All You Win XP Stragglers

[burlmart]

Well, there are still about 30% of ALL PCs on the planet still running XP despite constant warnings from MS to dump it by this April 8, after which there will no longer be OS patches or other update support.


Two days back, all the reporters said that MS would also quit providing free antivirus protection for XP thru its Microsoft Security Essentials software. Today, we read they will provide it until July, 2015.

Just wondering how many fellow XP hanger-oners like me w/ plan to keep using XP? What special extra things will you be doing after April 8. I will run a complete Malwarebytes scan every week, or so.

I tried several free AV programs like AVG, Avast, and Comodo, but just find them too intrusive compared to MSE.

[burlmart]

Not meant to challenge anyone, but aside from having a slightly different set of menus to learn and a few minor novelties to experience -- if your XP hardware is/was doing well -- what does W7 and W8 (if you stay focused on desktop) offer as bonus.

I can see if you were into the Vista flashy aero and widget thing that that was a lure, or if you are into the metro tile apps in the MS store for W8.x

But otherwise, the XP, 7, and 8 desktops are pretty much the same, right?

[Horizon170]

Wow, lots of stuff on the preceding pages. I have XP on an old desktop that NEVER goes on line. Use it to store personal stuff, pictures, etc. Win 8 on the LT that I use daily.
May have to upgrade my Abacus to 2.0 and my Sundial to 2.1. 🙂

[J_herb]

drsteve wrote:
I just this week replaced my ancient XP desktop with a new Win 8 laptop. I hated this thing for about the first hour or so, but once you figure out how to bypass the silly tiles on the first screen and go to the traditional desktop, it's all good. Once you get under the hood, it's quite a bit like 7, and better in some ways. If you really want to make it like 7 there are third party utilities both free and paid that will give you back the start button and it's menus, among other things. MS made the mistake of trying for a OS that fits both traditional computers with mouse and keyboard, and touch screen tablets. Bad idea. But really, 8 is not so bad. I have a unused license key for 7, which I intended to put on this machine, but I doubt I will now.

My granddaughter went from XP to Windows 8 and likes it, she said to spend some time with it and be positive. I have gone from windows XP to 7 and it's fine.

[drsteve]

I just this week replaced my ancient XP desktop with a new Win 8 laptop. I hated this thing for about the first hour or so, but once you figure out how to bypass the silly tiles on the first screen and go to the traditional desktop, it's all good. Once you get under the hood, it's quite a bit like 7, and better in some ways. If you really want to make it like 7 there are third party utilities both free and paid that will give you back the start button and it's menus, among other things. MS made the mistake of trying for a OS that fits both traditional computers with mouse and keyboard, and touch screen tablets. Bad idea. But really, 8 is not so bad. I have a unused license key for 7, which I intended to put on this machine, but I doubt I will now.

[8_1_Van]

Bombfixer wrote:
My 14.4 KB modem is not compatible with operating systems above win98. The dial-up system here in rural Alabama can't handle anything faster than 28.8 KB. So we are stuck in the dark ages. It is even difficult to find 5in floppies.

Is that a joke or what ?

[Gdetrailer]

Heisenberg wrote:

sue.t wrote:
I liked Win7 more than I liked XP.

I do not understand the attachment to XP or the slow hardware it runs on. It had its day but does not compare to 7. HP is now reverting back to Windows 7 on their new computers.

Not ALL computers running XP are slow!

There are most likely a lot of folks with dual core, 4 core even 6 core processors running XP.

I personally have not found any advantage to running W7.

I have a 3ghz dual core PC at work with W7 and I have a 2.8 ghz P4 with Hyper threading and XP Pro at home.

So far the ONLY thing I have found that my 2.8ghz P4 doesn't do well with is playing H264 MTS HD video files (no surprise since the minimum specs for this file is 2.2ghz dual core with a newer video card supporting built in GPU). Otherwise it does all my work PC does and no real noticeable speed difference.

At home I do have a few favorite pieces of legacy software which there is no longer support for and is not playing well with W7. Not to mention W7 is extremely picky with hardware drivers, making even my older bedscanner and printer totally obsolete even though they are in good working order.

Not to mention many system boards even though they may be sporting dual cores or better may not even work with W7 which is just crazy (I ran into this issue when rebuilding a computer for my Church, Win7 found the NIC, sound card but refused to recognize drivers for built in video AND half of the USB ports!, the PC had XP but an application they wanted to use required W7).

I don't buy into the idea that I "need" to replace ALL of my PC related equipment just to stay "current".

I won't change to W7 or any other OS unless it comes down to new hardware or software which requires W7 or higher...

We live in a throw away society now days, nothing like what my parents grew up with (they LIVED the "Great Depression" in the 1920s and 1930s) where EVERYTHING that broke WAS FIXED and when it broke again it was fixed AGAIN. Buying new was not an option, no, they often ate break and milk for many meals.. They did not have the money to simply toss something in the trash if they got bored with it...

We are ridiculously SPOILED..

[mr__ed]

burlmart wrote:
Ed

If you are now running XP with the free antivirus MSE from MS, that will not change for 18 months. And those monthly patches on a Tuesday will continue to deliver the same malware prevention you have been relying on all along.

So, there is no change in antivirus/malware for 18 months with your XP.

All you will lose is software patches that were also part of those Tuesday updates. Is this catastrophic? No. Use Firefox (or Chrome) browsers (no more IE). FF and Chrome have committed to add a further layer of protection to XP for a a couple more years. It is only thru an internet connection - mostly a browser - that XP could be vulnerable. You will be well protected going forward..

Run XP in good cheer until W9 comes out...I bet you will be glad you did. MS wants you to recommit in 2015, and I bet they will throw in a few freebie Tuesday 'hole patches' between now and then to show they appreciate you.

I think someone reminded MS about the power of customer loyalty in the past week or so, and you will be a benificiary.

Thanks for the info, Bulmart. I thought I read that MSE wouldn't be supported after April. You say it will for 18 mos. Hope that's correct. I'm already using the Chrome browser and feel pretty safe with that, too.

[burlmart]

I liked Win7 more than I liked XP.

I do not understand the attachment to XP or the slow hardware it runs on. It had its day but does not compare to 7. HP is now reverting back to Windows 7 on their new computers.

It is like a neighbor I had way back who bought a '65 Mustang and, feeling its goodness, cared for it like it would last indefinitely.

As for slow hardware, is 15 sec from hibernate to active FF browsing too slow? Maybe I am just very patient, but it seems fast to me for a 10 y/o HP Pavillion w/ a single core AMD Athlon XP 3200+ processor. I would leave it on , but its fans are a bit loud, and I want our dog, Boudreaux, to sleep soundly in the same room.

Just as a casual observer ( I haven't used xp in years ) I wonder as I see talk by some about loyal ms users being abandoned, how is not buying a ms op system in what , 10 years ,? a loyal ms customer? I guess in my mind with the way tech moves so fast a loyal customer is one who would spend $ with the company regularly .. Of course I suppose business is the reason ms will continue to support Xp in some fashion .and that's a good thing

With 3 MS computers in the house, including a Dell laptop running W8.1, and quite a few MS machines in our past now in some landfill, we have given MS and DOS-based computers a disproportionate share of business compared w/, say, Sears' Kenmore appliances division - our $500 refrig is still goin' fine after 21 years. Our neighbors all have shiny $1500 Samaungs and LGs...I can't say for sure, but I'd bet that "the way tech moves so fast a loyal customer is one who would spend $ with the company regularly" will ensure that they get to demonstrate their loyalty before I need to make a trip to Sears' salesmen.

I am loyal to my dentist, but not ready for a mouthful of more crowns. Likewise, I will return to the surgeon who put in my 2 artificial hips if I need a revision, but we both hope that won't be necessary.

Despite my geographic situation, I am not a flag waving redneck, but I am a very loyal American. However, I have yet to invoke my option to pay more taxes than the IRS requires. Should I?

I will be a return customer when my 10 y/o Briggs and Stratton mover dies (if ever it does), likewise for our 4Runner, 40 hp Mercury outboard, and 36" Sanyo TV of 15, 20, and 12 year ages, respectively.

I could go on, but, as with Geiko, "well, you know". I am being lighthearted here, no offense intended. I understand the current zeitgeist to buy tech gadgets, but I like to minimize landfill volumes.

[Heisenberg]

sue.t wrote:
I liked Win7 more than I liked XP.

I do not understand the attachment to XP or the slow hardware it runs on. It had its day but does not compare to 7. HP is now reverting back to Windows 7 on their new computers.

[jorbill2or]

Just as a casual observer ( I haven't used xp in years ) I wonder as I see talk by some about loyal ms users being abandoned, how is not buying a ms op system in what , 10 years ,? a loyal ms customer? I guess in my mind with the way tech moves so fast a loyal customer is one who would spend $ with the company regularly .. Of course I suppose business is the reason ms will continue to support Xp in some fashion .and that's a good thing

[burlmart]

Ed

If you are now running XP with the free antivirus MSE from MS, that will not change for 18 months. And those monthly patches on a Tuesday will continue to deliver the same malware prevention you have been relying on all along.

So, there is no change in antivirus/malware for 18 months with your XP.

All you will lose is software patches that were also part of those Tuesday updates. Is this catastrophic? No. Use Firefox (or Chrome) browsers (no more IE). FF and Chrome have committed to add a further layer of protection to XP for a a couple more years. It is only thru an internet connection - mostly a browser - that XP could be vulnerable. You will be well protected going forward..

Run XP in good cheer until W9 comes out...I bet you will be glad you did. MS wants you to recommit in 2015, and I bet they will throw in a few freebie Tuesday 'hole patches' between now and then to show they appreciate you.

I think someone reminded MS about the power of customer loyalty in the past week or so, and you will be a benificiary.

[mr__ed]

burlmart wrote:

mr. ed wrote:
I've been using XP3 for many years and would prefer to keep it. However, I've been looking at new laptops recently in anticipation of XP's demise. Since there are so many XP users worldwide I wonder if Microsoft will relent and keep supporting it for a while longer. Not likely, I guess....

Seems to me from all the reports quoted in this thread, if you like your XP, at a minimum, you should comfortably hang on for another year and look to upgrade to W9, which will be much more like your legacy XP.

Even then, you may cautiously keep it even longer, as has been pointed out here as well.

That would be nice but without support from MS wouldn't my computer be more and more susceptible to malware as time goes by?

[sue_t]

I loved my XP, but my six-year-old desktop was slowing down despite it being a zippy character when I purchased it. Plus it was crashing more. So purchased a new Win7 system before they were no longer available. Surprised myself - I liked Win7 more than I liked XP. Some new features worked well for me.

Then I decided to reformat the hard drive on my old desktop and load Win7 on it. It has a new lease on life. Works wonderfully well. I fretted the graphics card would not work well without a new driver for Win7, but no issues what-so-ever.

Now I'll be a Win7 hold out for years.

[burlmart]

mr. ed wrote:
I've been using XP3 for many years and would prefer to keep it. However, I've been looking at new laptops recently in anticipation of XP's demise. Since there are so many XP users worldwide I wonder if Microsoft will relent and keep supporting it for a while longer. Not likely, I guess....

Seems to me from all the reports quoted in this thread, if you like your XP, at a minimum, you should comfortably hang on for another year and look to upgrade to W9, which will be much more like your legacy XP.

Even then, you may cautiously keep it even longer, as has been pointed out here as well.

[mr__ed]

I've been using XP3 for many years and would prefer to keep it. However, I've been looking at new laptops recently in anticipation of XP's demise. Since there are so many XP users worldwide I wonder if Microsoft will relent and keep supporting it for a while longer. Not likely, I guess....