XP No support after 8/4/14. What are the options?

[Dardandec 32]

Interesting article here:

 

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/04/02/the_mathematics_of_trust/

 

His figures are all well and good assuming that every XP user left on the planet was prepared to pay for continued security updates, I reckon they would be lucky if they achieved 20%.

 

When you can buy the latest and previous windows for a song that still have free support then why would anyone ever stick with XP unless they were absolutely forced to.

 

Example HERE 10 years free support for £30, no brainer

Edited April 20, 2014 by Dardandec
Typos

[Afilsdesigne 10]

Interesting article here:

 

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/04/02/the_mathematics_of_trust/

 

Interesting link and highlights the issues that provoked the thread in the first place.

 

Dardandec may be right to highlight 8.1 for £30 but for a home user only and even then, if they don't mind a lot of messing around configuring and tuning it. Indeed, my experiences of 8.1 as a straight install was plain awful and very reminiscent to WindowsNT (ugh) with zero support that fixed the issues other than a complete re-install (and on a new and powerful machine)! So I absolutely agree, it IS a no brainer to install 8.1 (ie don't do it)!!

 

Which gets us all the way back to where we started in that for many people and businesses, there really is no easy Windows upgrade path for ex XP users. The best you can do is to run a basic Linux system (tough to learn initially), then load a virtualisation software on top (eg oracleVM) and then run all your existing stuff in containers on top of that. Once done, you get a bombproof system immune from virtually all nasties and that can be reset to a known good point in seconds. Exactly what a business needs.

 

As a follow on: Anyone setting up a new business would be well advised to avoid MS products at all costs and especially getting machinery or applications designed that require a specific flavour of MS to run. Lack of ongoing support can leave a business terribly exposed to the point where the capital costs of replacing specific manufacturing machinery might even sink the enterprise completely. Even running spreadsheets or simple text documents needs careful thought to avoid becoming trapped in some future upgrade nightmare.

 

XP was a great OS for us as, once learnt, it was powerful and flexible enough to do most things without getting in the way. When it did go wrong, a simple restore from backup would fix most things and, over the years, we learnt all the best registry hacks to force it to work how WE wanted it to. Would we have paid for ongoing upgrades? A simple annual subscription at a realistic price would have been very acceptable. Simply cutting everything off, is, in my view, a business policy designed to drive clients as far away from buying MS products as possible. Assuming a newer version of Windows will be 'better' is risky and may not be true on top of which compatibility and a new set of bugs and quirks to learn, just wastes time and is frustrating.

 

Of course, everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but business is all about making the best use of time and resources and in my experience, this now precludes the use of MS products on our main systems.

[swarfendor437 14]

Hi, I was thinking of Afilsdesigne, when I posted this, in particular, the CNC company that was reliant upon the 'netbui' protocol for its systems, no longer present in newer systems from M$. I am so glad that Afilsdesigne got their problem sorted in a timely and robust manner. Whilst I don't expect XP home users to subscribe to maintenance as there clearly is a plethora of good, no cost operatiing systems out there - at the end of the day it's horses for courses and what will suit one may not be liked by the next person. I'm due to put LXLE on a friends machine at the end of the week - I was disappointed in what Lubuntu 14.04 has to offer compared to LXLE and its life cycle is the same as Lubuntu 14.04 but it was out before that and based on 12.04 but with a five year life span. Another one that is supposed to be a good up and coming derivative of Mint is SolydXK - have yet to see what it is like!

[dosxuk 10]

but business is all about making the best use of time and resources

 

Unless you're Microsoft and decide to stop providing constant updates for a 13 year old product where it's "a business policy designed to drive clients as far away from buying MS products as possible."

[Cyclone 10]

Surely windows 7 is the simple upgrade path for anyone still running XP. Although they're probably in drastic need of some new hardware as well.

[anywebsite 10]

Hi, I was thinking of Afilsdesigne, when I posted this, in particular, the CNC company that was reliant upon the 'netbui' protocol for its systems, no longer present in newer systems from M$. I am so glad that Afilsdesigne got their problem sorted in a timely and robust manner. Whilst I don't expect XP home users to subscribe to maintenance as there clearly is a plethora of good, no cost operatiing systems out there - at the end of the day it's horses for courses and what will suit one may not be liked by the next person. I'm due to put LXLE on a friends machine at the end of the week - I was disappointed in what Lubuntu 14.04 has to offer compared to LXLE and its life cycle is the same as Lubuntu 14.04 but it was out before that and based on 12.04 but with a five year life span. Another one that is supposed to be a good up and coming derivative of Mint is SolydXK - have yet to see what it is like!

 

CNC computers have no need to be connected to the internet. Many run happily on obsolete software & hardware for many years, they're a large investment & expected to last 30+ years. No doubt there are companies relying on proprietary DOS software from developers who are long gone & ISA card interfaces. As long as it keeps doing it's specific job & can be repaired it's fine, as long as it is kept well away from the internet & removable media scanned for known threats, it can be an acceptable risk to run an isolated XP network vs buying a new machine. There are probably still some punch tape & card based CNC machines in use somewhere.

 

For people who do want to connect their computers to the internet, time has run out for XP. Any of several Linux distributions would be a great free upgrade & make them more secure online. Even Gnome 3 based Fedora will run happily on hardware that Windows 7 or 8 would really struggle with. LXDE is pretty basic, but it's very lightweight & the interface should be more familiar to users of old versions of Windows than Windows 8's mess. Even if you have a 13 year old computer you can find a modern version of Linux that will do the same job as Windows did & get security updates.

Edited April 22, 2014 by anywebsite

[DeathAxe 10]

This one & many others...

 

http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/11/new-linux-worm-targets-routers-cameras-internet-of-things-devices/

 

Routers are a big target for hackers too & they often don't get updated at all, you might as well assume your router is already malicious.

 

If uPnP is enabled on your router then anybody on your network can drop your firewall to the internet. If anybody connects to your network then your router's firewall wont stop them connecting to your PC from inside the network,

 

A little paranoia can be good for you, but this is just.....

[swarfendor437 14]

Good news ... if you use Avast!

 

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/windows-xp-security-survey-end-of-service,news-47703.html

[anywebsite 10]

A little paranoia can be good for you, but this is just.....

 

True?

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-26417441

 

It's not paranoia when they really are out to get you, it's taking sensible precautions against a known widespread threat.

 

Paranoia is a type of delusion, it's never good for you, not even in small amounts. Protecting yourself from the thousands of hackers that work full time trying to hack computers & other internet connected devices isn't paranoia. Setting a password & disabling remote access on your router is less paranoid than remembering to lock your front door.

Edited April 25, 2014 by anywebsite

[ccit 10]

I registered for the ebook download service in our local library the other day (they don't let you do this on your own machine). All of their computers are running on XP and they are teaching people on them.

[anywebsite 10]

Library computers are wiped daily & shouldn't ever be used for any confidential information. It's possible they're wasting huge amounts of money on paying for extended updates, like HMRC & several other government departments, but don't count on it. It's certainly not a good example of how you should run your own computers.

Edited April 25, 2014 by anywebsite

[Cyclone 10]

True?

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-26417441

 

It's not paranoia when they really are out to get you, it's taking sensible precautions against a known widespread threat.

 

Paranoia is a type of delusion, it's never good for you, not even in small amounts. Protecting yourself from the thousands of hackers that work full time trying to hack computers & other internet connected devices isn't paranoia. Setting a password & disabling remote access on your router is less paranoid than remembering to lock your front door.

 

Assuming that your router is already hostile is paranoia.

 

---------- Post added 25-04-2014 at 12:49 ----------

 

Library computers are wiped daily & shouldn't ever be used for any confidential information. It's possible they're wasting huge amounts of money on paying for extended updates, like HMRC & several other government departments, but don't count on it. It's certainly not a good example of how you should run your own computers.

 

Are they? Have you worked in a library before?