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Post by phred1812 on Mar 24, 2014 12:59:25 GMT
As I expect many of you will be aware, Microsoft are ceasing to support XP with upgrades which will make it vulnerable to attack in future.
Although I have the latest Windows 8.1 on a laptop, for business I use an ancient PC running in XP that, rather like my Triban, has been upgraded over the years. I much prefer XP which is easy to use and has everything I need which is mainly Word and Excel. I really don't like Windows 8 which has all those useless and irrelevant (to me at least) tiles and above all no Outlook Express which I use for all business emails. I have at least 10 years worth of emails on my hard drive which are also backed up on a remote drive. Microsoft want emails recorded on the "cloud" which is of course not a cloud but some great server based on the West Coast.
I may be a Luddite and set in my ways. It was bad enough when Microsoft dropped 95 and then 98 but at least it was easy to migrate to XP at the time. I could really do without scrapping my PC.
There must be few Techies amongst us (Steph?). Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions?
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Post by Radchenister on Mar 24, 2014 13:06:13 GMT
Back everything important onto an external hard drive, keep virus software up to date and keep using it IMO. Corporate policy driven obsolescence gets my goat - what are the motivations of the 'attackers', if they're not in on the whole scam in the first place that is of course?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 24, 2014 13:58:22 GMT
I've got windows 8, but I've hidden all that rubbish tile stuff and put back the start menu so really it's no different to windows 7. Though I'm not a huge fan of microsoft and only have windows installed for games, linux is the go to OS usually.
Tbh as long all the software you use still runs fine on XP, antivirus is working properly then there isn't really any need to upgrade a personal machine. I can understand the workplace upgrading as they'll usually be upgrading computers every few years, which gives a good opportunity to move to a newer version of windows, and someone using a vulnerability in the operating system would be more of an issue if you have 100s/1000s of XP machines.
It's not that different to the software you use having updates to fix security holes. You wouldn't keep using your antivirus program if it stopped being updated, by continuing to use XP you will be at greater (though probably still small) risk.
Personally I'm hoping the way microsoft is going with windows everyone will slowly move away from it which will reduce the reliance of windows only software with a move towards software that works on any platform.
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Post by Steph on Mar 24, 2014 14:09:08 GMT
Back everything important onto an external hard drive, keep virus software up to date and keep using it IMO. This, to an extent. Back everything up often and keep your antivirus software up to date, but there is still more chance of something getting onto the PC. Microsoft recommends using something other than Internet Explorer to browse the web, and to only connect to the internet when you really need to. They also suggest that you stop using Outlook Express which appears to be a pretty big reason why you're still using it so perhaps just be extra careful, only open attachments that you know are safe and/or scan then before opening. Antivirus software will help but it will be easier for viruses etc to get on there. You also might eventually run into the problem of the antivirus software not supporting XP (in fact you almost certainly will) but you'll get another few years out of it. Microsoft Security Essentials for XP will be supported until mid-July next year. Many third-party AV providers are going to support XP until 2017 at least.
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Post by Radchenister on Mar 24, 2014 14:34:54 GMT
I booted IE years ago, prefer Google-chrome, with ABP and Ghostery, we use a subscribed anti virus package on all PCs and laptops here with external support if necessary. Microsoft are going to say you need to change, as they want to make money out of the huge percentage of people who're still on XP but feel no need to change - it's a farce really. My anti virus have given me active support in years past when we have had a virus on supported XP machines, it wasn't Microsoft who fixed the problem then it was the independent company we pay for our licences - they'll still do that if we want it. We run a mix of formats, I won't be changing off XP on the machines which have it and old packages that need it just because Microsoft fancy people should buy new formats off them. The only way the issue will be forced is if someone musters up a massive operational problem that can't be plugged - this is possible but as I said earlier, those most motivated to do this would be Microsoft themselves ... except they wouldn't do anything like that would they, I mean, Bill Gates is a philanthropist who wants to save the world and not someone who set up a company with bully boy tactics isn't he ?!
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Post by ianmoss on Mar 24, 2014 15:30:03 GMT
As what usually happens in these threads... I'll be the one to say.
Buy a Mac
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Post by phred1812 on Mar 24, 2014 16:10:44 GMT
Thanks for the info folks. As a matter of interest I always use Firefox not IE. It often does identify dodgy links. Very occasionally dare I say it, from this forum.
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Post by Phil on Mar 24, 2014 17:01:55 GMT
Personally I'm hoping the way microsoft is going with windows everyone will slowly move away from it which will reduce the reliance of windows only software with a move towards software that works on any platform. Windows as a platform will continue to shrink over the next few years as more folk move towards tablet/mobile computing. Microsoft missed the boat massively on this, Windows 8.1 is a terribly compromised product and will only encourage more people to try alternative platforms (iOS, Android, Mac OS X, even Chrome OS). On the subject of XP, the product is 13 years old, it really should've been end of life years ago. Microsoft backed itself into a corner by producing the lemon that was Vista (and then repeating the error with Windows 8) meaning there are decade old computers that never got updated and software that never needed to be developed beyond XP. Anyway, hope you get sorted Fred. As has been said, the major issue will be when AV stops being supported on XP.
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Post by cocopops on Mar 24, 2014 22:37:34 GMT
As Ian said (Buy a Mac)
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Post by phred1812 on Mar 25, 2014 7:10:15 GMT
I know what you mean about the Mac. My daughter has one. Its a beautifully designed and a reliable piece of kit although she rarely uses it, preferring her ipad for most things. My problem is that I always found the reverence surrounding Steve Jobs and his company rather disturbing and for that reason have always avoided anything to to with Apple. Whilst everybody else had iphones and ipads, I have always gone for any alternative - HTC (might have had something to do with Cav having the name on his jersey), Samsung and Sony. Anything but Apple. I have a similar problem but for different reasons with Rupert Murdoch and his empire. I won't have Sky in the house even though I wouldn't mind watching a bit of footy occasionally. I do rather reluctantly support the cycling team but that's out of respect for the riders and their team manager not their sponsor. I imagine that Sky will get the TDF franchise eventually and that is going to present me with a real dilemma.
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Post by jimc on Mar 25, 2014 9:57:46 GMT
The main problem with XP is that it's a 32bit operating system and with today's memory hungry applications just over 3Gbyte of usable RAM often isn't enough. XP 64bit was a modified version of a server product and as such hardware support was awful.
Win 7 64 bit is very good and still available, in support and well supported by hardware manufacturers. Win 8 fails with the terrible interface (for mouse and keybaord use at least) and if I was forced to use it would revert to a start menu and get rid of metro. I look after 150+ machines at work and out of all the MS Operatin systems, Win 7 has given me the least issues.
If I didn't work in games, then Linux would be my OS of choice - some of the recent distributions are easier to install than Windows and provide a really good user experience, are stable and have great hardware support.
I'm not a fan of OSX, Apple hardware is great, but the OS isn't that brilliant imo (task switching can be terrible for instance) and while I'm happy hacking Samba configuration files to get it to play nicely with Windows networking, that's not what the average user wants to do.
If you want a good local mail client Mozilla Thunderbird does pretty much what Outlook Express did/does and is free.
Microsoft office packages are still pretty slick and stable, but unless you need compatibility with other MS Office users and push the limits of the applications with VB scripting/Macros etc etc, Libre Office, Open Office and a new kid on the block Kingsoft Office are all worthy replacements (and free - Kingsoft isn't open source though)
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Post by jimc on Mar 25, 2014 10:04:31 GMT
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Post by phred1812 on Mar 25, 2014 10:24:56 GMT
Many thanks jmc. That's really helpful. I read in Which? magazine that Windows 7 is supported until 2020 but its no longer a free download (Β£80 quoted). I did try it a few years back but my QuickBooks accounts programme wouldn't work properly on it so I went back to the old XP. I actually have OpenOffice downloaded but have never tried it as Word and Excel are working OK. If I were to use Thunderbird, is it possible to migrate stored emails from Outlook Express? Saving from OE is a bit of a palaver at the best of times.
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Post by jimc on Mar 25, 2014 13:15:44 GMT
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Post by phred1812 on Mar 25, 2014 13:56:32 GMT
That's great. Thanks again. I wonder how many other cycling forums could provide this sort of information. You get a lot more than a bike for Β£300 when you buy a Triban.
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