How I prevented bad stuff on my XP machine

If you want to keep XP alive, there is always "XP Mode" which is available in 7 easily, but might take some gymnastics in 8.

I always keep up with the latest Windows. The bad guys never stay still, so if I want effective protection from attacks in 2013, I need an OS made near that vintage designed from the ground up (as opposed to having security added on) to handle the items.

For example, Windows 8 (plus Secure boot) deals well with malware that writes to the first boot sector of the hard disk. Windows 7 doesn't have this protection.

When I want to run XP, I just fire up Hyper-V, run it in a virtual machine. If/when it gets infected, I roll back to an earlier snapshot, and the bad stuff is gone (assuming I know when the machine got nailed.)

I recently purchased a new Windows 7 machine.
An upgrade from my cherished XP machine.

The old XP machine, despite being a powerhouse when first purchased (intended to run CAD and photo-editing programs) continued to slow more and more with each XP update pushed out by Microsoft. More Microsoft add-ons appeared. More background processes running. The computer seemed to need more thinking time. The 4 Gb of RAM didn't seem to be enough, any more. I started to wonder if Microsoft was deliberately bogging down XP to encourage users to upgrade.

The new Windows 7 64-bit machine is considerably faster. There are far fewer background processes running, and I have all the same software installed now.

I thought I'd not like Win7. Must admit that I love it. Similar enough to XP, yet some new features that make my computing life easier. The laptop runs Vista ... never did become a fan of it, much prefer Win7 to Vista!

jimjr wrote:

mockturtle wrote:
The trick is knowing what you can safely delete from your startup.

I'd like to know too. I'm trying to keep my XP alive and don't much care about Win 7or Win 8.
When I followed the instructions I ended up with a list that's indecipherable by me :h

I've googled each one, and you learn what is required...

try googling "in winxp, what is ______"

or maybe easier "in winxp, do I need ______"

mockturtle wrote:
The trick is knowing what you can safely delete from your startup.

I'd like to know too. I'm trying to keep my XP alive and don't much care about Win 7or Win 8.
When I followed the instructions I ended up with a list that's indecipherable by me :h

DogFatherFL wrote:

Win 7 is much more complex, many many processes going on. I don't think that will work. I don't store any info like passwords. Accept in the desk next to my PC. They are in hand writing. So, no password is stored in a browser. I'm still a little worried. There's so much media hype, it's hard to tell what is real and what is not!

Actually, I have far fewer processes loaded in WIN 7 than I've ever had in Windows XP. And I use Firefox for virtually all my saved passwords except for financial sites such as bank accounts and PayPal. I do use the Secure Login extension which basically allows a one click login to sites. It also prevents some common malicious Javascript from stealing or intercepting your passwords from the clipboard.

Firefox actually does a decent job of encrypting passwords so long as you use a long enough master password. I don't use one, so technically my passwords are not stored encrypted.

However, Firefox allows you to easily locate its profile file folder, which contains its password database pretty much anywhere. So I've placed mine in a 256-bit Two Fish AES encrypted Truecrypt virtual container which acts like an HD or partition when mounted. Files are encrypted/decrypted in real time. The browser's password database is protected as well, if not even better than most stand alone password utilities, or even better than many SSL webpages.

I've also encrypted my Chrome browser password database in a similar fashion, though not as straightforward to setup. Doing so also enables securing your browser's data, bookmarks, history, etc. which are also encrypted.

You can still start in safe mode in Win7 by pressing F8 during bootup. If you don't have problems in safe mode, it's likely something besides the Flash Player got installed at the same time. Not uncommon for even 'reputable' companies to throw in extra stuff. It's usually very clear during the install process but a lot of people just click without looking. If this is the case, you can follow the previous instructions to remove startup items.

The trick is knowing what you can safely delete from your startup.

Win8 you just open your task manager and there is a tab to Startup. You can disable everything there!

X2 what enblethen says... This has been my bread and butter for many years...

It also allows you to turn off all of the start items and then you can turn each one back on one at a time and when it go banana's then that is the bad boy you want to get rid of. If you are afraid of deleting thing just check it not to start up...

When you find unlabeled things you know right away they are not safe to use... block them as well...

Been doing this for years with my Dell M90 laptops both still running XP professional....

Roy Ken

Click "start", run Type in "msconfig". Click on "Start up". This will show everything that starts when you boot computer. There will be many programs running that are not necesssary.