Still OK to use XP?
- Thread starter AndyDavis
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Interesting question. My initial reaction was so long as I continue to run third party security I should be ok, but having had a little surf it does seem that it may well be time to change.
It seems to me that while you will still be protected against viruses from emails etc. If there are holes in the actual programme your security may in some cases miss them viewing the behavior as "normal".
I'm no qualified geek but on balance I may well look at upgrading in truth my old puter while reliable after 6 years or so is a bit slow. I suppose in computer terms it's coal powered!
I will be very interested to hear other peoples comments.
It seems to me that while you will still be protected against viruses from emails etc. If there are holes in the actual programme your security may in some cases miss them viewing the behavior as "normal".
I'm no qualified geek but on balance I may well look at upgrading in truth my old puter while reliable after 6 years or so is a bit slow. I suppose in computer terms it's coal powered!
I will be very interested to hear other peoples comments.
It might actually be a whole lot worse than that.
I know m$ want everyone to move on (even if an upgrade of their systems is needed) and I'm unsure who is doing all the scaremongering, but this is quite plausable (knowing m$): It does seem that a lot of the security holes in XP have been copied over onto win7 & win8. So each time m$ patch-up the latest 8.x, the bot artists will be checking back to see if the hole existed in XP - now you can see the (potential) problem if you leave XP alone (which you would otherwise be able to do).
HTH - an avid XP user (not looking forward to the next year or two).
NB. I understand that the XP switch off support is delayed a bit as a large number of corporate users are (rightly) moaning.
I know m$ want everyone to move on (even if an upgrade of their systems is needed) and I'm unsure who is doing all the scaremongering, but this is quite plausable (knowing m$): It does seem that a lot of the security holes in XP have been copied over onto win7 & win8. So each time m$ patch-up the latest 8.x, the bot artists will be checking back to see if the hole existed in XP - now you can see the (potential) problem if you leave XP alone (which you would otherwise be able to do).
HTH - an avid XP user (not looking forward to the next year or two).
NB. I understand that the XP switch off support is delayed a bit as a large number of corporate users are (rightly) moaning.
xp?
im still running 95
Well I really do have a PC running Windows 98 (It also runs Windows 3.11 via Dosbox!), but no way would I ever connect that to the network, for the same reason an old PC I have with XP on it will be disconnected when the time comes.
Currently I run a PC that has both XP and Windows 7 on it. Separate drives and dual boot. I will be keeping the XP up to date until it is no longer supported. After that I may keep it with the network disabled when booting into XP.
For what it is worth despite my PC having dual core processor I found out that when I ran the 64 bit version of windows 7 it was stable in everything except the one and only game I play! In the end I had to install the 32 bit version. Incidentally, the game does run perfectly on more up to date 64 bit PC's without any trouble it is just that on older hardware it is not always that simple. I spent many days doing every conceivable check and re-install before reaching that conclusion with the help of others on another forum. I used EasyBCD to dual boot 32 bit XP and 64 bit windows 7 and still use it on the all 32bit installations now running
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Guess I will have to look at a new one and keep the XP so I can still spent quality time with Lara Croft 
Damn, I was worried everyone was going to say that!
Although I agree there are still plenty of holes in Windows 7. Work moved across to Windows 7 just over a year ago and theres always something happening. A real bug bear seems to be issues between Windows 7 and Java which means a lot of the internet driven stuff doesn't work too well in IE so you end up switching to Firefox because even compatibility view doesn't always fix the problem.
Any alternatives to Windows 7 out there worth looking at?
Although I agree there are still plenty of holes in Windows 7. Work moved across to Windows 7 just over a year ago and theres always something happening. A real bug bear seems to be issues between Windows 7 and Java which means a lot of the internet driven stuff doesn't work too well in IE so you end up switching to Firefox because even compatibility view doesn't always fix the problem.
Any alternatives to Windows 7 out there worth looking at?
does anybody here use Portfolio on www.moneyextra.com ? as soon as I put my username and password in it flickers away trying to load the page, and never manages it.
In W7 IE8 I could make the Status Bar show if it had any blocked cookies, sometimes preventing a page from loading, which I could right-click and unblock, but in W7 IE 11 I can't get that to show.
It won't load in Mozilla either.
In W7 IE8 I could make the Status Bar show if it had any blocked cookies, sometimes preventing a page from loading, which I could right-click and unblock, but in W7 IE 11 I can't get that to show.
It won't load in Mozilla either.
It'll be perfectly fine to keep using Windows XP as long as you follow one simple, Golden rule.
1: DON'T have that machine connected to the internet in any which way whatsoever.
Problem solved.
1: DON'T have that machine connected to the internet in any which way whatsoever.
Problem solved.
Surely that applies to all (including the current) version of Windows.
They all rely heavily on third-party add-ons for basic security.
Win XP won't suddenly stop working. Just use it.
Frank
The problem with XP will come when hotfixes are released for Win7 / 8. Hackers will reverse engineer the flaws then see if the same ones affect XP. I'd consider upgrading if I were you, you can't rely on AV products to protect you.
Imagine some keylogger exploit gets on in a future xp flaw and your bank details are picked up - you'd be kicking yourself for not getting off it!
Imagine some keylogger exploit gets on in a future xp flaw and your bank details are picked up - you'd be kicking yourself for not getting off it!