Goodbye Windows XP

[sandbender]

Goodbye Windows XP.

If the press are to be believed every machine running WinXP will be taken over by hackers and will explode at midnight tonight.

Except of course those machines being used by the governments of the UK and the netherlands who have come to a special arrangement with Microsoft.

And mine of course, which doesn't connect to the internet so much these days but remains invaluable for work.

We'll miss you.

 

[dwardo]

She had a good run, 13 years old.
Brilliant o/s.

 

[Adze]

If the press are to be believed every machine running WinXP will be taken over by hackers and will explode at midnight tonight.

Whereas, in reality, it'll be the first critical update to MS Vista/7/8/8.1 which really lays it bare. Given the frequency these come out, I reckon patch Tuesday 13th of May will be malware author happy time with weaponized malware kits available to download by script kiddies, Nigerian princes, minor dignitaries in banana republic finance ministries and people who've been arrested while on holiday about a week later at most.

If you're going to use XP attached to the Internet, be very careful what you click

 

[treadlightly]

Whereas, in reality, it'll be the first critical update to MS Vista/7/8/8.1 which really lays it bare. Given the frequency these come out, I reckon patch Tuesday 13th of May will be malware author happy time with weaponized malware kits available to download by script kiddies, Nigerian princes, minor dignitaries in banana republic finance ministries and people who've been arrested while on holiday about a week later at most.

?????????????????

Or is it just me?

 

[sandbender]

"...If you're going to use XP attached to the Internet, be very careful what you click ..."

?????????????????

Or is it just me?

Probably just you, I'm guessing you are very careful in who you hand your email address to.

 

[rik_uk3]

Great OS, I've still got XP on an old laptop in the kitchen (I listen to internet radio while cooking/watch the news). Just make sure you have an antivirus package on there; I use Avast on it.

 

[treadlightly]

I'm guessing you are very careful in who you hand your email address to.

Not really, I just didn't understand a word of that

 

[dwardo]

I have been doing nawt besides Xp to Windows 7 upgrades for months now. Windows 7 still runs great on some seriously old kit that I had my reservations about.

 

[Adze]

Just make sure you have an antivirus package on there; I use Avast on it.

No amount of sticky plaster is going to stop the arterial gushing that XP will be suffering from in a few months rik. If you're visiting popular and highly trusted sites which are regularly updated and under near constant supervision, you might get away with it. Bearing in mind a very simple coding error on the NHS websites recently exposed, potentially, hundreds of thousands to malware and phishing attacks, I'd rather put my faith in an up to date, supported operating system with anti-virus than an out of date, unsupported one any day of the week.

FWIW, if you're only using it for Internet radio there really isn't a reason not to use a straightforward linux install - Mint, Zorin OS and XUbuntu all look superficially similar to XP, have a very familiar method of operation (e.g. icons on a desktop, clock in the corner, applications button on the left of the taskbar) and all will run a web browser and your sound card perfectly well straight out of the box.

Speaking personally, I'm quite happy if people ignore the advice to upgrade/update - I fix people's computers for a living, data recovery and malware removal are rapidly becoming the main thing I get calls for as people ignore the best advice not to open email attachments or click links in unsolicited emails and will believe the African princess who wants to give away half her fortune to someone they've never met in a foreign country... YMMV.

 

[xylaria]

This the PC I use for work. I am going to have spend time I havent got, using computer know how I certainly have not got putting something like ubunto and a nice anti virus on.

Never liked microsoft, the guy that fixes our computers says he loves microsoft, if everyone used ubunto he would be out of work.

 

[resnikov]

I know because I used to support them at least one major bank in the UK still runs NT4 desktops, (also XP, W2K Vista and 7) so I would expect to see XP around for quite a while in some companies.

 

[sandbender]

'...not to open email attachments or click links in unsolicited emails..."

If folks have gmail accounts then the attachments they receive (or send) are scanned for known viruses, that must help a little.

My XP machine has no browser or email capabilities, however it does have the Dropbox application running, mainly so that local backups from my work software end up someplace other than just on my machine.

I also have a version of my XP laptop running as a virtual machine on another OS, which actually runs faster than the real one, that'll probably be they way I'll go for the foreseeable future.

 

[Melonfish]

XP is still very widely used by many companies, you'd be surprised to find out many cash machines use xp too. heck some still use windows NT4!
isn't the end of the world by any means.

 

[presterjohn]

I still have XP on my oldest Dell Laptop. It only comes out when my other 2 places are playing up or are in use (it is to creaky and slow for serious use). XP and 7 have been good to use. Windows 8 it horrendous though and if the two days I spent using it are anything to go by I may switch to Linux when I buy my next PC as the learning curve can't be any harder and it will make whatever PC I buy leaner and faster.

 

[sandbender]

I still have XP on my oldest Dell Laptop. It only comes out when my other 2 places are playing up or are in use (it is to creaky and slow for serious use). XP and 7 have been good to use. Windows 8 it horrendous though and if the two days I spent using it are anything to go by I may switch to Linux when I buy my next PC as the learning curve can't be any harder and it will make whatever PC I buy leaner and faster.

I read that the next upgrade for Win8 will bring back the 'Start' menu, an obvious omission on a tablet or touch screen but an odd one for a mouse or track pad controlled machine. My only experience of Win8 was trying to set up my mother in law's with Skype, Dropbox etc. Granted I was looking at a Hungarian language version which made things a bit harder but it did seem counterintuitive and needlessly complex in many ways. She really doesn't enjoy the "Lego Mode" (the metro interface).

On the other hand it was a breeze to connect to their bluetooth loudspeaker, something their Windows 7 machine doesn't want to do.

 

[rik_uk3]

You can install a programme to put the start button on to W8 or 8.1. I'm using W8.1 on my main tablet and like it a lot, personally I don't mind the metro tiles. That said, I still prefer using a mouse if I'm sitting down using the machine. I rarely use the start button so can't say I miss it.

 

[Adze]

I read that the next upgrade for Win8 will bring back the 'Start' menu

Next update for Win8.1 does... in fact it's an essential update to keep receiving updates at all apparently. Win8 isn't so lucky unless you update to 8.1 first.

 

[presterjohn]

You can install a programme to put the start button on to W8 or 8.1. I'm using W8.1 on my main tablet and like it a lot, personally I don't mind the metro tiles. That said, I still prefer using a mouse if I'm sitting down using the machine. I rarely use the start button so can't say I miss it.

You can get a win 7 style skin download too for Win 8 to get rid of the tiles. The thing I found hard was putting files in places I wanted them to be and moving stuff about. As a media machine they seemed ok but as a tool for meddling with without technical support it was to much of a head banger for me.

 

[Angst]

hi...being an old skool gamer and long time computer builder the passing of XP is a downer to say the least. i'm dreading the day when win7 goes and its all win8 and similar....i've not heard a good word about 8 and to be honest if it comes near me there'll be trouble. big trouble. my glands are swelling just thinking about it.

long live 7 and r.i.p. xp...

s

ps georann...i didnt understand him either...i bet he helped develop win8!

 

[Shewie]

We've still got loads of XP desktops at work, I'm guessing in the hundreds, many of them probably won't run much else either. It's odd that there doesn't seem to be much panic at our place yet.