07-06
233322

Velnias to HA Nut

Member

to HA Nut

Re: Strategies for Keeping XP - When You HAVE To Keep XP

said by HA Nut:

In my own case, I don't see me ever going Linux. I am very, very comfortable with PCs. That doesn't translate to Linux at all (IMO.) Linux live UFDs are fragile (I can't count the number of ones I've tested and they will only boot a few times before something goes wrong with the saved sessions.) I've only tried installing Linux permanently once and it hosed the drive royally. And to boot, most Linux communities are NOT helpful to newbies. IMO, unless you are willing to lead them by the hand, Linux is not for the average user.

Don't blame Linux if you don't like it. I'm sure you can find local Linux users that will install it for you with a smile and for free.
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Davesnothere
Change is NOT Necessarily Progress
Premium Member
join:2009-06-15
Canada

1 edit

Davesnothere to Anon

Premium Member

to Anon

Re: Strategies for Keeping XP - When You HAVE To Keep XP

said by jaykaykay:

(to DarkSithPro See Profile)
You have no reason to bash anyone who chooses, for whatever reason, not to spend their money. You have absolutely no idea the circumstances of those you chastise! Shame on you!!!

 
So a Kudo is out of the question, then ?
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DarkSithPro (banned)
join:2005-02-12
Tempe, AZ

1 edit

3 recommendations

DarkSithPro (banned)

Member

Re: Strategies for Keeping XP - When You HAVE To Keep XP

Damn, sorry everyone. Sheesh. It was not my intention to offend anyone. My apologies! Plz forgive me DSLR

Well let me try to contribute POSITIVELY then.

I recommend:

1. Third party browsers, reason be they are still actively being supported. I recommend the least commonly used browsers known to the masses to throw off malware writers and exploiters. And preferably one that has a sandbox built in.

2. Might be a good idea to dual boot into an easy Linux Mint distro if you're going to be doing a lot of online surfing. It's free and Mint has out-of-the-box distros that work troublesome free.

3. Enjoy XP as long as you can, because when you need new hardware you're going to have to move forward. Sorry XP gurus, didn't mean to be a jerk, or as another put it, an "asshole".

Davesnothere
Change is NOT Necessarily Progress
Premium Member
join:2009-06-15
Canada

Davesnothere to Blackbird

Premium Member

to Blackbird
said by Blackbird:

Backup, backup, backup! If you keep it backed up, no matter what happens short of catastrophic failure (like when the magic smoke leaks out), you can always get back to where you were.

 


We still speak of that same special expensive smoke when justifying why electronic modules for cars cost so much.

dib22
join:2002-01-27
Kansas City, MO

3 recommendations

dib22 to Timmn

Member

to Timmn
said by Timmn:

Of course, Windows 7 & 8 won't run on most hardware that's running XP,

Just a heads up... 7 does in fact run on most xp hardware!

Davesnothere
Change is NOT Necessarily Progress
Premium Member
join:2009-06-15
Canada

2 edits

2 recommendations

Davesnothere to Bill_MI

Premium Member

to Bill_MI
said by Bill_MI:

....I'm getting rather perturbed at those that look down on staying with what works, and remind them... [in] just whose interest is it to upgrade [our OS] ??? Three guesses and the first two don't count...

said by Bill_MI:

said by BlitzenZeus:

Maybe Microsoft should move to the subscription model....

And they seem to have missed an opportunity to take advantage at the popularity of XP. For the little guy, anyway.

Some big companies and governments are gladly paying for it.

Instead, they [Microsoft] want to push bloated junk and call it new.

Ha! They couldn't sell it off because we know the code isn't all that removed from the stuff they're pushing now....

 
If you are saying that the code-bases for newer versions of Windoze are more similar to that of XP than Microsoft wants to admit, then I agree 1000% !

That is precisely why I see little point in changing my OS version, nor to buy new hardware which contains a newer OS.

And as you alluded earlier, the entities nudging us hardest into abandoning XP in favour of these so-called upgrades are the parties who stand to gain the most if we DO make the change :

(!) The author of each newer version of Windows, and

(2) Their henchperson/minion PC maker partners in this near-crime.

And making Windows 8's interface sooooooooo different did mountains to help them all sell it to us !

= = = = = = =

On a related note, HP issued a press release and some supporting ads a couple of weeks ago, stating that they will restart offering some PCs with Windows 7.

Do THEY know something ?
PX Eliezer1
Premium Member
join:2013-03-10
Zubrowka USA

PX Eliezer1

Premium Member

As you were I think saying [Davesnothere] if Microsoft is saying that the hackers can attack XP by looking at the security patches for Windows 7 and 8, then the code MUST in fact be fairly similar. So the whole thing is a fraud.

I would gladly pay $ 50 a year for support. So would of millions of people AND companies. MS really blew this both from PR POV and from the money POV.

-----

Apologies for rehashing this---the ONLY reason I am posting now is to report today's news from the State of Connecticut:

HARTFORD — When Microsoft puts Windows XP out to pasture Tuesday, ceasing to provide new technical and security upgrades, thousands of computers in state government will still be running the beloved operating system....

An estimated 20 percent of state computers still use XP and will not be upgraded in time, officials said, raising questions about cybersecurity and even regulatory compliance....

State officials said they are investigating a plan to buy custom support from Microsoft for as much as $250,000....

»www.courant.com/news/pol ··· 49.story

I believe that's for a year. 250k sounds cheap because they're talking about thousands of computers. So it can be done, even if not "ideal".

Davesnothere
Change is NOT Necessarily Progress
Premium Member
join:2009-06-15
Canada

Davesnothere

Premium Member

said by PX Eliezer1:

I believe that's for a year.

250k sounds cheap because they're talking about thousands of computers.

So it can be done, even if not "ideal".

 
And even THAT is based upon fearmongering/FUD on M$'s part, IMNSHO.

BTW, didn't somebody post upthread that this solution was already happening in UK ?

dib22
join:2002-01-27
Kansas City, MO

dib22 to PX Eliezer1

Member

to PX Eliezer1
said by PX Eliezer1:

I would gladly pay $ 50 a year for support.

But $99 every 12 years is out of the question? (the price to upgrade to windows 7)