Hi peeps  , need some advice, technology not my best subject, i have samsung nc10 netbook running windows xp, google chrome search engine and mcafee security, microsoft are ending support for xp in april, how long before my samsung becomes a useless and virus infected paperweight. do i have any options or is it time for a new machine, answers in english please like i said not very computer savvy   many thanks folks.

I would say you are reasonably safe, although I would ditch Mcafee.

Long term, XP will get less secure, but also more OBSCURE, so fewer hacker will bother with it and so fewer exploits will be discovered and actioned.

Not sure about the Samsung, but similar netbooks were offered with a Linux flavour alongside XP; you could always investigate that. I still have my 901's Linux distro if I decide XP is past it.

Windows 7 was designed to work with equal/less system resources than XP.

It isn't free, but an upgrade to Windows 7 would be what I would do if I had anything left that needed upgrading.


You'll be fine to leave it for a bit, but as per previous advice, I'd get rid of McAfee, it's a bit of a waste, there is free software available which is better these days. Windows Defender for instance. (AKA, MS Security Essentials)

I have windows 7 on my NC10, runs really well, i did up the single ram chip to 2Gig, but a worthy investment, great little notebook though  :love:

+1 for Win 7 and another +1 for more RAM. The easiest more 'bang for buck' upgrade you can do.

Windows xp is likely to get absolutely battered with viruses after april... the hackers and credit card number thieves are just as aware as anyone else that it's no longer being patched...

Sorry steve, that is just scare-mongering spread by M$ to get people to migrate; it is the quality of the security software protecting your system that is important, not the holes in the OS itself; as long as the major AV and browser programs support XP it will be nearly as safe as Win7, and with XP still accounting for more market share than Win8/8.1, the software companies are going to keep supporting it.

It is like having a hole in your sock - it doesnt matter as long as you have a good pair of boots on.

I'd ditch MacAfee & Norto, and go for Avast free. Add in a lot of other protection like malware bytes and anti root kit .That's if you want to keep XP. BUT I've found W7 is so much like XP, except for some hardware. So for on line things , go W7. fOR THE OTHER STUFF, DUAL BOT. Go on line with W7C ,AND STAY SAFE,

Gentlegiant, I'm not the type to take Microsoft scare mongering to heart, my advice is based more around guidance published on the gov uk website amongst others

From April we are prohibited from running XP at work if we want to maintain our PCI and PSN compliance, to that end all our XP kit has now been replaced or upgraded.

 

The hackers already have the vulnerabilities, they have already developed the malware and are just waiting until April to release them into the wild, once they know it can run freely without being patched.

steve, please bear in mind that the average Whitehall mandarin is about as computer savvy as your average octogenarian; ie not a clue!!! They take instruction from "advisers", who usually work for someone like M$!!

Why else do you think EVERY major government IT programme in the UK has gone tits-up and cost 1,000,000,000,000% over budget??

mannyo, the hackers arent that organised a group; if they have an exploit some of them would be using it; all this talk of an onslaught the day XP support ends is hogwash.

Personally, right now, I would be more worried about Russian/Ukrainian cyber-warfare leading to open warfare between the two countries.

on a netbook, install Linux! Ubuntu is super simple to use these days, and runs well on a netbook (i have an acer aspire one running which is basically the same laptop) 

 

it is also free, where as windows 7 will cost you the price of a second hand netbook to get......

 

PM me if you need some more info. 

 

Cheers

Daz

Thanks for all the info folks, ditched the XP and not renewed the Mcafee, had a word with the I.T guy at work and he switched my netbook to Windows 7 and MSSE and Malwarebytes security. Seems good so far and not noticed any difference to how it operates.

Gentlegiant, I'm not the type to take Microsoft scare mongering to heart, my advice is based more around guidance published on the gov uk website amongst others

Weren't they the people who created the millenium bug scare?

If you've been infected in the recent past you'll get nailed again fairly soon.

 

XP stuff will be workable but you will have to be increasingly vigilant. A firewall, Firefox + noscript + adblock, remove Outlook for webmail and do not ever install anything you haven't checked out first.

If you've been infected in the recent past you'll get nailed again fairly soon.

 

XP stuff will be workable but you will have to be increasingly vigilant. A firewall, Firefox + noscript + adblock, remove Outlook for webmail and do not ever install anything you haven't checked out first.

 

That has been my normal routine since IE let in a major infection back in 2008/9 (it managed to resurrect itself after an inadequate cleansing of back-up files). Even back then, IE wasnt my main browser, I only fired it up because Radio Io wouldnt load, yet the station tech staff said they had no issues (result - instant infection).

Most people don't think like you or me though

 

I've not had a virus or malware for close to 10yr now mainly by doing the above or a variation of it.

If you've been infected in the recent past you'll get nailed again fairly soon.

 

XP stuff will be workable but you will have to be increasingly vigilant. A firewall, Firefox + noscript + adblock, remove Outlook for webmail and do not ever install anything you haven't checked out first.

This has been my route for the last few years with no viruses or trojans. Also being careful if you are downloading to make sure that you do a custom install (without any of the "free stuff" that seem to come with certain download sites - CNET being a prime example).

Gentle,

 

What are you planning to do with the Netbook -  I think I've discussed it historically but I have two 901's with 2Mb running XP and was looking last night whether to try a switch to CrunchBang Linux / Puppy or similar...   (apparently Ubuntu is getting bloaty).

I tried a Win7 lite install and everything worked - except there dont appear to be any Win7 drivers for it from Intel, so it used the default driver - which did at least work.

 

Speed was similar to WinXp Pro.

 

I play with linux now and then, but I have a few ancient games I like to play, and cant be bothered with the hassle of VM for them (Harpoon came out in the 90's!!!!), plus I dont usually run a particularly muscular main PC, so doubt they would run very well under a VM set-up.

 

If things go well, I will be updating my PC later this year, so I might have a play with Mint or something on the old PC.

What does Windows 7 require by way of memory & processor type to work?

 

TIA, DC 

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows7/products/system-requirements

 

• 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor

• 1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)

• 16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)

• DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

I'd suggest you actually need 2Gb RAM as a minimum.

 

Win8

 

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows-8/system-requirements

 

• Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster with support for PAE, NX, and SSE2 (more info)

• RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) (32-bit) or 2 GB (64-bit)

• Hard disk space: 16 GB (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)

• Graphics card: Microsoft DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM driver

Agian 2Gb RAM min really.

 

Win8 is allegedly better with older hardware than Win7

 

 

I like Mint Linux. I've got it running on an older laptop with an SSD.

It's getting to the stage where Windows XP will need it's own forum here soon.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows7/products/system-requirements

 

• 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor

• 1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)

• 16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)

• DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

I'd suggest you actually need 2Gb RAM as a minimum.

 

Win8

 

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows-8/system-requirements

 

• Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster with support for PAE, NX, and SSE2 (more info)

• RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) (32-bit) or 2 GB (64-bit)

• Hard disk space: 16 GB (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)

• Graphics card: Microsoft DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM driver

Agian 2Gb RAM min really.

 

Win8 is allegedly better with older hardware than Win7

 

 

I like Mint Linux. I've got it running on an older laptop with an SSD.

 

So was that a specific download and kernel for the lappie or not?

 

I'm thinking for the netbooks - there is a kernel available on the Asus support site that I'm guessing will work with any version of Linux?  (I'm new to Linux so still feeling myt way around what I may need and where to find it).

Edited 7 April, 201412 yr by skomaz

I just used the normal 64bit distro.

 

TBH the wifi was a PITA too get working but it has a Broadcom chipset and it's a PITA whatever flavour of 'nix you use. Getting on a bit now and if I can arsed I'll start again with something new.