Windows XP (1 Viewer)

[Bailey58]

Apologies if this has already been on but I haven't much for the past few weeks so may have missed it.

Support for XP is ending I'm told by MS when I turn the desktop on. Great OS but it won't be worth upgrading when 99% of my time is on the laptop. Do I bin it or just use it for the odd programme and ignore any connection with the internet to avoid viruses and glitches?

 

[coffeeroffey]

Apologies if this has already been on but I haven't much for the past few weeks so may have missed it.

Support for XP is ending I'm told by MS when I turn the desktop on. Great OS but it won't be worth upgrading when 99% of my time is on the laptop. Do I bin it or just use it for the odd programme and ignore any connection with the internet to avoid viruses and glitches?

I have have the same problem, I have been quoted £130 to upgrade my notebook to Windows 7 but if I go on eBay I can get a brand new 9" tablet for £45 !! , so that's what I have done.

 

[hilldweller]

Apologies if this has already been on but I haven't much for the past few weeks so may have missed it.

Support for XP is ending I'm told by MS when I turn the desktop on. Great OS but it won't be worth upgrading when 99% of my time is on the laptop. Do I bin it or just use it for the odd programme and ignore any connection with the internet to avoid viruses and glitches?

Just because support stops it does not mean XT stops. I've had upgrades turned off for years. Just keep anti-virus up to date.

That's my take.

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[Popeye]

I'm ploughing on regardless, I've just switched back to AVG free from MS Essentials. :thumb:

 

[hilldweller]

I'm ploughing on regardless, I've just switched back to AVG free from MS Essentials. :thumb:

Why - since I'm still on essentials.

There are tens of millions of XPs out there and the only people unhappy about this is Microsoft.

 

[Popeye]

[HI]Why[/HI] - since I'm still on essentials.

There are tens of millions of XPs out there and the only people unhappy about this is Microsoft.

I assumed that essentials would no longer protect me following the expiry date so I reluctantly changed back, I take it I got that bit wrong then?

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[hilldweller]

I take it I got that bit wrong then?

Not at all, I've no idea. Being M$ it is quite possible they will turn off Essentials, all they are interested in is selling W8.

But huge numbers of businesses refused to move from XP so it's not clear to me what will happen. Capitalism being what it is we may see an opportunity to keep XP going. Huge opportunity for the anti-virus people to step in and plug any gaps.

Don't Panic.

 

[GJH]

The ending of support doesn't really have anything to do with viruses or other malware.

What it means is that when errors are found in XP code then Microsoft will no longer provide fixes for them. Some of those errors might make the OS vulnerable to malware attacks but not all of them.

As far as viruses go, anti-virus software will continue to be updated by publishers to counter newly identified threats, just as happens now.

 

[daveandsan]

Put Windows 7 on my old laptop last weekend, it was either that or doing a clean reinstall of XP because it had slowed down so much.

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[Gromett]

The problem is not that bugs will be found in XP. It's that bugs will be found in windows 7 that also affect XP. These will be fixed in windows 7 by a patch being issued by MS. The hackers will look at what the patches fix and know very quickly and relatively easily how to exploit XP problems.

The issue here is that this will effectively be a zero day exploit. Where the exploit is available and publicly known before AV signatures can be updated. And if the exploit is something that can't be defended against by an AV solution then bang yet another recruit to the botnet spewing spam, stealing credentials and generally being a bad neighbour on the internet.

I would strongly recommend anyone still running XP to upgrade to 7, move to an alternative OS like Linux or unplug that computer from the net.

Keeping your fingers crossed and hoping that little old you won't be affected or even can't be affected will only end in tears.