Still using XP?

Post by **Marcus Tettmar** » Thu Feb 27, 2014 11:40 am

With Microsoft about to drop support for XP, is there anyone here still using it?

http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240 ... to-migrate

melmitts707 · Post by **melmitts707** » Thu Feb 27, 2014 3:26 pm

I am an individual, not a business. I just purchased a new i7 desktop running Windows 7 Pro x64. The computer with Windows XP is now running LinuxMint 15. I followed Microsofts recommendation and 'upgraded'.

Dorian (MJT support) · Post by **Dorian (MJT support)** » Thu Feb 27, 2014 11:42 pm

I have about three old PCs, two netbooks, and a couple of laptops which run it... but... I only turn them on for special occasions.

I went straight from XP to Windows 8, which I am a huge fan of.

CyberCitizen · Post by **CyberCitizen** » Sat Mar 01, 2014 10:54 am

I have a virtual image used for testing that's about it.

Currently using windows 7, once I get a new power supply, hard drive and graphics card I will install win8

JRL · Post by **JRL** » Sat Mar 01, 2014 5:42 pm

Two of five home computers are XP and will remain XP until they expire. Just stay off the internet and don't load any new software and there shouldn't be any issues.

At work we still have quite a few WinXp computers. 14 of them will be updated in the next few months the rest do not have internet access and will remain until they expire and are replaced or until some mission critical software package will fail to run on XP. Usually get plenty of notice before a change like that takes place. Computers that are locked into a purpose are not so critical to update. We still have two laser control computers that are running Win 3.0. A much more difficult issue with the really old computers is finding parts if something breaks. Try finding a specific functioning 20 year old mother board.

Meryl · Post by **Meryl** » Mon Mar 03, 2014 3:23 pm

I'm in the process of shopping for a new desktop to move off Win XP as my desktop isn't strong enough to support Win 7. It's going to be fun to reload apps. I know this is where the cloud can be beneficial, but I'm a one person business who prefers to buy software once as opposed to paying monthly fees. I'd think it's the same for home users.

PepsiHog · Post by **PepsiHog** » Wed Apr 23, 2014 4:43 pm

I am running XP right now. Online with it. Go ahead and try to attack me.

One, it takes me all of 20 minutes to restore from an image.

Two, there is nothing on my computer worth stealing. I don't keep personal information on my laptop. For that matter, I steer clear of entering personal data on the internet, period.

Three, I am using software that uses sandboxing technology to protect my data and computer.

Four, I am a computer guru. You can't touch me. I easily recover without any loss of data.

Five, all my data is on an external that I never have connected while online.

I don't claim that sandboxing is a perfect answer. Sooner or later it will be focused on by attackers. Some say that's already the case. But as of yet, maybe just lucky, I have never had any issues.

Beyond that, my computer knowledge is such that even if someone attacks me, so what. I start my recovery, and in the time it takes to go to the bathroom and get a bite to eat, my computer is right back up.

In my opinion, when you realize that it's about what you do, not the attacker, then being attacked becomes a mute point. Or maybe it's because I'm such a geek/nerd.

PepsiHog
{I am not trying to start or interested in an argument about sandboxing.}

Post by **Marcus Tettmar** » Wed Apr 23, 2014 5:09 pm

All very fair points. Some say Linux is more secure. But it isn't if you set it up so that everyone is a root user and you allow anyone from anywhere to log in via SSH using root for the username and root for the password and then run the web browser as root so that anything you download from the web, inadvertently or not, has complete power to do whatever it wants.

In much the same way XP - out of the box - had the user running as Admin. If you set it up so that your users aren't Admin then clearly things will be less vulnerable.

Problem was it was difficult to administer like this - no easy way to install stuff without changing your account back to admin - which with XP required logging in and out. Since Vista this got easier and therefore more likely that people ran things in a more sensible way.

So with XP you needed to know what you were doing to use it safely. Unfortunately most regular home users didn't know what they were doing and ran it as if they were constantly logged in as root on a linux box with their web browser running with super user privileges. Copying files into the Windows folder, saving data files to the Program Files folder and so on. It's not their fault that they don't know what they are doing. Was it Microsoft's fault for allowing them to run with full root level privileges without knowing what they were doing? Maybe. Bad idea. They learnt that and made a good start with Vista to fix that.

In that sense XP was bad. But YOU know what you are doing, which is why you don't have problems. MOST home users though are not you and therefore - for them - I think XP is bad and the sooner they stop using it the better IMO. Especially now that there won't be any security updates.

Of course none of this is why Microsoft have stopped supporting it. It's just old, is all, and they've superseded it a few times. It's business.

As for you - no reason why you shouldn't keep using it. That's up to you.

PepsiHog · Post by **PepsiHog** » Fri Apr 25, 2014 4:14 pm

@Marcus,
Yep. You are absolutely correct. Another point is, it depends on how OLD your computer is. I have a 2006 laptop. Would probably not be a good idea to install Windows 8. If it would even install.

Thanks for your reply. I enjoy hearing from you.

PepsiHog

BTW - What about you, I read your posts, but do you think your headed in the direction of not using XP at all?

Still using XP?

Still using XP?

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