End of Windows XP support era signals beginning of security nightmare

[nemesismk2]

What security nightmare? I've only gotten a virus twice on XP, and both times were due to my own fault, not the OS. I'd say WinXP is secure enough for people who know what they're doing. For those who don't - well, no OS is secure enough.

My thoughts exactly

 

[1prophet]

I agree that people need to realize that software eventually dies and that they should be transition to something newer and supported, but with Linux you have the source code so you or anyone can take a crack and updating it if you really desire.

I wasn't aware that MS would take a contract to update something older like Win95 or WinXP, where do you get that?




MS did deal with the security issues of XP, it's called Vista and Win7. Whether you like that they made them full releases instead of service packs is irrelevant and is totally their call as it's their product. The security and driver changes were so huge that I agree that the resulting OS shouldn't be called XP.

That arrogant mentality of we will tell you what you want instead of finding out the needs of the consumer and how to best accommodate them has been the eventual demise of many large companies.

 

[vailr]

I have a friend who is in tech support in China and he says most people he knows are using Windows XP with Internet Explorer 6 and never install any security stuff especially from Microsoft.

If XP is so insecure, maybe those people in Redmond should hire someone to write a stealth trojan program that would go in and force install an update to IE8?
Or maybe: put in a payment system for web sites that says: "upgrade your browser now to IE8", and then pay that web site a bounty for each verified successful user upgrade.

 

[Nothinman]

That arrogant mentality of we will tell you what you want instead of finding out the needs of the consumer and how to best accommodate them has been the eventual demise of many large companies.

I would love if it would cause MS' downfall as well, but that is highly unlikely. If you don't like their policies you have the choice to stop using their products, it's that simple.

 

[tommo123]

I would love if it would cause MS' downfall as well, but that is highly unlikely. If you don't like their policies you have the choice to stop using their products, it's that simple.

me too but there's no alternative. it's in the golden zone. on 1 side you have macs which are no fun and dumbed down and on the other you have linux which is years away from prime time for most people.

 

[VirtualLarry]

On the contrary, I think that XP Pro with SRP properly implemented, is more effective at blocking malware than anything on Win7 Home Premium (with or without MSSE installed).

 

[StinkyPinky]

Am I the only one that doesn't mind Windows 8?

I'm using it now as my main OS. It seems ok. The metro is a bit annoying but I never use it, I just go right into desktop and never touch metro. Once you're in desktop it's actually more efficient than the Windows 7 desktop. Quicker access to all the admin stuff.

I don't think it is worth upgrading from Windows 7, but if it came on a new PC I would be ok with it.

 

[shortylickens]

Is there an effective way to get XP games running under Windows 7?
Half of mine refuse to even install.

 

[lxskllr]

Am I the only one that doesn't mind Windows 8?

I don't mind it, but much depends on their future direction. Metro apps are a complete non-starter for me. That style of desktop is unusable AFAIC. I'm ok with the new start menu, and the other stuff. Some of it isn't my preference, but it isn't that different from older Windows.

 

[Red Squirrel]

My work has no plans to upgrade from XP, or IE6. That's what happens when you outsource the internal programming to a crappy programming company and they make code that works ONLY in a very specific environment.

Should be interesting as the years go by. I'm sure hackers have a bunch of viruses lined up and are just waiting till MS stops support that way the holes they exploit wont get fixed. Guess as long as AV companies keep supporting XP things should be not too bad.

 

[ViRGE]

Is there an effective way to get XP games running under Windows 7?
Half of mine refuse to even install.

Depends on the game. Some will work in a virtual machine, but some are just busted.

 

[RU482]

what kind of crusty ole fug is still using XP?

 

[RU482]

My work has no plans to upgrade from XP, or IE6. That's what happens when you outsource the internal programming to a crappy programming company and they make code that works ONLY in a very specific environment.

Should be interesting as the years go by. I'm sure hackers have a bunch of viruses lined up and are just waiting till MS stops support that way the holes they exploit wont get fixed. Guess as long as AV companies keep supporting XP things should be not too bad.

thank you for the lol

 

[dagamer34]

My work has no plans to upgrade from XP, or IE6. That's what happens when you outsource the internal programming to a crappy programming company and they make code that works ONLY in a very specific environment.

Should be interesting as the years go by. I'm sure hackers have a bunch of viruses lined up and are just waiting till MS stops support that way the holes they exploit wont get fixed. Guess as long as AV companies keep supporting XP things should be not too bad.

Not wishing any ill will on you, but I sincerely wish your IT admin gets crushed by hacks of 1000 script kiddies. Windows XP had a good run, but it's 11 freaking years old. DIEEEEEEE.

The Internet will be glad when it no longer has to officially care about IE6. Microsoft will just throw it's hands up and say "Sorry, not our problem!"

 

[Red Squirrel]

Not wishing any ill will on you, but I sincerely wish your IT admin gets crushed by hacks of 1000 script kiddies. Windows XP had a good run, but it's 11 freaking years old. DIEEEEEEE.

The Internet will be glad when it no longer has to officially care about IE6. Microsoft will just throw it's hands up and say "Sorry, not our problem!"

I'm not in IT anymore, so I could not care less if something does happen. Haha. It's not so much the fault of IT though, but the fault of whoever decision it is to go with that outsourced coding company. A big company should have in-house devs imo and code longevity should be a priority so upgrading OS should have little to no impact on the software.

Ultimately I think what will end up happening is they'll have to try to get those apps to work on some sort of Citrix like setup if they want to go with 7.

 

[denis280]

I Just don't think that it's fair.i know so many peoples have xp.and they can't upgrade.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Most computers I end up fixing are XP as well. There's surprisingly tons of users still using it.

In fact when XP came out there was lot of people still using windows 98. I was fixing machines with 98/2000/me till at least 2005, if after. In fact when I worked at the hospital (XP) we sometimes ran accross NT4 workstation. They still have NT server running on a few boxes, even.

 

[Nothinman]

me too but there's no alternative. it's in the golden zone. on 1 side you have macs which are no fun and dumbed down and on the other you have linux which is years away from prime time for most people.

It's hardly in the golden zone, it's just what people have become accustomed to using. I've been using Linux as my primary desktop for close to the last 15 years and it works just fine. The only thing missing is commercial game support and one can use WINE or a VM for a lot of those.

On the contrary, I think that XP Pro with SRP properly implemented, is more effective at blocking malware than anything on Win7 Home Premium (with or without MSSE installed).

Except that almost no one is willing to setup and deal with SRP.

 

[shortylickens]

I Just don't think that it's fair.i know so many peoples have xp.and they can't upgrade.

They arent supposed to.
They're expected to buy new hardware so they can run the new OS.

 

[gmaster456]

I must be in the minority when I say that the majority of the machines I fix are either running some flavor of Vista or Windows 7. I rarely have to deal with XP anymore. Thank god.

 

[imagoon]

I must be in the minority when I say that the majority of the machines I fix are either running some flavor of Vista and Windows 7. I rarely have to deal with XP anymore. Thank god.

I have seen a drastic down tick in XP also. What I see more of really is new app deployments going out on 2003 Server (x64 at times).... There is no technical reason to use 2003 either in 95% + of them. I have even installed the apps on 2008R2 multiple times.

 

[Remobz]

what kind of crusty ole fug is still using XP?

Me

 

[VirtualLarry]

Guess as long as AV companies keep supporting XP things should be not too bad.

Good luck finding AV for Win95/98/se these days. Soon, it will be the same way for 2000/XP.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I Just don't think that it's fair.i know so many peoples have xp.and they can't upgrade.

So? Just tell them to buy a new PC. And if they're an old pensioner, tell them to get off their duff and get a job!


Seriously, though, yes, there are some valid reasons for still having XP machines around. Some people still can't afford to upgrade, when the decision is between that, and food/clothing.

I'm hoping that 3rd-party mfgs of software/hardware DON'T drop XP support, as soon as MS drops support for it.

 

[gmaster456]

I Just don't think that it's fair.i know so many peoples have xp.and they can't upgrade.

I think 13 years of support is more than fair.