MicroSoft has stopped security updates for Windows XP.  It has always been a constant chess game of move vs countermove between hackers and security patches.  Now our WinXP machines are a stationary target.

     So, what to do?  I think that for my old Dozer chassis Firebird, I'll move her WinXP C: drive to an auxiliary HD bay, install a new hard drive with Win7Pro 64bit, and increase the RAM to 8GB - the max the motherboard & main chipset will read.

     But for my oldest machine Sarit, I fear I won't be able to re-activate my Vue 5 Esprit* license, plus I doubt that the 2004 vintage hardware will support Win7 very well.  So, I think I'll just disconnect Sarit from the internet, though I can still leave her connected to my personal network for cooperative rendering.

*  Saving my freebie models in Vue 5 produces a .vob which anybody with Vue 5 or later can use;  if I save the model out on Cameron (Vue 12/Vue 2014) then only those with Vue 12/Vue 2014 or later can open the .vob  I have never found a way to reset the required version number of a .vob    

     So, what will you do with your WinXP machine(s)?  Keep using it as you always have?  Only use it disconnected from the web?  Update to a newer OS?

I'm keeping mine forever....My other comp is Win7 which I very rarely use...

Wish I'd ever had one?

I went straight from Win 98 to Vista (well, with about a year of Win 2000 somewhere between). Missed the wonder that was XP. Instead, I have spent unnecessary years of my life swearing at Bill Gates.

Right now, I'm getting accustomed to Win 8 (I use Classic Shell to make it look like Win 7). I absolutely hated it at first. Now, meh. It's not so bad. Boots in 15 seconds, which would really make a difference if I shut it down more often. But now, when I turn on my Win 7 machine, I find myself swearing again because it takes more than a minute to boot.

Still can't get alt-codes to work in Win 8, though. Grrr.

I cannot go win8 unless I get another new comp (sure don't need 3) Boot tiime? Win XP takes awhile. But notice it is faster then my Win7

I wish I'd been able to keep it!  Unfortunately it wore out, and the only practical choice at that time was a Win 7 computer.  

Win 7 is ONE HUGE BUG. Nothing works right, everything takes 30 seconds to start up.  Directories take longer to load than finding a physical manila file folder in a physical metal filing cabinet.   I'm no longer sure why computers were invented.

Well two of my machines will remain on XP, the first is a test bad as XP will still be around for a while.  I am still asked to repair computers with a massive 20gig IDE drive and the like.  The second will run as a scanner unit as I have an expensive HP scanner unit that HP decided not to write Win 7 drivers for.  That will remain at least until I have digitised all of my slides.  Neither of these are connected to the network so the lack of MS support is no real issue.

Both my Poser machines run Windows 7 and if Windows 9 is anything like Windows 8, for me at least, Windows 7 will have a life to match that of XP.

I never liked Vista so I skipped that completely and went from XP to Windows 7 and I only did that because Poser went to 64 bit at the same time I was building a new poser machine so it made sense.  I like Windows 7 and have settled with it.  Saw Windows 8 and it's like as Windows mobile early on when I worked in a Phone store.  Personally I hated it from day one and, now I have retired I do not even need to keep up to date with it let alone use it. 

Win9 already?  Proves something wrong with 8 no?

I still have a machine with Windows 2000 on it!   I have a programmer for setting up embedded controllers that won't run under XP because it handles the serial port differently.

Last year I got an off-lease laptop with Vista Business, and it works as well as Windows 7...

I'm going to purchase the hard drive USB cages for my XP computers and slave them as extra storage so I don't lose the files.

I still have my 3.1 floppy discs so I'm good to go :)

Quote - Win9 already?  Proves something wrong with 8 no?

No, I have no inside information on when Windows 9 was due, the first update to Windows 8 has launched I believe and there is another one planned.   That said I have not followed Windows 8 since I retired at the end of last year so I could be talking from a different part of my body than my mouth. If the next version of Windows continues to move in the same direction with a single OS to cover both tablet and Desktop I will continue to opt out.

I know lots of people are happy with Windows 8 but I am also asked on a regular basis to move computers on Windows 8 and back to 7.  Again it is a personal view but it looks to be a version of Windows people either love or hate.

god XP went yrs ago

had a "brief" fling with vista then tried it dual booting with mint (linux)

then got a win 7 machine and new one is win 7 pro (dont like 8)

when 7 goes I'll probably stick to linux (will HAVE to learn it then)

be bye bye to poser then BooHoo

32-bit Poser runs under Lunux, but you have to use either a python library manager or run the Poser Library in Firefox.  I once had the PP2010 library working in Linux a few years ago, but they changed something...

http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=application&iId=115

I got my xp machine double booted with Linux.

You can use linux for all your on line needs.

Quote -Win9 already?  Proves something wrong with 8 no?

There's word that win9 may be out as early as christmas. the techies have been blogging about it for a couple months now. But I don't think there's been anything officially released by MS yet. So far all I've seen has said, April 2015, Christmas 2014 with a possible beta summer 2014. The first time I saw it mentioned was probably in Jan/Feb. I don't follow OS releases tho, I just stumble across this stuff usually on accident reading other news or something. 

I haven't used XP in several years now. I'm used to Win7 and have no interest in win8 or 9. 7 doesn't seem to give me too much trouble. No more so than any other MS product at least, except IE, which I don't use and haven't for longer than I can remember.

PC Matic has a commercial running that claims it will continue to provide XP service. I think it's PC Matic. Or another company like them. 

~Shane

Quote - Win9 already?  Proves something wrong with 8 no?

Windows 8 is a flop, and Microsoft admits that.

Windows 9 is slated for a 2015 release date, that is common knowledge... The confusion is if it is an update to Windows 8 or a replacement.

As far as XP goes the only systems I have that run XP, run the 64 bit version of it.

Security updates have to stop sooner or later, and anyone running Windows XP(32 bit) got far more security updates than originally intended.

My XP64 bit machines are file servers for the most part.

Only thing I liked about Windows 8/8.1 was the metro look.  When I had it running, I also used Classic Shell to bypass all the touch screen UI elements.  Don't care about Apps at all.

I rolled back to Windows 7 last year.  Happy with it.  Less hoops to jump and I can generally get all my old stuff to run.  My machine boots in under 10 seconds.  Just as fast as 8 booted.

XP: I remember it.  Liked the Windows Explorer better in that one.  I avoid it as a file manager now.  Remember having to reinstall it far more often than Vista and beyond, which in the latter was pretty much never.  More peformance issues with games than 7, once it matured.

I've heard that 9 isn't going to go full touch or anything like that and MS is going to provide better desktop support.  Don't know if that's changed.  Would love a way to natively skin the UI so I don't have to install a 3rd party service to do it.  Not everyone loves glass or metro, how about some freedom of choice? ;)

2 of the three computers computers that were still running xp I just upgraded to windows 7. The hardware was new enough. The third didn't like the 64 bit which is what I had bought. So I gutted that machine and built a new one. The old parts are in the basement incase I need them to repair other computers, if I can use them. Once I can't, they'll go to the next electronics recycling drop off.

My XP netbook has Xdresser installed & a scanner hooked up to it.  It will continue to be used until it dies.

I absolutely abhor the idea of giving up my beloved Win XP 32bit Pro, but times are changing, and the bottom line is I must change along with it. So, iI went down to the local computer shop, told them what my dream machine would have to be, and it is being built right now. It will have an Intel Core i7-4770K Haswell 3.5GHz LGA 1150 84W Quad-Core processor, Win 7 premium 64 bit, 32 GB DDR RAM, Liquid cooling, (2) I TB solid state HD's with a 4 TB external HD, and a NVIDIA Quadro K2000 2GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 video card. I gave a lot of thought to this machine, and have discussed it with a lot of my techie friends, so I am thinking I will be happy with it. Each of them recommended Win 7, and I have to agree. My wife's personal Dell machine has Win 8.1, and it truly sucks wooly mammoth. I absolutely hate it, and neither of us have much luck getting things to work properly on the damn thing. She has a machine running Win 7 at one of her businesses, and I initally set it up for her. I had zero problems with it, and it seemed more like what I am used to. I've been working on computers for quite a while - since Win 3.1, and Win 8.1 is just way to foreign to me. My understanding is that MS wanted to make an interface that was much like the current mobile touch screen devices, which have no place in my life either. Being an old man has its advantages. I embrace technology, but I have said for many years that if my life was so busy that I had to carry an iPhone or tablet around with me to manage my life, then I definitely have no REAL quality of life. I have a little Jitterbug phone that has 5 Star on it to keep in touch with medical alerts, but I have had it for several months and I have used about 15 minutes on it. I am better for it..

Win 8.1 is not for me, and I will keep my Win XP machines off the internet and use for a render farm. Hopefully I will not live so much longer that I do not have to subject myself to Win 8 or its upgrades...

C~

Despite the news the 8.1 update will have a "start" menu, from what when fixing it I've seen not a fan. While it's great for touchscreens, phones and new users, find it's spartan-ness doesn't give as much control as previous versions. So even if we could afford to upgrade we'd go for 7 and cost is where the real crux is. Most of the machines here couldn't run 7 even if we wanted them too. So why junk 4 perfectly good working machines, just because MS wants us to spend more money ? Moreso with extras like office, which now has to be 'rented' yearly. No thanks, same with things from adobe and others, stuff your greed it's open source for us. Plus lets not forget theres 1000's of XP machines out there, which lots lots of security companies will be offering excellent protection for. Many ISP's also now offer free or cheap network/pre-PC security, so some of that, good ad/banner/blocking software and some common sense, I can't see any major issues with using XP.

W/o support what are the chances of someone hacking Win XP?? Think Mr Sparky had a good idea about keeping XP off the net and just using Win7..Just might do that. But are all these warnings justified? Everyone that has Xp is going to get hacked??

What i've been doing with it for the last couple of years, using it as a table for my coffee cup.

I'll be moving over completely to GNU/Linux as soon as I can, so it's good to hear Poser will run on it.  One thing's for sure, I will not be purchasing or using any commercial OS in the future.  Same goes for my phone, same goes for my tablet: GNU/Linux all the way.

Yup, Windows 7 was absolutely the last pile of crap Microsoft will ever charge me for.

I'll be keeping my XP machine for the forseeable future because it's used solely as an Audio Workstation now.  But other than activating/deactivating the software installed on it, it's never connected to the net, in fact it's physically disconnected.

Everyone that has Xp is going to get hacked?? Nope -because as my point was..there'll be plenty of security companies offering protective tools. Plus it's like any O/S - even macs - theres also a big element of common sense involved. For example, last few days I've been made aware that a Spanish poser blog has been sharing some of my files, which looking at the blog count quite a few folks might have downloaded. Nothing unusual there, thing is some of these illict versions of the files (being stored on a french social media site) are infected with cryptolocker. The irony ? the original files are freebies!

Who bleeding  cares about the so called 'security fixes'? Once you get a stable install, you disable every auto update feature you can access (and block the ones you can't with a firewall) and sail along merrily. All you need is a router with NAT (yes, they can be tunneled through, but that takes an active black hat to do it; no script kiddie's confection can at this time), and a good firewall/AV package. I only updated XP-64 to work with software that required an SP to function. My current Win 7 hasn't been updated once, and is nice and stable and so far secure.

Aside from that, all you need to do is make sure nothing installs any 'helpful' toolbars to 'make your  online experience easier!' (these pieces of crap are the new attack vectors for the kiddies; if they are not there, their efforts are futile. No vector, no infection).

Computers are stupid; they only do what they are told and nothing more. I'm just hoping that now that the current game consoles actually have something akin to useable hardware specs and running the x86 codebase, we might hopefully see some killer games appear for the desktop. Security is in the hands of the user, not the company.....

Oh. My rack is running 5 iterations of xp-64, along with one vista box and a win 8 box (which was done to try out the thing. Blech.). 

I see a lot of people mentioning Windows 8.1.

Ironically, Windows 8.1 is bieng dropped in preference to another update to Windows 8

If you have 8.1 and do not do the recent major patch to it, all support to it will be dropped.

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/04/25/why-microsoft-is-already-dropping-support-for-wind.aspx

Quote - I see a lot of people mentioning Windows 8.1.

Ironically, Windows 8.1 is bieng dropped in preference to another update to Windows 8

If you have 8.1 and do not do the recent major patch to it, all support to it will be dropped.

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/04/25/why-microsoft-is-already-dropping-support-for-wind.aspx

That is interesting, although I think the article might be a little wide of the mark of the reasons for not installing updates.  From what I can see more people are concerned about the damage it might do rather than it 'interupting their workflow'. 

Still I can't see whatever tactics they use will force me into the Windows 8 camp.  I use the computer mainly as a hobby and a hobby is meant to be fun, for me Windows 8 is no fun at all. 

All this being said, to swap my old XP machine I purchased a new desktop system two months ago which (naturally) had Windows 8 installed.

I have a windows 7 disk ready on the shelf and planned to reinstall based on that, but decided to give the Win 8 a try first also to avoid problems with warranty etc.in case any issues with the new system emerge.

The new systen works fine but I think the Win7 disks will remain boxed for now.  Win 8 works fine for me. I have messaging for automatic updates switched on, so generally should be OK.

Quote - All this being said, to swap my old XP machine I purchased a new desktop system two months ago which (naturally) had Windows 8 installed.

I have a windows 7 disk ready on the shelf and planned to reinstall based on that, but decided to give the Win 8 a try first also to avoid problems with warranty etc.in case any issues with the new system emerge.

The new systen works fine but I think the Win7 disks will remain boxed for now.  Win 8 works fine for me. I have messaging for automatic updates switched on, so generally should be OK.

I hope that Windows 8 continues to work for you but be aware that the move back to Windows 7 is not as easy as some think.  The file structure for Windows 8 is new and is not recognised by the Windows 7 installation.  It will give you a warning along the lines that 'There are no suitable hard disk partions'.  The Hard drive will need to be re-formatted and only certain programs will do that and is also dependant on the capacity of the hard drive.

The other potential problem with a new machine is that there may not be Windows 7 drivers for some of the hardware.  None of this is a real show stopper and I would not want to put people off if they do want to revert to Windows 7.  I just pass on the information of some of the problems I have come across in the hope that anyone can make a informed decision.

I few months ago I almost gave away my ancient XP32 laptop (10 years old this year). It is on its last legs, battery won't even hold enough charge to remember the date while switched off, and the keyboard has a whole row of dead keys. Thank heavens I kept it, last week I had reason to resurrect some old parametric solids modelling and finite element analysis software and it won't even install on win7.

Zero chance of getting any help from either software company, both have been bought out by bigger ones, one of which is autodesk where you can't even make contact with a live person in the support dept unless you buy the latest version plus a maintenance contract.

With a fresh install of XP and a usb keyboard the laptop is back in business but it'll have to stay disconnected from the net.

Quote - I still have my 3.1 floppy discs so I'm good to go :)

LOL...good one.

What are the chances of being hacked??? And how would this be done???

"What are the chances of being hacked??? And how would this be done???"

Good Question.

I am not a windows user but I am Puzzled by the notion that once MS
stops officially "Supporting" an OS version that it becomes very risky to continue using it.

Is there truly no such thing as a viable& effective third party anti virus/malware program (Norton etc?), that can protect you guys when going online without the support of MS??

One of my machines is running a very obsolete, SEVEN year old version of OSX (10.4)
and it is online Daily with No official "support" from Apple and no fear from me regarding being "hacked".

What are the chances of being hacked?

Given the level of paranoia being instilled in XP owners by Microsoft, I'd guess you're much likely to encounter a nasty if you run a more updated OS.

How many of you have been hacked in the past?

(It may like trying to figure out how likely you are to win the lottery. But first, you have to buy a ticket.)

Frankly, while I'm about as far from expert as it's possible to be, I still think people's smartphones and tablets are the most likely target and where people should really put their energy and worry. 

Since I bought my first computer in 1992, I've had one virus, and all it did was alter my hosts file. I even know exactly where I got it from. I am far from a paranoid user of the web.

If you do get hacked, what are the likely consequences?

If you're a business protecting client/customer information, then any significant chance of a security leak could end up being very costly.

But if your old XP machine gets hacked, what have you lost? You're not keeping your personal documents on it. You're not using it to do online banking. If you back up your data, even a hijack of your files won't be a big deal. 

Of course, I've also never had a harddrive die on me, and the only hardware that I've ever had to replace was a fan. It's possible that I'm just extremely lucky. 

But again, I'm very far from being an expert on these matters.

Quote - I hope that Windows 8 continues to work for you but be aware that the move back to Windows 7 is not as easy as some think.  The file structure for Windows 8 is new and is not recognised by the Windows 7 installation.  It will give you a warning along the lines that 'There are no suitable hard disk partions'.  The Hard drive will need to be re-formatted and only certain programs will do that and is also dependant on the capacity of the hard drive. The other potential problem with a new machine is that there may not be Windows 7 drivers for some of the hardware.  None of this is a real show stopper and I would not want to put people off if they do want to revert to Windows 7.  I just pass on the information of some of the problems I have come across in the hope that anyone can make a informed decision.

Many thanks. Exactly. That's why I keep separate HDD's for data and system. System disk is an SSD and components are well established types you could buy 'off the shelf', so no specialties. But good to know all this.

Quote - I wish I'd been able to keep it!  Unfortunately it wore out, and the only practical choice at that time was a Win 7 computer.  

Win 7 is ONE HUGE BUG. Nothing works right, everything takes 30 seconds to start up.  Directories take longer to load than finding a physical manila file folder in a physical metal filing cabinet.   I'm no longer sure why computers were invented.

I don't know what you did, but you did something severely wrong if you're having problems like that with Win7 unless you were being sarcastic, then nm.

     I'll agree with JohnDoe;  I have Win7 on thirteen machines, and have more Win7 licenses hoarded on the shelf.  I'd predict Win7 will be the inheritor of WinXP's popularity and loyalty, unless Win9 turns out to be a hit.  Win7 has been stable and I've had no problems with programs not running on it.

     @Wolf359:  I think that both Windows OS updates and an antivirus/firewall program are needed;  each is necessary, but not sufficient by itself.  An antivirus app can block most attacks on the OS,  but it can't repair damage once it has been done to the OS, nor does an antivirus program modify the OS to eliminate an OS vulnerability once that vulnerability becomes known.

     Windows updates frequently modified OS components in order to defeat known methods of attack, and also provided a means of repairing damage which a worm may have done before a defense had been devised against it.

Quote - > Quote - I still have my 3.1 floppy discs so I'm good to go :)

LOL...good one.

I have a copy of Microsoft Fortran-80 for CP/M on an 8" floppy disk..

@moriador:  Of course they make it sound like you are in danger.  They want you to upgrade.  AV companies do this too - "ARE YOU PROTECTED? Ermagerd!".  Security companies all do this.  Yes, the threats are real and can happen but how often is the question.  Can you make life safer by taking precautions?  Yes.  Part of that is computing habits.

If you hit questionable websites and download questionable things, sure you increase the risk you will have something piggyback onto your system.

If you install software without paying attention and it puts some adware crap on your computer that you forgot to de-select, sure there is a problem.

Quote - @moriador:  Of course they make it sound like you are in danger.  They want you to upgrade.  AV companies do this too - "ARE YOU PROTECTED? Ermagerd!".  Security companies all do this.  Yes, the threats are real and can happen but how often is the question.  Can you make life safer by taking precautions?  Yes.  Part of that is computing habits.

If you hit questionable websites and download questionable things, sure you increase the risk you will have something piggyback onto your system.

If you install software without paying attention and it puts some adware crap on your computer that you forgot to de-select, sure there is a problem.

Yes. I went for several years without AV or Microsoft updates. My hubby went for even longer. But AV won't stop those silly adware and toolbar thingies. He ends up with lots of them, and occasionally I remove them all for him.

If I'm going to questionable sites, or downloading questionable files, I run sandboxie.

Now, one of my OScommerce sites DID get hacked. Or more specifically, someone created a shell on my installation of OSCommerce. But then it's notoriously insecure. And a web app on a remote server is far cry from your personal machine in your home. Luckily, this instance was just a test site for redesigning the UI, and I'd simply forgotten it existed.

Yep, sounds like you take reasonable precautions. 

As you say, there are exploits and such that could happen no matter what, certainly if you run an online cart.  I used to run ZenCart and yeah, you kind of have to keep on top of it.  I gave up partly because they kept changing core functionality and then I had to deal with moving databases and all that nonsense and part of it was self-modding the cart.  I didn't want it bad enough.  If it's going to get depreciated every other minor revision, I'm done...

I don't think I've gone without AV.  I used to be a big Avast! supporter and yeah, I pretty much tried them all.  I just run MS Security Essentials now.  Avast, IMHO, there is too much a fucking "shield" for everything and I just don't want to deal with that.  In other words, bloatware.  No offense to someone that enjoys Avast! or feels protected by it, I just lost interest with it.  ..and the fact that there are AVs that really can screw with your system because they are over-reaching.

But in an age where everyone has a computer, instead of just the geeky, nerdy types, I can see why we have all this dependency of just letting the software take care of everything for you (UAC, AV suites of 2 dozen shields, site protection).  And if I sound like I'm saying it's "dumbed down"... well, in many ways, it is.  You have to consider covering all ranges and expertise levels of users.  You have to facilitate the user who just wants to turn on their computer, check mail, facebook and play some games and not deal with all the geeky stuff.

Quote - Yep, sounds like you take reasonable precautions. 

As you say, there are exploits and such that could happen no matter what, certainly if you run an online cart.  I used to run ZenCart and yeah, you kind of have to keep on top of it.  I gave up partly because they kept changing core functionality and then I had to deal with moving databases and all that nonsense and part of it was self-modding the cart.  I didn't want it bad enough.  If it's going to get depreciated every other minor revision, I'm done...

I don't think I've gone without AV.  I used to be a big Avast! supporter and yeah, I pretty much tried them all.  I just run MS Security Essentials now.  Avast, IMHO, there is too much a fucking "shield" for everything and I just don't want to deal with that.  In other words, bloatware.  No offense to someone that enjoys Avast! or feels protected by it, I just lost interest with it.  ..and the fact that there are AVs that really can screw with your system because they are over-reaching.

But in an age where everyone has a computer, instead of just the geeky, nerdy types, I can see why we have all this dependency of just letting the software take care of everything for you (UAC, AV suites of 2 dozen shields, site protection).  And if I sound like I'm saying it's "dumbed down"... well, in many ways, it is.  You have to consider covering all ranges and expertise levels of users.  You have to facilitate the user who just wants to turn on their computer, check mail, facebook and play some games and not deal with all the geeky stuff.

True. Yes, well, we have to make it easy for the "digital natives" who never had to type commands to do simple things like copy or move files. :D

 It would be so nice if they faced reality and made a Win-clueless and Win-geek version, wouldn't it? One version with bells and whistles and lights and bots and scripts and Active X everywhere, with 7 screens asking if your really, really wanted to do that, and stop sign animations anytime you got near system settings....

And one stripped down, red hot OS without all that cycle consuming crap for those who use their computers as more than social media hubs.

And no, we don't have to make it 'easy' for them. -We- learned, and are better for it. Besides, you can't truly say you've built a computer system until you've had to sit down and configure the jumpers, interrupts, and the address rockers on each and every card going on the backplane (none of this namby pamby OS configure plug and play automagic). Nothing on the motherboard but the CPU, RAM, north/south bridges, BIOS, and expansion card slots. Getting one of those beasts to fire up and purr was an accomplishment that makes putting one together today seem like assembling one of those old 5$ Lego kits that took 10 minutes and 15 parts.  

Quote -  It would be so nice if they faced reality and made a Win-clueless and Win-geek version, wouldn't it? One version with bells and whistles and lights and bots and scripts and Active X everywhere, with 7 screens asking if your really, really wanted to do that, and stop sign animations anytime you got near system settings....

 

And one stripped down, red hot OS without all that cycle consuming crap for those who use their computers as more than social media hubs.

And no, we don't have to make it 'easy' for them. -We- learned, and are better for it. Besides, you can't truly say you've built a computer system until you've had to sit down and configure the jumpers, interrupts, and the address rockers on each and every card going on the backplane (none of this namby pamby OS configure plug and play automagic). Nothing on the motherboard but the CPU, RAM, north/south bridges, BIOS, and expansion card slots. Getting one of those beasts to fire up and purr was an accomplishment that makes putting one together today seem like assembling one of those old 5$ Lego kits that took 10 minutes and 15 parts.  EXCELLANT!!!!!! THIS SHOULD BE SENT TO MICROSOFT PROGRAMERS LOL!!!

 

Besides, you can't truly say you've built a computer system until you've had to sit down and configure the jumpers, interrupts, and the address rockers on each.. Showing your age their Dale - and i'm showing mine by knowing and doing that stuff :)

Attached Link: http://windowssecrets.com/newsletter/securing-xp-pcs-after-microsoft-drops-support/#story2

I've reconfigured my XP installation not to recognise the Internet any longer, by setting a dummy proxy (follow my link, then scroll down to More ways to secure Windows XP systems). I only kept XP around in case I needed it for something - so far, I haven't, although I have yet to reinstall all my applications after I replaced the HDD at Christmas.

For the record, I'm happy with Windows 7.  

my win xp machine hasnt been updated for years. I havent had a problem  so I wont worry about updating. Its specs probably wont run vista or win 7 so its not a real issue.

Quote - It would be so nice if they faced reality and made a Win-clueless and Win-geek version, wouldn't it? One version with bells and whistles and lights and bots and scripts and Active X everywhere, with 7 screens asking if your really, really wanted to do that, and stop sign animations anytime you got near system settings....  And one stripped down, red hot OS without all that cycle consuming crap for those who use their computers as more than social media hubs.

LOLOL! 

Quote - Besides, you can't truly say you've built a computer system until you've had to sit down and configure the jumpers, interrupts, and the address rockers on each.. Showing your age their Dale - and i'm showing mine by knowing and doing that stuff :)

Meh.

I got my right knee replaced on the 7th of this month; I'm kinda feeling my tender 55 years atm (I know that's early. I also have 34 years, 6 days a week at Kroger to blame it on. That was also the 4th surgery I've had in the past 6 months. Arthroscopy on said right knee, a radical prostatectomy to deal with prostate cancer, a left arm ulnar nerve translocation to regain some fine motor control of my dominant hand; damaged the nerve channel supporting my weight on my elbows....and then finally the replacement. This has been exhausting, I must say.....).

Besides, I'm proud of it. I can't claim to have been on the net since ARPA, but I by ghu have been since the days of GEnie. 600 baud modems, command lines, all the fun of downloading UUE files and decoding them, never knowing if they contained the claimed image or something far less legal, booting your comp from the game disk to keep things running better, batch files, emm 386..... I still have my DOS 5 and win 3.1 disks in an envelope somewhere in the office. No hardware to run it on, but still..... ;P