Windows XP End of Life

[The Drummer]

Thanks to everyone who has been replying and offering advice.

TD

[Guest070916]

Originally Posted by The Drummer

So when Windows XP becomes unsupported, how bad will it be?

Depends on where you surf.
Have a friend using a 10 year old relic PC with XP who hates change, who is already getting 'warnings' that XP is infected and is now insecure and needs to be fixed. She only surfs vanilla sites and avoids risky sites but still supposedly got 'zapped'. Kept her AV updated and Malwarebytes found nothing after running a scan. So this may just be the beginning of a bunch of scams being sent to those who refuse to upgrade out of XP. A third of the world still uses XP and they will become an awful big target now that MS stopped all support of XP.

A 10 yr old PC is a relic. A new PC tower can be had for around $400 that will runs circles around your relic. Or you can get a new laptop for less than $300 which will also run circles around your old relic but won't be quite as powerful or durable as a new $400 tower.

[Mr. GPop]

the choices I give people with old machines (5+ years) is either buy a new machine or switch to Linux if all they do is browse and web mail

[oldbutstillgoing]

ATMs used a different form of xp called embedded xp. There is no hard drive to infect. It's all on a chip. As such, they are not affected the same way as computers would be.

As long as you are using a current AV program and installed all the updates for XP your real risk.has not really increased. I would still recommend updating to a new computer soon but your risk.is not really more than it was in march. Do not try updating a 6 year or older computer to windows 8. Odds are you will not be able too or will not like the results.

[The Drummer]

Thanks for the advice, everyone.

I'm now wondering this: Weeks ago, Windows sent a message to XP users stating end of support -- no updates. Should I search Windows Updates, see what's available and attempt to download to see what sticks? There may be some updates available to support Office, IE, etc.

And before you guys call me cheap bastard, very soon I'm gonna buy a new tower and just use my existing monitor, speakers, etc. Towers are going for a song 'cause the majority of consumers want laptops and I already have one. For my home, I like the towers with seperate keyboard and stuff. For me, much easier to do my work.

TD

[want2c]

Stay away from 8, get any version of windows 7, It's one of the better platforms Microsoft has put out, As for the ATM's using XP. It's an CE op with a XP overlay. The CE allows to write code specific to your needs. It would take a exploit that would not be available to your typical XP ran machines.

[The Drummer]

Yeah. I don't think my "relic" would handle 8 anyway. I'd definately go 7.

Thanks.

[oldbutstillgoing]

After mid October, OEMs will no longer be able to sell Windows 7 Home Premium on new computers. No end of Windows 7 Pro posted at MS yet. Once any existing stock of Window 7s Home Premium OEM is gone, you wont be able to buy it any more as separate software.

If your going to get a Windows 7 based system, get it quick.

[The Drummer]

Originally Posted by OldButStillGoing

After mid October, OEMs will no longer be able to sell Windows 7 Home Premium on new computers. No end of Windows 7 Pro posted at MS yet. Once any existing stock of Window 7s Home Premium OEM is gone, you wont be able to buy it any more as separate software.

If your going to get a Windows 7 based system, get it quick.

Thank you, OBSG.

TD