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Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ?

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On Wed, 26 Mar 2014 18:30:08 -0400, <visualforth@rocketmail.com> wrote:

> Microsoft announced to end support of Windows XP on April 8, just two
> weeks from today.

I would recomment making sure XP is updated with the final MS updates.
Then, install AVG Free for virus scanning, and Spybot Search & Destroy
for malware.

Spybot
http://www.safer-networking.org/

AVG
http://free.avg.com/us-en/homepage

I used AVG and Spybot on Windows 98/SE and XP computers for roughly a
decade without them failing.  So, those will generally do the job.  If
you're unsure whether you need even more virus protection, you could run
McAfee Stinger and TrendMicro Sysclean.  McAfee Stinger checks for the most
recent 5000 viruses.  TrendMicro Sysclean checks for almost every virus
that has ever been found.  Of course, a number of Russian companies, like
Kaspersky, have been making a name for themselves lately.  I would avoid
Norton Anti-virus as uninstalling it is like removing a virus by hand ...
There are also many AV companies that provide a free online scan too.

> MSE will be updated until 2015, I read, and some AV companies will
> support their AV software for an even longer time.

As long as the AV company doesn't change the data format for their virus
specification files, you can continue to use and update the program.
The point being you may have to switch to a different AV program at some
point, but you'll likely still be able to get updates for a decade or so.

E.g., I continued to use AVG on Windows 98/SE until a couple of years
ago, almost a decade after MS declared 98 "dead."  Even today, there
are a handful of virus checkers (DOS commandline versions) from the
major AV companies that work on Windows 98/SE/ME.

> I checked Windows 7 - programs which I developed on XP are running on
> Windows 7 - but to develop under Windows 7 is a real pain, Windows 7 is
> a real productivity killer. I am sure that Windows 8 isn't better.
...

> I am sure April 8 was chosen to remind upgrading to Windows 8 - some
> kind of blackmail IMHO.
...

> I googled for ' best linux to replace windows xp ' - you need only to
> type ' best linux xp ', then this will be offered automatically. The top
> offers are PCLinuxOS, Linux-Mint, and Zoran.

There are websites, like distrowatch.com, which rank the most popular
Linux distribution.  Generally, Ubuntu is near the top.  It's newer
and popular.  Then, you'll find distros that have been around for a
long time, such as Redhat (Fedora), Debian, OpenSUSE, Arch, etc.

As for most popular Windows version, that would be Windows 7 followed
by XP.  Supposedly, only 30% of Windows machines still use XP, the majority
are supposedly updated to 7, or maybe they're all newer machines.

Distrowatch
http://distrowatch.com/

Wikipedia list/description of some Linux distro's
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux_distributions

> Is anybody looking for a solution, too?

No.

The one XP laptop in our household will likely remain XP forever,
unless I get my hands on it. (insert evil laugh)

Unfortunately, the "closest" true replacement solution, a Windows clone,
still can't even boot a PC.  It's called ReactOS.  So, you're left with
either upgrading Windows, or converting to Linux, and occasionally using
Wine to run Windows programs, when needed.

> Does anybody have experience with any of these Linux flavors?

No.

> What are you doing?

I've built all but one of my PCs since the mid 1990's.  I install
whatever OS suits me.  I've been using Windows 98/SE for a long time.
I finally converted to Linux after many failed past attempts.  Most
of my immediate family members buy PCs or laptops or tablets with the
OS pre-installed, from major vendors or brands like Dell, Samsung, etc.
So, they get whatever the device was sold with.  I haven't checked,
but I'm sure most of my relatives are the same.  I'm only aware of a
handful of relatives who were rumored to have ever built a PC, but very
few of them seem to be into computers.  I.e., building your own PC from
parts tends to be for a small group of computer programmers and electrical
engineers or technicians, poor college students, or fanatical diehard  
gamers.

> What OS are you using?

(mf = member of family)

me <- 64-bit VLocity (VectorLinux) and Windows SE w/KernelEx
mf <- Windows XP (laptop - rarely online ... )
mf <- Windows 7 (laptop)
mf <- Windows Vista (mini-tower)
mf <- Android (tablet)

I also have a half dozen other machines that I no longer use.  Some
were machines I built.  Others were from friends or family members that
ran either 98 or ME.

If you're looking into Linux, one based off of Slackware will be
faster than those based off of Debian etc., but Slackware based
distro's aren't as popular, i.e., more likely to suffer from bit-rot,
old versions, out-of-date libraries, etc.

Since your PC apparently runs XP, one problem you might run into
is that certain hardware available on your machine might not be
supported in your chosen Linux.  I've had that problem with well
over a dozen Linux distro's since the mid 1990's from Slackware (3.2),
to Redhat (3.0.3, Shrike, Fedora), to Puppy, to many other distro's
you've never heard of.  Every PC prior to this one had at least
one piece of hardware Linux didn't support, from CD-ROMs, to
Win-modems, to USB devices, to Ethernet cards, etc.  The more generic
and low-end the motherboard and hardware the better.

You'll also want to back up every important file to permanent storage
media, e.g., burn to cd-rom or dvd, or copy to a spare hard drive.
Linux might be able to access your old Windows filesystem,
likely NTFS, but that requires installing a new harddrive for Linux
to preserve the XP NTFS formatted drive and files.  Or, you have to
risk repartitioning a drive with lots of data already on it, and
reformatting the new partition with lots of data already on the
drive ...  BTDT.  Sometimes, it works fine.  Other times, you'll
asked why you're cursed.

Mark mentioned SSDs (solid-state disk).  I bought one back in 2007.
They're very fast and exceptionally quiet, no hard disk whine or chatter,
but they have far less storage capacity as compared to a hard disk.  They
should help laptops boot *much* faster.  Laptops typically have very slow
hard drives as compared to those installed in normal PCs.  External USB
hard drives are usually slow too.  That's true even when you pull the
drive out of the external USB case and install it into a PC ...
Today, SSDs have an even faster interface.


Rod Pemberton

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Thread

Does anybody use Windows XP ? visualforth@rocketmail.com - 2014-03-26 15:30 -0700
  Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2014-03-26 17:05 -0700
  Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? AKK <akk@nospam.org> - 2014-03-27 00:49 +0100
  Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl (Albert van der Horst) - 2014-03-27 01:33 +0000
  Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? Mark Wills <markwills1970@gmail.com> - 2014-03-27 01:45 -0700
    Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? "Elizabeth D. Rather" <erather@forth.com> - 2014-03-27 08:39 -1000
      Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? Melzzzzz <mel@zzzzz.com> - 2014-04-01 01:26 +0200
        Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? m.a.m.hendrix@tue.nl - 2014-03-31 23:55 -0700
          Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? Melzzzzz <mel@zzzzz.com> - 2014-04-01 11:16 +0200
  Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? jzakiya@gmail.com - 2014-03-27 11:18 -0700
  Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? Paul E Bennett <Paul_E.Bennett@topmail.co.uk> - 2014-03-27 20:04 +0000
  Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? "Rod Pemberton" <dont_use_email@xnothavet.cqm> - 2014-03-27 18:11 -0400
  Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? Marc Olschok <nobody@nowhere.invalid> - 2014-03-28 02:05 +0000
  Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? Hans Bezemer <the.beez.speaks@gmail.com> - 2014-03-28 10:53 +0100
    Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? Mark Wills <markwills1970@gmail.com> - 2014-03-28 15:15 -0700
      Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2014-03-28 15:42 -0700
      Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? visualforth@rocketmail.com - 2014-03-28 16:17 -0700
        Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2014-03-28 17:49 -0700
          Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? visualforth@rocketmail.com - 2014-03-28 17:52 -0700
            Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2014-03-28 18:50 -0700
              Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? visualforth@rocketmail.com - 2014-03-28 22:31 -0700
                Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2014-03-28 23:18 -0700
                Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? visualforth@rocketmail.com - 2014-03-29 15:03 -0700
                Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2014-03-29 16:55 -0700
                Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? visualforth@rocketmail.com - 2014-03-29 20:19 -0700
                Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2014-03-29 20:55 -0700
                Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? Bernd Paysan <bernd.paysan@gmx.de> - 2014-03-30 21:14 +0200
                Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2014-03-30 13:09 -0700
                Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? Bernd Paysan <bernd.paysan@gmx.de> - 2014-03-31 13:26 +0200
                Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? "Rod Pemberton" <dont_use_email@xnothavet.cqm> - 2014-03-31 18:14 -0400
                Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2014-03-31 15:42 -0700
                Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? Bernd Paysan <bernd.paysan@gmx.de> - 2014-04-01 14:27 +0200
                Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? visualforth@rocketmail.com - 2014-03-30 22:58 -0700
                Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? "Rod Pemberton" <dont_use_email@xnothavet.cqm> - 2014-03-31 18:18 -0400
                Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? visualforth@rocketmail.com - 2014-03-31 23:10 -0700
                Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? m.a.m.hendrix@tue.nl - 2014-04-01 00:17 -0700
                Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? "Rod Pemberton" <dont_use_email@xnothavet.cqm> - 2014-04-01 19:16 -0400
                Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? visualforth@rocketmail.com - 2014-04-01 16:34 -0700
                Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? "Rod Pemberton" <dont_use_email@xnothavet.cqm> - 2014-04-01 20:10 -0400
                Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? visualforth@rocketmail.com - 2014-04-01 21:26 -0700
                Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? Melzzzzz <mel@zzzzz.com> - 2014-04-01 02:17 +0200
                Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? visualforth@rocketmail.com - 2014-03-31 22:23 -0700
                Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? Melzzzzz <mel@zzzzz.com> - 2014-04-01 07:45 +0200
                Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl (Albert van der Horst) - 2014-04-01 11:37 +0000
                Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? m.a.m.hendrix@tue.nl - 2014-04-01 05:59 -0700
                Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl (Albert van der Horst) - 2014-04-01 16:43 +0000
                Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? Hans Bezemer <the.beez.speaks@gmail.com> - 2014-04-03 14:33 +0200
                Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? Melzzzzz <mel@zzzzz.com> - 2014-04-01 02:15 +0200
              Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? Richard Owlett <rowlett@pcnetinc.com> - 2014-03-29 05:50 -0500
            Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl (Albert van der Horst) - 2014-03-29 09:19 +0000
      Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? Hans Bezemer <the.beez.speaks@gmail.com> - 2014-03-29 14:16 +0100
      Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? Marc Olschok <nobody@nowhere.invalid> - 2014-03-30 00:33 +0000
      Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? Bernd Paysan <bernd.paysan@gmx.de> - 2014-03-30 21:08 +0200
  Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? jacko <jackokring@gmail.com> - 2014-03-31 00:23 -0700
  Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? Jason Damisch <jasondamisch@yahoo.com> - 2014-04-01 10:15 -0700
    Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? visualforth@rocketmail.com - 2014-04-01 10:38 -0700
      Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? Jason Damisch <jasondamisch@yahoo.com> - 2014-04-01 10:55 -0700
        Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? visualforth@rocketmail.com - 2014-04-01 11:30 -0700
          Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? Bernd Paysan <bernd.paysan@gmx.de> - 2014-04-01 21:20 +0200
        Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? "Rod Pemberton" <dont_use_email@xnothavet.cqm> - 2014-04-01 19:41 -0400
        Re: Does anybody use Windows XP ? Mark Wills <markwills1970@gmail.com> - 2014-04-01 16:46 -0700

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