Category: Geeks r Us
Hi,
for those of you that keep up with the Tech media, or who have seen some of the older tech related topics on this sight, this won't be of any news to you. Naturally, this board is meant for everyone else.
Microsoft will no longer be supporting windows XP after April 8th, 2014.
If you're still on windows XP, this is what you should know.
1. Updates for XP stop on april 8th. this means that no security patches will be released past that point, no bugs will be addressed, and if you use this operating system in your place of employment, microsoft will no longer provide technical support for it should you rely on those services.
2. Just as windows 98 users were flooded by a new wave of viruses after support stopped, the same is likely to happen to windows XP users. Black hat hackers are holding on to their exploits and will sell them for top dollar once they know microsoft won't be patching the software.
3. Over time, companies will stop supporting, and updating their software for compatibility with windows XP.
the above in mind, you should probably do 1 or more of the things on the following list.
1. Upgrade to windows 7 or windows 8. Unless you have a technical problem preventing you from doing so, and you can't afford a computer, or replacement hardware that will support a newer version of windows, you should strongly consider making the jump.
2. find a reputable virus scanner, spyware/malware cleaner, and firewall. All computer users should have these security features in place, but this will hold doubly true for those sticking it out on windows XP. the best defense is a good offense. Keeping the attacks from making their way to your computer is much simpler than trying to remove them. In addition, i'd also advise you switch to a more modern browser than internet explorer 8, if you haven't done so already.
3. get in to the habit of updating your virus scanner, spyware blockers, and all critical software frequently. Don't ignore that flash update, or that java install, either. Those two frameworks are some of the most exploited, period. this applies to tule bars as well. If it gives you the option to turn on auto updates, i'd strongly consider you do that. Again, these are habits all computer users should develop, but they could prove even more important to those of you sticking it out on windows XP.
4. if possible, keep frequent backups of everything on your system you're unwilling to lose. Music, documents, pictures, etc. Its a lot easier to make a backup than try to recover anything from a formatted or infected drive you just can't live with out. Remember, viruses can and sometimes do piggyback on normal looking files, so pulling your data off an already infected drive could spread the plague to your new install as easily as making out with a lover who has the cold. Again, this is stuff every computer user should do, that most don't.
5. Don't install cracked/modified software. You don't know how it was cracked, what exploits were used, or how this new unstable, and unsupported software will interact with your computer. Maybe it will just make the software work with out a key. Maybe it will open a back door in to your computer, allowing people to do anything to your system. install a virus, check. turn on the web cam remotely? check... Don't take that risk. Its not worth it.
6. Only visit trusted sights, and download files from places, and people you trust. Yes, this also applies to opening suspicious emails, or email attachments. I've helped a lot of people fix their computers, and believe it or not, their story usually starts one of these two ways.
1. Well, I was browsing porn, and now my computer doesn't work. Or,
2. I wanted to find this movie, or this song, or what ever the item was. So, I downloaded it, and opened it. Now my computer doesn't work right.
Don't take that chance.
I'm not trying to scare you. I'm not trying to say you're completely and irrevocably going to be up the creek with out a paddle if you don't switch, but I am telling you what could happen, and trying to help you build productive habits that will help protect your computer. Most of the stuff on the list looks like common sense. But, that's why so much of it doesn't get done, ironically enough.
thanks for reading, and I hope this information served you well.
one thought that i'm thinkin is that your screene reader of choice will probably stop supporting XP. I wouldn't be surprised to find jaws16 not supporting XP.
at this point, only 29% of people in the world use XP, and windows 7 usage is still growing!
i'm still using XP for now.
i would turn off updates completely and dont use it for the internet. I just got a new laptop with 7.
i only have XP boxes so if i want to use the net at all, those are my only two options (the PAC Mate doesn't really count.)
i'll do one of two things. either upgrade to 7 (my hardeware will support it.) or get something like Malware Bytes Pro in conjunction with MSSE. One thing that remains to be seen is if the deffinitions for MSEE will continue to be updated.
i am using window-eyes. What webroser would you suggest?
James, well written. Just a couple additional thoughts:
So in IE8 or Firefox there is an option to do Private Browsing.
I always suggest this if you are going to visit sites you don't know, since they won't be downloading anything onto your computer that you don't deliberately download. Not a perfect solution, and again, I think James has really said it best, but In Private Browsing is a great way to do things.
Also you can now do a lot without flash even being installed. If Flash player is not present, use a brand new version of Firefox and Youtube will even work.
This is not a knock on anyone but I have been free of xp since windows 7 came out. I deliberately skipped vista. I'm a person that likes to stay up to date as much as I can. XP was a great operating system for the time but not now 13 years later. I know some people are still on XP for whatever reason which is fine. But you can get a decent desktop for 300 or less if you know where to look. Same with laptops. If you want your classic start menu on windows 8 then start is back is the best 5 bucks you can spend. I actually love windows 8 and 8.1. It's defanatly the fastest windows yet. I have been using windows since the 95 days.
Nice addition, Leo. I'd thought about that this morning, after the post was already up.
MSE for XP won't be getting updates either. Remember, microsoft isn't supporting XP past that point.
I will say also that I will be a tyrannical pig, and any family member whose computer I assist shall get upgraded period end of discussion. There is no conceivable, rational, practical reason to remain on XP for a majority of people most of the time.
In my home I am fortunate: the wife and daughter are using one mac each now, and doing so very independently now which has relieved me of much after-hours duties. But what I said will still apply. And if a niece who sought my help but insisted on XP asked me if I was being a pig or a tyrant about this, I would say "yes," and dripping with all the paternalistic condescending overtones that it implies, I would add "But it's for your own good."
Lol I am being satirical in my manner but I'm dead serious about this. I have not seen anyone provide a rational explanation for why one should remain with Windows XP, and obvuscate the pending risks.
XP is nearly 13 years old. In other words, some people on this site were getting out of diapers when XP was born. The newest, Service Pack 3, is stable enough, sure, but there are vulnerabilities that XP will always possess. Things like the lack of the infamous User Account Control and similar technologies on Unix / the Mac. XP simply does not have this.
It is the Windows 98 of NTFS-based operating systems. Sorry if this is over some people's heads technically. But still: there is no rational reason for subjugating your data to this type of risk.
What nobody seems to talk about on any of these forums is identity theft. The major reason for backdoor access into systems and viruses has evolved from the pranks of the 1980s, to the trackware of the 1990s to the full-blown spyware of the 2000s to full-blown identity theft of this decade. There is no real retribution, justice or relief for a ravaged identity theft victim. I've sat with people ravaged by this stuff and can't buy houses because of damaged credit, kids with ruined credit at age 18 and not because they themselves had a credit card.
Compared to identity theft, I could care less about your music collection. Get your OS upgraded. The third-party antivirus and anti-spyware software will sooner or later stop supporting XP, no exceptions.
So yeah, I'll admit it, I've been a bit of a paternalistic condescending pig to the XP holdouts, but I think it's for your own good, the good of your established credit and everything else a potential identity thief might like to acquire. And backdoor access is big big business, precisely because identity theft is big business.
have you tried classic shell? its fre.....
Abortion is murder!
Leoguardian, you may have been a bit forceful in your post but, I strongly agree with you!
Just because windows 7 was somewhat discussed above this post support for that ends in 2015 I believe. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong but I am almost certain that's correct. I know... I know... they're just trying to force windows 8 on their users. I can't say I don't mind the operating system so far but, that's just me.
Good post.
January 2020 is when support ends for Windows 7.
i forget what month in 2023 support ends for Windows 8.
I so agree, my sister-in-law has my old netbook and I rid it of xp along time ago. My mac runs win7 until I am forced to by a win8 dvd and upgrade my bootcamp on my mac. Great post Leo, I so agree with it. personlly if your running xp past the support date then do yourself a faver buy windows7, windows8 or disconnect from the net so your not hacked and your computer turned into a virus haven.
I will wait for windows9, I like to skip 1 generation of windows so MS has time to get out the kinks.
The only kinks in Windows 8.1 is you don't have it! Smile.
lol, no, that is not it, I do not want a tablit OS running my macs boot camp, win7 is doing fine now for me.
Well, if it works.....
I can say i'd rather have win7 then 8. I mean, 8 looks cool and all that by because of the updates refuseing to install no matter what I did and such have caused me to want 7. if I had more ram in the mac I could use fusion 6 wich I have but it wants so much more ram then what I have, so I am using fusion 5 right now. i'm hardly on windows much anymore these days anyway, but we have an old desktop pc in the kitchen that's been around since the end of 2005, we are more then likely gonna have to order 7 from amazon or something because if we want to save that desktop for another 6 years or so, 7 may be the only thing that can run it. I wouldn't trust vista on it for anything.
according to paul Thurrotts Super Site for Windows (who i feel can be trusted....))
http://windowsitpro.com/paul-thurrotts-wininfo/short-takes-january-10-2014
Obviously, Security Essentials for XP Will Be Retired Alongside Windows XP
Microsoft confirmed this week that it will stop providing its Security Essentials (MSE) software suite to users with Windows XP when that OS heads off
into the twilight in April. This has generated an interesting backlash in Windows-focused tech blogs, but I'm not sure what the faux anger is all about:
XP won't be supported anymore, so why would Microsoft continue providing an ever-less-effective security solution for it going forward? If it were to do
otherwise, many users would simply continue using XP, assuming that the protections in MSE would protect their PC despite the fact that Microsoft will
never fix any issues with the OS itself. And that, folks, would be irresponsible.
So knowing that, what antivirous product does everyone suggest i use?
Free is preferable, and one that you dont have to use the jaws cu curcer to n navigate around is also prefferable.
is E ESet NOD anygood?
avast is a very good antivirus program. It's very blind friendly, although there's not much to do once it's installed, because it updates automatically.
Sure, that work, and will most likely support XP.
You know, if you or any other user insist on using XP, as noted in this post, you are going to have to be more responsible.
You can't get mad with Microsoft, because they choose to move on, and you can't expect them to be as stated responsible. They have made it clear. "We are not supporting XP anymore."
If some of there products happen to work, that is nice, but they aren't saying it will work well.
I'm well aware of my risks and what i need to do if i choose to keep XP running.
For now, i'm keeping it running as this is my only computer at this location, and to wait and see what Jaws16 supports.
My guess is that Jaws16 wont support XP. i'll probably upgrade at that point, if not sooner.
I believe it will because it is still a part of the windows 2000 family. xp and 7 share many of the same components. I wouldn't worry about jaws. However, you should think about upgrading. If you don't want to do so, load yourself up with antimalware.
think about this thought, microsoft is about to start working on windows9, how do any of you expect microsoft to support more then 4 or 5 versions of windows and still be around. Not happening, win7 runs just find for those who do not want to upgrade to win8.
The people at FS told me that when MS drops support for a version of Windows, FS usually does too. That's why i said what i did about Jaws16.
yeah i thought about going the malwarebytes pro option and running something like avast. unless avast does spyware too, in which case malwarebytes pro would be overkill.
we'll see what happens.
to starfly, i'm surprised MS supported XP this long. almost 13 years is a long time for supporting an OS.
hmm, more current avast users would know more than I, but last time I installed it on windows, admittedly over 2 years ago, it was a ram/processor hog, and changing the settings/activating the free version was not easy with a screen reader. If you get it installed and except the basics, maybe it will work out OK. But if you want to change any settings. good luck.
hopefully its gotten more access friendly over the last 2 years.
wonder if there has ever been a blindness main menu show compareing antivirus/spyware programs from an accessibillety standpoint?
I hear Eset NOD32 isn't a hog.
That be interesting.
I once did a test and just tried all the top ones I could get a free run on. Some didn't work, others were limited. That was the time I used and found Avast, but after a bit Avast became hard to use, so I switched. I'd say if it works now, it is a good choice.
I'm probably gonna have to get vinux on here as my budget won't permit a new computer, and just boot to xp for my broadcasts.
Here are my specks, 2.13ghz processer and a gig of ram, so getting seven on here probably won't work
seven should run fine on 1 gb of ram.
You won't be doing anything graphically challenging. You can there for turn off a lot of advanced animation, the way visual effects look, and all that fun but useless stuff to most blind people.
In some ways, windows 7 runs much better on 1 gb of ram than XP will.
I second that. You could also add a stick of ram, and it be vary smooth. 8 would even run better.
I should add that 7 would be cheaper then 8, and both can be had through student programs fore about 30 dollars.
I much prefer to pay for my anti-virus software because of reliability. But from what I have been told Microsoft Essentials is free and accessible. I wasn't really told anything other than that though. Glad Windows 7 will be good for a while though.
so i dont have to pay $178 for two builder versions of 7 to run on two computers?
if i do this I'll want clean installs, not upgrades from XP.
I see the going prices on amazon, walmart, ebay and neweg is $89 for one system build, which as I understand lets me install one license. the DVD is both for 32-bit and 64-bit systems. If either of my 32-bit systems die and I get a 64-bit system, i can install7 on that, too. also, the DVD includes both service packs (we're up to service pack 2 for 7 now?)this means that i cannot use one key for both my laptop and my desktop. I wil need to purchase two seprit DVD's (one for my desktop and one for my laptop) if i want to run Windows 7 on both at the same time without deactevating a license on one computer before using the other.
do i have this correct?
You had asked about Office, not Windows.
Yes, you'd have to have separate keys for each computer, but you only need the upgrade package, not the complete package.
When you upgrade it will be like a brand new machine. I've done it twice, from XP to 7 and it works great.
Buy from legit places though.
Also you'll only need one box or DVD and the rest key cards.
the rest key card? so i would need to purchase the family pack to upgrade for 2 pc's?
and if something happens to my system and i want to install 7 on a new one, what do i do?
do i need to install windows XP on the new system then instal the upgrade from that point?
let me explain what i have now and what i want to do.
i have a laptop and a desktop. both pc's have windows XP. both pc's have different licences.
i'm thinkin about upgrading both to windows 7. i can by one windows 7 upgrade disk, and install the upgrade on both pc's. since they have difference licences, both will upgrade just fine. it'll be just like a new install. when upgrading my desktop, wil i be able to set a rade configuration? i want to mirror the contents of the windows 7 hard disk on a second hard disk. this way if the frirst dies, it'll automaticly switch over to the second disk and run like normal. i believe this is called a raid, but dont remember which number it is. wil this work?
say the laptop dies.
i get a new laptop (without an OS).
i'd want to put w7 on that.
i dont want to put windows xp on the new hardware first, then put 7 on top of that. it just seems like a hell of a lot of work.
i'd think a fresh clean install of 7 without having to put XP on first would be a better option for no other reason than time.
can i do this with an upgrade disk? from what i read, no... this is not possible.
same for my desktop.
if i get a new hardddrive , i dont wanna have to go thru and install windows XP first, then put 7 on top of that. i'd rather install 7 as a fresh clean install on my new HDD.
what do you guys suggest?
if anything is unclear, write back and i'll try to explain differently.
Thanks!
Actually you can use an upgrade disc to install, I have done so before. It's not the best idea, but even a full windows 7 disc can just do an upgrade install or a clean install. Don't mess with upgrade discs if you can avoid it as you can't do anything with them but do upgrades, and maybe a clean install and there could be issues with it. You should be able to get 2 keys without having to get 2 discs.
ok. using the same disk, wouldn't it be the same key on both devices?
MS would let me do that?
Then for me it's a matter of will the two card method for broadcasting I use now work in seven. I have speech going to the onboard card and everything elce set to the x-fi card. I'm told it won't work and I have to get spl and others say it works without having to use vurtual audio cables so I don't know what to go on.
Someone says using winamp and the two card method will still work in seven and many more say I have to get spl and vac.
It works in 7. I know several people that use it.
Here is how Windows works.
Each computer has it on OS, so Program licenses. You have to have a licenses for each computer.
If you change hard drives, or any part, but stay with the same computer, you can reinstall you OS.
You can even move a license from one computer to another, but when you do this, the one you move it from won’t be licensed anymore.
You cannot install an upgrade on a new drive, you must have a full version.
If you are thinking you might need to switch hard drives on a computer you upgrade, you should by a full copy of the OS or make sure you have the key to the other hard drive.
With that key you can switch, but not from XP.
This is available now with windows 7 and 8 because they can be downloaded, but XP as far as I know doesn’t have an available download.
Next with Microsoft not supporting it anymore it is pretty much gone.
If I had upgraded way back with 7 became available, I’d not worry, but at this point, I’d want full licenses for my OS in case of a drive failure.
I had a drive fail when I upgraded my XP computer to 7, and it was no problem installing 7 on the new drive at all.
Unless your drives are pretty new on the old computers, you should probably buy full versions, that way you can move them if need be.
Windows does not come with a family package like Office does, but you can buy a bulk license or builders, but you’ll have to get that from Microsoft.
Hope all this helps.
Any questions post them, and I’ll try to answer.
Someone was asking about antivirus programs, and Avast in particular. After reading all that stuff about Security Essentials, and how it's not as good as it used to be (if you believe it ever was), I decided to switch to Avast.
First, I don't find it to be a resource hog. I'm using Windows 7, and I haven't noticed a difference at all in my computer's performance since I've switched.
The real issue is that it's really not accessible. This is fine, since it updates automatically, and I'm pretty sure it scans at set times too, but it's nearly impossible to change settings, and registering it was a bitch. I finally got it to work by going with the offline registration option, but I thought I'd heard that the latest version of Avast was supposed to be more accessible.
I'm annoyed about this. I will upgrade because my computers are used for my voluntary work.
Windows XP is the best OS I have ever used. In Windows 8 if you press start menu and then e for email, you end up in the search box, regardless of where you were when you pressed e. There are all sorts of unnecessary apps like the music app, even things like shutting down the computer aren't as simple as in XP. I have limited experience of Vista and 7. I think Microsoft should create a modern version of XP.
If you upgrade to 8.1 you can have it run just like your desktop version. That search box is super handy once you understand why you need it, and why you were missing it when you didn't have it. Smile.
so since i have to have a license for each computer, doesn't that mean i need to buy two retail boxed copies of windows 7?
one for my desktop, and one for my laptop?
Instead of trying to answer all the questions, here is Microsoft’s page on it.
What I see, is you that have not upgraded, and really hate it, are trying to make the change over harder then it honestly is.
Microsoft will allow you reasonable changes and such just like other software vendors, but you’re not going to purchase one licenses and install it on 40 computers just because you haven’t updated and don’t want to spend the money on each system. Loll
Think about it, you purchased 2 or 3 computers, so why should you only have to buy one key?
It just isn’t that difficult, even when you need repairs and have system failures, provided you are having trouble and not trying to cheat the folks.
I purchased upgrade versions of 7 when I switch over from XP. I had system failures, and was able to reinstall my products, office and Windows without a problem.
When I purchased new computers, I purchased them with Windows installed, because it is cheaper to do so.
Read this page, if interested.
If I hated the change, I'd just stick with XP until the computer died and I had no choice.
http://www.microsoft.com/oem/en/licensing/sblicensing/pages/licensing_faq.aspx#fbid=PjuDStLJ5fJ
ah ok, i get it now. i didn't see this link but read a few other pages.
this makes sens that you'd need two licinces for two computers.