Anyone know if it is possible to get the last updates that were available for XP Professional from anywhere?

Still on Windows Update I believe - there's just to be no more pushed out (officially anyway)...

I'd stop using xp as there are some nasty viruses and malware about that makes use of flaws that won't be patched unless your a government machine.

There is a registry hack that tells M$ your machine is a "Point of Sales" machine, M$ then kick out free updates and security fixes (until 2020 I think)..

 

I forget what the hack is exactly (although I do have it working), perhaps a Google search would help.

Google offers up this:

 

http://betanews.com/2014/05/26/how-to-continue-getting-free-security-updates-for-windows-xp-until-2019/

 

My Dad is still running XP (on the grounds that his machine isn't quite fast enough for 7 - felt a bit laggy when I tried it a few years back, but guess 8 might be ok)

 

Make a reg file with this in it

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\WPA\PosReady]
"Installed"=dword:00000001

 

Google offers up this:

 

http://betanews.com/2014/05/26/how-to-continue-getting-free-security-updates-for-windows-xp-until-2019/

 

My Dad is still running XP (on the grounds that his machine isn't quite fast enough for 7 - felt a bit laggy when I tried it a few years back, but guess 8 might be ok)

 

Make a reg file with this in it

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\WPA\PosReady]
"Installed"=dword:00000001

 

Be very careful if you do anything like this in regedit.

Yes, make a back-up just in case you make an error, but once installed the hack works perfectly. I have been getting the updates and security fixes every month, just proving that the cut-off was all about trying to force users to buy Win8.

Tried Windows Update again today and it download and installed updates so it does still work it seems.  I will eventually install Windows 7 though if the PC meets the minimum spec.

 

Thanks for all the advice.

Google offers up this:

 

http://betanews.com/2014/05/26/how-to-continue-getting-free-security-updates-for-windows-xp-until-2019/

 

My Dad is still running XP (on the grounds that his machine isn't quite fast enough for 7 - felt a bit laggy when I tried it a few years back, but guess 8 might be ok)

 

Make a reg file with this in it

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\WPA\PosReady]
"Installed"=dword:00000001

It will only download security updates that are for POS and as I understand future updates will remove anything that isn't in the POS version from xp

...just proving that the cut-off was all about trying to force users to buy Win8...

+1

If you are using WSUS and make the change, the XP machine will download server 2003 updates and install them.

It will only download security updates that are for POS and as I understand future updates will remove anything that isn't in the POS version from xp

 

 

After major ****-ups in the past, I NEVER let a M$ update install without checking it out first.

 

Google offers up this:

 

http://betanews.com/2014/05/26/how-to-continue-getting-free-security-updates-for-windows-xp-until-2019/

 

My Dad is still running XP (on the grounds that his machine isn't quite fast enough for 7 - felt a bit laggy when I tried it a few years back, but guess 8 might be ok)

 

Make a reg file with this in it

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\WPA\PosReady]
"Installed"=dword:00000001

 

 

Win8 might be a good move. Learning curve to start with but it is much better on older hardware than Win7.

 

The CHECK tester we had at work reckoned the security in Win8 was genuinely very good (as long as it's up to date).

Sadly I am not sure that win 8 will run at an acceptable speed on a Pentium 4 with only 4GB of ram.... plus I would have zero hope of either my Dads Scanner or Epson Epl-5700 laser working on it :-(

AFAIK Win8 is the dogs biscuit.

 

After the dog has slobbered all over it, finally eaten it, then pooped it out the other end.

I thought that, but it's actually quite good from 8.1.  The next update is to 9 FOC isnt it?

I thought that, but it's actually quite good from 8.1.  The next update is to 9 FOC isnt it?

 

There is no Win9; world wide loathing of Win8 has meant that M$ are skipping a number to try and distance the next iteration from it.

Pc sales are still high, it's updates that they struggle to shift.

But that's because most sales are to business. Most businesses moved to 7 after xp, so vista had poor sales.

Businesses won't be looking to shift to 8 as it brings nothing essential.

Pc sales are still high, it's updates that they struggle to shift.

But that's because most sales are to business. Most businesses moved to 7 after xp, so vista had poor sales.

Businesses won't be looking to shift to 8 as it brings nothing essential.

 

 

I dont know where you got that from, PC sales have been massively down for well over a year, they are only just starting to recover as business FINALLY move from XP to Win7; almost no one has been installing Win8/8.1, which is why M$ has just stopped selling every version of Win7 EXCEPT "Professional".

It will only download security updates that are for POS and as I understand future updates will remove anything that isn't in the POS version from xp

The updates will continue until 2019. Windows XP embedded and PC systems that are POS Ready will continue to get updates. Given that there are many 3rd party POS solutions and the only requirement for third parties is to set the HKLM\SYSTEM\WPA\PosReady\Installed value is a '1', Micro$oft has no way of stopping the updates. When it wanted to expand its POS business in 2009, it agreed to give the same support (10 years) to rival (Non POS2009) vendors to avoid any potential anti-trust action.

Tried Windows Update again today and it download and installed updates so it does still work it seems.  I will eventually install Windows 7 though if the PC meets the minimum spec.

 

Thanks for all the advice.

+1

 

DC

There is no Win9; world wide loathing of Win8 has meant that M$ are skipping a number to try and distance the next iteration from it.

Wrong - it was down to coding that meant many legacy programs would try and work in win 95/98 version rather than win 9.

 

As for your opinion on win 8 - how long did you try it for and did you move to 8.1? 8.1 is much better than 7, although 8 did suck a bit...

 

And 8.1 will run on pretty much anything, I had it running (albeit sluggishly) on an Eeepc 901 with 1gb or ram, just to see if I could!

To be fair to Win8, my only experiences have been trying to sort out friends and family; as I have mentioned before, I find it a mess,a lack of consistency in OS controls being the worst; and the assumption you have a touch screen being the second, and lack of proper multi-tasking third.

 

Win8 sluggish on a 901?? I found Win7 was just as fast as on my 901 as XP, but I did have issues getting the Intel gfx drivers to work. I may have another try before I jet off to China for December.

 

My 901 is spec'ed up a bit though, Patriot SSD and 2GB RAM.

Its also notable that windows 7 was not windows version 7, 8 is not version 8 and well, 10 should actually be labelled 14. But the reason for skipping name was because alot of legacy software simply pattern matched the 9 from windows 95|98 to distinguish which OS version it was running on.

 

Took about half an hour to teach grandfather the differences, he now uses windows 8.1 issue free which to me says alot about the usability of 8 if a 70 year old can do it with a click of the fingers.

 

Quick snappy and unlike XP it isnt full of security holes. Since the end of XP support from microsoft there was quite a rise in the amount of malware targetting the remaining exploits with the safety of the knowledge that they would never be patched. Then you have the fact that an awful lot of modern software plain doesnt run correctly on XP anymore.

 

You can skip metro entirely. The only thing actually missing is the start button which I for one never touched. Everything I needed to do on windows 7 was within reach of windows key + R or control-alt-delete, never had to dive into the start menu. You can run 2 "metro" apps at once btw, swipe the side menu open and drag a running app out of it and hold it at either the left or right edge of the screen, it even treats the desktop itself as an app in this regard, until they removed it in 8.1 I used to run the built in messaging app at the side of my screen, was quite handy.

Here it is with my calendar (you'll also notice that I found startbars so insignificant that I have them hidden entirely which does also aid vertical screenspace):

 

 

 

 

 

 

Only issue I have had is with unsigned drivers. Well I can see why they don't allow them ordinarily, that was one of the major methods malicious software used to introduce itself to the system. Its also manually bypassable.

Edited 9 November, 201411 yr by 6677

To be fair to Win8, my only experiences have been trying to sort out friends and family; as I have mentioned before, I find it a mess,a lack of consistency in OS controls being the worst; and the assumption you have a touch screen being the second, and lack of proper multi-tasking third.

Win8 sluggish on a 901?? I found Win7 was just as fast as on my 901 as XP, but I did have issues getting the Intel gfx drivers to work. I may have another try before I jet off to China for December.

My 901 is spec'ed up a bit though, Patriot SSD and 2GB RAM.

2gb isn't spec'd up. 4gb has been a minimum standard for nearly 5 years now.

2gb is the bare minimum windows 7 and 8 will run with.

As for multi tasking, must be because of low memory or a slow chip. I have no issues with multi tasking on an i5 with 8gb ram and neither does my father's budget (£250) laptop with only 4gb and an i3 processor.

2GB is the MAXIMUM a 901 can take; they usually only came with 512MB or 1GB, so 2GB is spec'ed up. The real killer on the 700/900/1000 series is the pathetically slow SSD, hence paying out for the Patriot that actually goes faster than the onboard interface can handle.

 

Win7 ran fine in 2GB, and with pagefile turned off as well; you just have to remove the bloat.

 

The brand new Toshiba i3's I was asked to sort out were extremely slow out of the box, and there was very little crapware I could remove to speed things up; and as the Toshies didnt have touch screens, I thought win8 was pointless on them anyway.