Goodbye Windows XP then.

[Mr Ree]

Support and security updates finish on 8th April then.

 

Not happy. Been really good, and the only secure answer is to seemingly upgrade to 8.1.

 

Unfortunately, my 'puter is over 10 years old and probably won't have the capacity to support it, so their advice is...buy a new one! 

I don't want a new one though, as this one still runs just fine thanks.

 

What an absolute con.

[Ally_bassman]

Don't bother with Win 8. Try if possible to upgrade to Win 7. In my opinion this is the new XP. Bugs ironed out and is reliable and stable.

[kilted]

IIRC Win 8 is actually designed to run on fairly modest systems so you might be ok.

 

Try this linky

[Mr Ree]

Don't bother with Win 8. Try if possible to upgrade to Win 7. In my opinion this is the new XP. Bugs ironed out and is reliable and stable.

Oh. I thought 8.1 WAS the new  one?

That's the one they're recommending on the warning of impending doom message that keeps flashing up now.

 

7 sounds like a backwards step to me.

 

I'm a self confessed techno hater.

Bit like cars this, with all this updated nonsense being forced upon us.

 

I LIKES CLASSIC!

[Dr Zoidberg]

Windows 7 and 8.1 run quite happily on fairly modest hardware - you might need to spend £20 on a memory upgrade but that's it

As for them ending support on XP being a con.. it won't stop working, but they just aren't spending any more time and money developing security fixes which isn't unreasonable after this long.

[Mr Ree]

So. Tell me. What came after XP?

8, or 8.1 or 7.

 

I'm totally confused, and REALLY don't want all this hassle.

I'm comfy with XP.

[Mr Ree]

My friendly 'geek man' warned me about this last time he was here many months ago, and iirc he said the memory capacity on this machine would really struggle with 8.1.

 

He didn't mention anything about making the memory bigger though, he just recommended buying a new machine.

 

Had this Dell for 12 years now, and apart from the internal battery going last year and the fan struggling a bit in the summer, it's been an absolutely top top machine.

I'd love to own a car that's been used as much over such a long time and been as reliable.

 

Actually, the Fabia ALMOST fits into that category! :p

Edited 3 April, 2014 by Mr Ree

[Aspman]

Memory can be very easy and quite cheap to upgrade. www.crucial.com/uk has a hardware checker to let you know what to buy. Crucial is quite a good company to deal with too.

 

As said Win8 might work fine on your older system, I've a friend who said its running very well on his old hardware.

A bit of reading will show you hopw to get ti switched to a Win7 ish configuration.

 

XP certainly won't be a safe operating system for very long after April. You can be sure there are plenty of undisclosed exploits out there waiting to be released knowing MS won't fix the holes.

[Coops]

I had a Dell at work it was as solid as brick and never failed on me - current HP is useless, had the blue screen of death earlier!!!

 

I've tried Win 8 on my Uncle's laptop and I just couldn't get to grips with it. Seemed to me that the tiles on the front were just a façade and I managed to get to an old style Windows screen with a start button on it? 

 

Gotta move with the times soon - my Blackberry is being replaced by a ........................................ Windows phone

[Gti Jazz Blue]

XP -> Vista -> Windows 7 -> Windows 8 -> Windows 8.1

 

That is the order of Operating Systems Versions, strictly speaking it is Windows XP and Windows Vista.

 

Personally I prefer Windows 7 - Windows 8 and 8.1 would be my choice on a touch interface - but not using a good old fashioned Mouse and Keyboard.

[Mr Ree]

Oh dear.

As much as i really appreciate all this well meaning advice, I'm becoming more confused as to what i should do now.

 

If I go for 7 for instance, how long before they stop supporting that i wonder? :think:

[Gti Jazz Blue]

Oh dear.

As much as i really appreciate all this well meaning advice, I'm becoming more confused as to what i should do now.

 

If I go for 7 for instance, how long before they stop supporting that i wonder? :think:

Windows 7 will go extended end of life on January 14, 2020

[Aspman]

Win 7 will have support until 2020

 

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/lifecycle

 

One advantage of Ms over Apple is that they do their product cycles in the open so you do know what's coming a long way in advance.

 

I've a Windows 8 phone. I like it. It's a very good phone and camera, good keyboard and the tiles are easy to use when you get the grip of them, free offline music with Nokia Lumias, integration with MS Cloud good and very little junk. any junk that was there I could remove unlike my Android. Cheap too.

 

Bad points, App store sucks if you like lots of toys, one volume control for everything, ringer, media everything (to be fixed with 8.1 allegedly), no file explorer.

 

8.1 is coming with a Siri type thing. Couldn't care less tbh I'd rather get better volume controls.

[Dr Zoidberg]

If you have a 12 year old desktop, you've definitely had your money's worth out of it.
You can buy a five year old ex-corporate Dell with a clean install of windows 7 that will cost you under £100 that will be vastly more powerful than anything you currently own, or spend £300 or so on something brand new.

It *really* isn't worth the time and effort to keep it going. Buy a replacement PC and ditch the old one.

[thesquiff]

What an absolute con.

 

Considering how little you probaby paid for Windows XP in the first place (perhaps £100 to £150?) - I'd say that 10 years of subsequently free support is an absolute bargain!

[giandougl]

Mr Ree,

If Windows XP works fine for you, I ask why change to another system??

I understand about the updates point, but do you really want to change?

If you come across programs that are not compatible with your Windows XP then, that's the time to seriously think to upgrade to a younger Windows OS system..

 

I run an iMac with a partition in the hard-drive for my Windows XP Home edition.

It would be simple for me to add/ change any Windows OS system in the partition.

 

Running Windows on an iMac (Apple) gives me the best of both worlds, this might be a consideration for you in the future.

Rather than keep buying computers to stay up-to-date, just buy the new Windows or iMac OS system?

[Coops]

If it were me, I'd go Windows 7.

 

 

Win 7 will have support until 2020

 

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/lifecycle

 

One advantage of Ms over Apple is that they do their product cycles in the open so you do know what's coming a long way in advance.

 

I've a Windows 8 phone. I like it. It's a very good phone and camera, good keyboard and the tiles are easy to use when you get the grip of them, free offline music with Nokia Lumias, integration with MS Cloud good and very little junk. any junk that was there I could remove unlike my Android. Cheap too.

 

Bad points, App store sucks if you like lots of toys, one volume control for everything, ringer, media everything (to be fixed with 8.1 allegedly), no file explorer.

 

8.1 is coming with a Siri type thing. Couldn't care less tbh I'd rather get better volume controls.

 

Phone will be a Nokia Lumia. Either 625 or 520.

[Aspman]

If it were me, I'd go Windows 7.

 

 

 

Phone will be a Nokia Lumia. Either 625 or 520.

 

I've a 920, much cheapness from Tesco although the phone is a snob and says it's on O2.

[Mr Ree]

OK, OK, points taken about me being a bit of a 'padlock pockets'.

 

Quite simply though, i just don't like change, especially when I find this particular 'sofa' all warm soft cosy and comfy.

 

Tell you something else. I'm getting mighty sick of the 'WARNING. REQUIRES YOUR ATTENTION' message that keeps popping up constantly too.

 

It's clearly got my attention, otherwise I wouldn't have started this thread!!

[Mr Ree]

Anyone else still on XP btw, or am I a lonely soul wandering around on my own in hyperspace? :'(

[mannyo]

We no longer have any XP computers at work, and I have not had one at home for donkeys years. XP has had its time, just like Windows 95/98/ME/NT4 and 2000 its time for it to die, it was officially slated to die years ago but got a reprieve because business takeup of Vista was non existent.  

[BJM]

Support for XP doesn't mean that it is going to collapse overnight. M$ are merely ceasing any future upgrades or improvements to it. 

 

New security holes are still being uncovered all the time and any future ones discovered will not be patched, leaving XP systems wide open to attack. AV software may be useless, as the exploits needn't take the form of viruses. Merely being online could be enough.

 

Realistically, especially as time goes on, many users, probably even most users, won't come to grief, so the risk may be being overstated. But without question there *is* a risk, however small. For an XP machine to remain absolutely safe, it will need to be permanently offline.

Of course, if an XP machine has nothing on it of value and isn't used for online banking or purchases -- that is, if it contains nothing that would cause heartache or trouble if lost, stolen, or misused -- the worst that can happen after an exploitation is that a full Windows reinstallation would be on the cards.

 

However if it is used for online financial transactions and record keeping, common sense says that if XP can no longer be relied on to remain safe you should replace it.

 

As Dr Zoidberg said, there are plenty of refurbished machines out there. Purely at random look at this:

 

http://www.refurbthat.com/dell-optiplex-755-sff-pc-intel-core-2-duo-e4600-2-4ghz-2gb-ddr2-80gb-dvd-rw

 

Given that a pukka copy of W7 is currently c. £70,  that £124 gets you a base unit that is probably half the size, but twice as fast and powerful as your existing set-up for £55 (although if it was me I'd spend the extra £15 for double the memory and £20 for the 250 g HDD. ) - you can still use you existing screen, KB & mouse and other peripherals.

 

Edit

 

We haven't had any XP machines at home for at least 4 years.

We still have quite a few at work (conversion / transfer of video from various formats to DVD and Blue-Ray) However these are dedicated machines, carrying out single tasks using a limited range of software with no network or internet connections.

[David 8]

I'd carry on if you're happy, stay away from porn and warez sites and you won't go far wrong. One thing I would consider is which browser you use. Might be worth a swap if your using IE.

[Mr Ree]

I'd carry on if you're happy, stay away from porn and warez sites and you won't go far wrong. One thing I would consider is which browser you use. Might be worth a swap if your using IE.

Never even HEARD of that one!!

 

I've got and use Google Chrome and Firefox btw. Mainly Firefox.

[Mercurio]

Anyone else still on XP btw, or am I a lonely soul wandering around on my own in hyperspace? :'(

 

You are not alone. I have a desktop running XP dating from 2004 and still going strong. No plans to replace it until it dies, but we have a Windows 7 laptop and a tablet for online stuff, so happy to carry on using it in a way that limits any risk.