I am thinking of switching my dad back to XP from 7

[Onceler]

I was wondering if this setup would be reasonably safe.
I plan on removing the shortcuts to internet explorer and install Firefox for him to use instead.
He absolutely hates Windows 7.
I am going to install AVGfree on that PC.
Any thoughts or advise?

 

[Schmide]

No

Edit: Just load the XP skin pack and see if he notices.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Not sure why anyone would want to go back to XP from 7, unless it's a low-spec machine (less than 4GB RAM, and no SSD).

Edit: Try switching him to Linux Mint. It's a lot like XP, only better.

 

[Onceler]

He wants outlook express back and I've tried him on several email clients including windows live mail, Outlook, Incredimail, Opera, ...etc.
He has an SSD which worked very well under XP for him before.
He has >4GB RAM so I was going to install RAMdrive so he could actually put it to some use.

 

[Schmide]

He wants outlook express back and I've tried him on several email clients including windows live mail, Outlook, Incredimail, Opera, ...etc.
He has an SSD which worked very well under XP for him before.
He has >4GB RAM so I was going to install RAMdrive so he could actually put it to some use.

Thunderbird dude!

Edit: There was an OE skin for Thunderbird but it was discontinued. You can basically make it look the same by moving a few icons around!

For example:

vs.

 

[lxskllr]

XP is out of support next year. No security, no nothin'. I second the GNU/Linux idea, but otherwise, I'd keep 7. I wouldn't help, nor support anyone that wanted to use an obsolete system for no good reason, and I consider an email client no good reason.

 

[blurredvision]

Not sure why anyone would want to go back to XP from 7, unless it's a low-spec machine (less than 4GB RAM, and no SSD).

Edit: Try switching him to Linux Mint. It's a lot like XP, only better.

Perfect idea, he hates Windows 7 so let's switch him to a completely different OS that he knows nothing about.

 

[smakme7757]

XP is currently on life support and moving someone with absolutely no PC know-how to an unsupported Operating system is just a bad idea. I wouldn't do it.

If he's giving you a hard time, just do it. If you let him know it's an expired OS and he understands that then he has made an executive decision to use XP. After that, if anything happens, it's on him!

 

[Ketchup]

I was wondering if this setup would be reasonably safe.
I plan on removing the shortcuts to internet explorer and install Firefox for him to use instead.
He absolutely hates Windows 7.
I am going to install AVGfree on that PC.
Any thoughts or advise?

Safe has more to do with the user than it does the OS IMO. I have several customers using XP, and have no issues. About a month ago I had a customer using Vista who had so many Trojans I stopped counting.

In and of itself, XP shouldn't be a problem.