Thanks, I'll look at that - not just because of the end of XP support but also to see if I can get one to work as easily as Windoze. (My latest viewing of the linux situation had me heading in that direction.)
Windows XP.... anyone going to keep on using it?
- Thread starter MontyVeda
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Smurfy
Naturist Smurf
- Location
- Smurfette's Kitchen
Sorry to disappoint, but that was actually God's way of telling you to use Linux!
accountantpete
OAP
You can probably keep XP and run Mint alongside - the set up program asks you whether to remove XP or put the OS alongside XP and is also quick and easy to install.
The command-line stuff is getting less and less - nowadays it is just for the really specialist stuff IMHO.
Salad Dodger
Legendary Member
- Location
- Kent Coast
I am another with XP on a netbook, which I shall continue to use.
We also have a laptop running XP, but it's getting near the end of usable life, so I won't be changing away from XP. More likely getting a new laptop or tablet before too long.....
We also have a laptop running XP, but it's getting near the end of usable life, so I won't be changing away from XP. More likely getting a new laptop or tablet before too long.....
Ian A
Über Member
- Location
- Leicester/Keighley
This is what I use on our very old XP netbook. The kids get by on it and flash support on Chrome (not chromium) is very good.
Windows is always most vulnerable as pointed out in the OP. IT is most common. The later revisions have always been more secure as standard such as encouraging default accounts to not be admin, including a basic firewall in XP SP2 onwards etc. Good practice is one of the best ways to minimise security risks and part of that is keeping the OS up to date as vulnerabilities are found. For that reason I wouldn't use XP for anything I wanted to be secure.
Wobblers
Euthermic
- Location
- Minkowski Space
There are few modern Linux distros that require command line use. Off the top of my head, Ubuntu, Mint and OpenSuSE should all work fine. I prefer SusE 13.1 best. I can't remember if it came with Flash, but clicking the prompt on Firefox when visiting, say YouTube saw it installed with no issues.
It's something of a myth that Linux doesn't work straight out of the box. In my experience, it just works - no faffing around with updates, or device drivers - and most of the software you actually want (Firefox, VLC, LibreOffice) is already installed. In fact, it takes less effort and much, much less time to install a Linux distro than XP.
Wobblers
Euthermic
- Location
- Minkowski Space
Microsoft, bless them, are trying their best with their customary Fear, Doubt and Uncertaincy to imply that all XP machines will blow up/be pwned/hacked the instant next month's last update goes through. That's not quite the case. True, since XP shares a lot of code with more recent versions, so crackers will be able to reverse engineer security updates to find and exploit holes in XP - but that will take time. It will gradually become less secure over time - months to years - as more and more unpatched exploits become known. If you run XP behind a firewall - preferably a dedicated hardware firewall and ensure your browser an AV is kept up to date, your security problems will be minimised. I'd recommend using an up to date browser, preferably with Noscript.
I'll keep running XP on this machine for a while, but will likely install Windows 7 on it (the Windows 8 abomination is going nowhere near any machine I use!). But I expect to be using my SusE 13.1 box much more in future.
I'll keep running XP on this machine for a while, but will likely install Windows 7 on it (the Windows 8 abomination is going nowhere near any machine I use!). But I expect to be using my SusE 13.1 box much more in future.
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I have recently been playing with Linux and I know nothing, not even what a command line is. I had Linux Mint installed on this laptop for a couple of weeks while waiting to get my Windows 7 sorted out. I have to agree that for simple browsing Mint (and Ubuntu) do work straight out of the box. As @McWobble says it is easier and faster to install Linux than Windows. I say for simple browsing because that is all I do, but Mint did everything I wanted with no complications, including You Tube and other videos. Once I had Firefox running in use it was actually no different to a Windows system apart from being a bit faster. Where I did have a problem was getting rid of it to re-install Windows although I worked it out in the end.
Ian A
Über Member
- Location
- Leicester/Keighley
The rw
The reverse engineering of security updates for newer versions of Windows has been pushed a lot and is appearing on a lot of vendor neutral websites and publications. I agree it will take time to be an issue and most things will be fine. Funnily enough I was looking at the most recent version of the AV software we use at work and it still supports Windows 2k.
The reverse engineering of security updates for newer versions of Windows has been pushed a lot and is appearing on a lot of vendor neutral websites and publications. I agree it will take time to be an issue and most things will be fine. Funnily enough I was looking at the most recent version of the AV software we use at work and it still supports Windows 2k.
Chris Norton
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Boston, Lincs
Windows xp sp3 on this laptop. I have all the drivers on disk for it. Never done a single update from microsoft for it. Runs every bit of software I ever need.
Laptop is acer aspire which I took down from vista cos it was rubbish and put on xp.
My wifes laptop is a toshiba one powered by an intel i7 using windows 7. Got all the bangs and whistles.
My laptop boots up quicker.
If it decides to slow down a little bit then I simply reinstall the OS. One hour running like mad again. Don't use anti virus nor a firewall except I know how to do my hardware router one properly.
Laptop is acer aspire which I took down from vista cos it was rubbish and put on xp.
My wifes laptop is a toshiba one powered by an intel i7 using windows 7. Got all the bangs and whistles.
My laptop boots up quicker.
If it decides to slow down a little bit then I simply reinstall the OS. One hour running like mad again. Don't use anti virus nor a firewall except I know how to do my hardware router one properly.
Warrabout the software that is most useful to most people - Microsoft Office? Still much better than Open Source suites in the real world where office work is done by ordinary employees not geeks.
deptfordmarmoset
Full time tea drinker
- Location
- Armonmy Way
You can do a fair amount by sharing OOo files in a MS format. Not everything, sure, but why pay for something that can't see open source stuff when you can get something that can see and share MS stuff for free?
OP's question: I still have a fondness for Windows 95, then XP, but Win7 works well. I got used to it surprisingly quickly when my old PC fell apart.
Not since MS Office 2010 came out.
Inertia
I feel like I could... TAKE ON THE WORLD!!
A lot of the hysteria over this has been that something like 90% of cash machines are running on windows XP. This sounds like a huge problem but they are on internal closed systems and not easily accessible so the risk is pretty low. They should have looked at linux for something like that, kind of unbelievable they even used XP.
