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What to do about XP being cut, need help
- Thread starter rkhndjr
- Start date
you're pointing out a problem with Word 2010 as an issue for XP users? I see a disconnect here.
But yeah, the OP still prefer OE and I think that's probably a bad choice going forward. I still read mail with a text reader so I'm immune to virtually all mail driven threats, which represent the lion's share anyway.
If you read the advisory, it includes "previewing" a maliciously formatted message in Outlook (including Outlook Express). That is the kind of vulnerabilities that will never be fixed or reported, but will be there for the taking.
tom graham
Senior Member
If the PC is running good now, make a clone/backup of its hard drive. This may be a challenge for you, but you can do it. Then if after a few weeks/months the PC seems to have gone crazy, put in that backup hard drive. Don't forget any new data on that old HDD. And make a clone of it. before going on line/web. When this drill becomes cumbersome/work, go to another operating system.
Tom
Tom
OK, so this particular exploit does not affect you. There will be others. I was just trying to give an example of the type of vulnerabilities that will go unpatched in the future. Now, I do apologize for saying that it included Outlook Express. I thought I had read that somewhere and was just going by memory. Sorry. But, that doesn't mean that there haven't been vulnerabilities found in Outlook Express. Right?
And there will continue to be. Who knows how many exploits are just waiting for April 8 to come around in order to be launched? I just don't think continuing to use XP is worth it. Furthermore, every exploited machine will make life worst for all of us as they will be now be potentially use by botnets for nefarious uses.
What is a botnet? | Definition from TechTarget
Learn how botnet attacks work, their architecture and different types. Examine how to protect against botnets and examples of prominent attacks.
We should be encouraging every one to get on to more secure platforms.
brycesteiner
Senior Member
Nothing changes after April 8. If someone has an exploit, they release it now and 'benefit' from it. All that happens post April 8 is MS won't bother to release fixes, but they hardly will bother now either. They want to sell you.
Then it's not to a newer version of Windows. 7 and 8 have formed botnets as well.
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As has Mac OS X.
Flashback (Trojan) - Wikipedia
There's no perfect security, just various degrees of risk.
J
Jim Cockfield
Guest
I don't know about that. Some of the articles I've read on the subject have authors that think that malware writers are delaying the release of malware making use of of new new zero day vulnerabilities until after XP is no longer supported.
That way, they don't have to worry about new patches from Microsoft that fix those security holes in XP if Microsoft sticks to their stated game plan (no more security updates for XP after April 8).
herebefore
Veteran Member
Ive held off jumping into this thread but Im jumping in now.
1. As long as you use a good router, and have its firewall turned on, you dont have to worry too much.
2. Given #1, as long as good anti-virus protection is available for XP, you have even less to worry about.
Microsoft is trying to motivate you to upgrade. They will not say ANYTHING to encourage you to stay with XP.
The main problem is with the businesses that are still running XP to run the office.. A lot of them didn't upgrade.
Custom software that some offices run might not be compatible with Win 7, or 8.
I know the office where my wife works paid over $300,000 to have their software re-written for Windows 7 (and some of the modules wont run in Windows 8). With over 150 workstations spread all over town on the network, they dont plan on up-grading anything soon.
1. As long as you use a good router, and have its firewall turned on, you dont have to worry too much.
2. Given #1, as long as good anti-virus protection is available for XP, you have even less to worry about.
Microsoft is trying to motivate you to upgrade. They will not say ANYTHING to encourage you to stay with XP.
The main problem is with the businesses that are still running XP to run the office.. A lot of them didn't upgrade.
Custom software that some offices run might not be compatible with Win 7, or 8.
I know the office where my wife works paid over $300,000 to have their software re-written for Windows 7 (and some of the modules wont run in Windows 8). With over 150 workstations spread all over town on the network, they dont plan on up-grading anything soon.
I'd agree with most of that.
Not sure that is typical of the wider population at all.
For what it's worth, by some measures IE8 may still be, by far, the most widely used browser version...
http://marketshare.hitslink.com/browser-market-share.aspx?qprid=2&qpcustomd=0
Now that I do take exception to.
I use IE8 almost exclusively - I have experienced zero security issues, and whilst a small number of web-sites don't function 100%, the vast majority work absolutely fine.
I have only very recently installed Chrome, primarily just to use as a fall back where some sites' Java Script features do not work with IE8.
Again...
http://marketshare.hitslink.com/browser-market-share.aspx?qprid=2&qpcustomd=0
Not in my experience.
My XP runs much the same as it did when it was last installed (some 5~6+ years ago) - and I'm not aware of anyone else's XP that I know of slowing down, except perhaps where a particularly old machine might just need more RAM.
Bit of an overstatement, but it's probably true to say that a majority is/is avoidable - along with far too many people misguidedly relying on woeful anti-malware solutions such as Microsoft Security Essentials or Spybot.
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Russell Evans
Forum Pro
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Amazing! I am not seeing that anywhere, even on websites that are heavily slanted towards Windows users. This is more typical of what I see on various websites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Usage_share_of_web_browsers_(Source_StatCounter).svg
My XP machine got very slow in the several months before upgrading to Windows 7. Especially networking was painfully slow. Could be memory - XP-32 could not use more than 3+ GB.
Shamus1
Senior Member
Russ Smith (Sorry Russ Evans didn't mean to direct to you)
You certainly got a lot of suggestions, and frankly I stopped reading after a few pages
I agree with Eric, if it works for you, leave it alone and don't worry about it for now. Keep your virus program updated. If Windows XP does finally expire and you can' have someone do a re-install if you have the original disks, look at an inexpensive tablet as suggested. I do a lot of my email and web search on an iPad. (not suggesting iPad - cheaper and good tablets of other brands out there.)
Forget Win 8.1, your older laptop won't be able to handle it. One of my laptops is an old one running Win XP, and it will stay that way until it stops running. It would probably have issues with Win 7
Re the comment on some sites charging a fortune for Win 7 full install. I anticipated this and since I have a second desktop running 32 bit, which I wanted to up to 64 bit, I was able to pick up a Win 7 Pro full install at a reasonable price last year. Due to the 32 bit has memory issues. Already upgraded to 12 gig (its an i7) which it will see once we go to 64 bit.
Russ - Use it as you have been and don't worry.
You certainly got a lot of suggestions, and frankly I stopped reading after a few pages
I agree with Eric, if it works for you, leave it alone and don't worry about it for now. Keep your virus program updated. If Windows XP does finally expire and you can' have someone do a re-install if you have the original disks, look at an inexpensive tablet as suggested. I do a lot of my email and web search on an iPad. (not suggesting iPad - cheaper and good tablets of other brands out there.)
Forget Win 8.1, your older laptop won't be able to handle it. One of my laptops is an old one running Win XP, and it will stay that way until it stops running. It would probably have issues with Win 7
Re the comment on some sites charging a fortune for Win 7 full install. I anticipated this and since I have a second desktop running 32 bit, which I wanted to up to 64 bit, I was able to pick up a Win 7 Pro full install at a reasonable price last year. Due to the 32 bit has memory issues. Already upgraded to 12 gig (its an i7) which it will see once we go to 64 bit.
Russ - Use it as you have been and don't worry.
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Vernon D Rainwater
Forum Pro
Unfortunately, in order to keep PC's running at optimum level as far as speed; it is necessary to keep them maintained regarding several things which (hopefully most) are aware of so no use to mention here. My XP Pro machine has NO apparent speed reduction now as compared to when I first started using this it in fall of 2007.
There seems to be changes made that are not instigated by the users such as what runs at start up. Also, the build up of TMP and TEMP areas, Register items that are not needed or used, etc and the user needs to process Register cleaning using appropriate software. Defragmenting the Hard Drive(s) is also an issue if the users don't follow good Defragging practices. Each alone is perhaps somewhat minor but when all are combined, the computer speed can suffer from all of this. There also can be adware and spyware installed without our knowledge that uses computer cycles.
--
Vernon...
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gs85739az
Senior Member
Consider a Linux option for that old laptop or possibly dual boot with Windows XP and Linux both working..
You'll find Linux to fairly quick running on that older laptop..
You'll find Linux to fairly quick running on that older laptop..
Yes, those actual numbers there do appear rather dubious.
But there are undoubtedly a lot more users of IE8 on XP than Scott was suggesting.
Need to be careful to differentiate whether or not mobile usage is included, in which case the default Android browser Chrome can dominate, as versus desktop PCs/laptops only where perhaps Internet Explorer may dominate.
There's no doubt that machines can 'slow' for various different reasons, but I've never seen any evidence that it is an inherent property of the OS ageing at all.
Where I have seen 'slow downs' in the past (and worse besides), it has often turned out to be bad AV/security software.
XP-32 should run most things absolutely great with 3GB (that's pretty much what I'm using right now).
I was think more of older XP machines where it is not uncommon to find some people running with as little as just 256MB, or 512MB - which was probably OK back in 2003~04 etc, but would struggle with the bloating of much of today's software, especially AV/security, etc, etc.
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She is fortunate. I cannot read the print on tablets and they will not accommodate the countless thousands of pictures I have on my PC.
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