OTish, for those thrifty types who like xp.

On 31/03/2014 12:14, Max Demian wrote:
"Brian wrote in message
...
With the demise of Microsoft support for Windows XP, they seem to be
indulging in scare tactics in order to sell new systems. Time will no
doubt tell if the security risks are really as great as they say.

One of the tactics they have indulged in is to create a new version of
Microsoft Security Essentials whose prime purpose seems to be to direct
you to a web site counting down to end of support, and which also makes
the tray icon never display protected any more, no matter what you do.

Remove MSSE and replace it with another (free) AV program, e.g. Avira.


Indeed. I use AVG, and have never used MSSE.

I'm still not clear what the level of risk is if you continue to use XP
after support ends, since opinions seems to vary widely. If you hide
behind a NAT firewall, and use a decent anti-virus program, is there
*really* a serious risk - or is it being exaggerated?
--
Cheers,
Roger
____________
Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
checked.

"Roger Mills" wrote in message
...
On 31/03/2014 12:14, Max Demian wrote:
"Brian wrote in message
...
With the demise of Microsoft support for Windows XP,
they seem to be
indulging in scare tactics in order to sell new systems.
Time will no
doubt tell if the security risks are really as great as
they say.

One of the tactics they have indulged in is to create a
new version of
Microsoft Security Essentials whose prime purpose seems
to be to direct
you to a web site counting down to end of support, and
which also makes
the tray icon never display protected any more, no
matter what you do.

Remove MSSE and replace it with another (free) AV
program, e.g. Avira.


Indeed. I use AVG, and have never used MSSE.

I'm still not clear what the level of risk is if you
continue to use XP after support ends, since opinions
seems to vary widely. If you hide behind a NAT firewall,
and use a decent anti-virus program, is there *really* a
serious risk - or is it being exaggerated?


Exactly. The thing is I suppose that as the scroats out
there know that if they find a vulnerability that they can
exploit M$ will not be finding and blocking it any more.

But as you say, if you are behind a hardware firewall and
even moreso if you use an anonymous proxy server, what
chance is there of you being found and exploited? The main
problem is and always has been that M$ by default hide the
extension of known file types so attachments to unexpected
e-mails may look like, say, a picture but are actually
executables - not to say that the average user would
understand this anyway!

The other thing is that we on this NG being technical
persons tend to forget that the vast majority of people in
Windoze are non-technical and don't understand about
infections and the like, hence why they open attachments in
unexpected e-mails. Think how many people have fallen for
e-mails from banks? It gives the likes of M$ (and MANY media
products) the opportunity to scare the pants off them and
make them go out and buy W7 or later.

I was at the tip yesterday and someone came along with a
perfectly good-looking laptop. I asked if it was faulty and
the reply was no, they had bought a new one because the
Windows on this machine was no longer supported. More money
than sense, but there again I do live in Harrogate where
such thought processes are widely prevalent! There were also
two recent model Dell desktops there, one with an i3
processor the other with a dual core (Intel labels on the
outside,) I suspect scrapped for the same reason.

D'oh!


--
Woody

harrogate three at ntlworld dot com

In message , Brian Gaff
writes
Yes, I'd be surprised also if isps find you using it,they might disconnect
you as a risk to them getting blacklisted.

Wondering if there are any Windows 95/98/ME/NT4 etc users there still
are out there, and if ISPs or banks have taken action to block them.
--
Tom Harvey____________________________________________ _______________
http://www.harveyzone.com/ Home: tom(a)harveyzone.com

"Roderick Stewart" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 31 Mar 2014 12:57:31 +0100, Dickie mint
wrote:

Me? I'm going to set my machine up as dual boot. XP and a cut down
Linux. Either Mint or Zorin are being recommended for this.

Having tried Zorin recently, I'd suggest don't bother if you're
looking for a user-friendly substitute for Windows XP. It looks
pretty, but my impression is that a lot of effort has gone into the
"tumbling windows" animations (which may slow down an old computer
anyway) and not enough into the basics. For instance, I couldn't find
a way to put program icons on the taskbar (or the panel as they call
it), whereas in Mint it's simple.

The "Mate" version of Mint has three different menus that you can try
after you've installed it, all three at once if you like, with the
buttons anywhere you like on the taskbar. One of these menus with the
button in the bottom left corner behaves almost exactly like XP.

Most of the common things people do with computers, web browsing,
wordprocessing, email, photo retouching, video viewing, music
listening etc, have software available for all the systems, in some
cases just different versions of the same programs. It seems a bit of
a bodge to try to maintain an old system just to run a particular
software application, and much more worthwhile to make the effort of
learning one or two new ones. If you're asking what system can run a
particular software application, maybe you're asking the wrong
question, and should be asking instead what you need to perform a
particular task.




Maintain an old system maybe, but don't overlook one thing - cost. For a copy
of W7Pro you are looking at north of a ton - about twice what XP cost when it
first came out, assuming it was not pre-installed. W8Pro is a bit cheaper,
but having recently had a play with it for the first time I wouldn't
recommend it to my worst enemy - its dire. As a lot of people who upgrade
their OS and not their machine will be running a blagged-off version of XP it
may be XP-Pro or more likely Ultimate so would want to go to W7Pro.

What is annoying is that everyone knows that W8 is dire, but due to
arrangements with the likes of Expensive World you cannot even buy (or will
have difficulty buying) W7, so why didn't M$ keep XP going until W9 comes
along later this year? That would have kept millions of people (especially IT
persons) happy?

Also, why do you have to BUY W7/8/9 when Apple are issuing the new OS version
f.o.c.?

W7Pro £50 here - MS Certified Reseller

http://www.os-operating-system.com/i...7339uj232abh84

On Mon, 31 Mar 2014 18:35:31 +0100, Woody
wrote:

For a copy of W7Pro you are looking at north of a
ton - about twice what XP cost when it first came out,

I just paid £36 for one for a machine for someone else.
I'm building a Mint machine for me and virtualising everything.
Virtualbox will run "XP mode" on Mint if you tweak it not to
require any activation ********.

On Mon, 31 Mar 2014 18:35:31 +0100, "Woody"
wrote:

Maintain an old system maybe, but don't overlook one thing -
cost. For a copy of W7Pro you are looking at north of a
ton - about twice what XP cost when it first came out,
assuming it was not pre-installed.

You can get a copy of Win7 Pro for about £50 on Ebay.
You can download a copy of Ubuntu or Mint for nothing.

Yes, I would certainly take cost into consideration, especially if the
task is to get a bit more life from an old computer that might not
have enough grunt to get the best from a modern operating system.

Rod.

On Mon, 31 Mar 2014 18:50:38 +0100, Roger Mills
wrote:

I'm still not clear what the level of risk is if you continue to use XP
after support ends, since opinions seems to vary widely. If you hide
behind a NAT firewall, and use a decent anti-virus program, is there
*really* a serious risk - or is it being exaggerated?

There's no way of knowing until somebody discovers the first security
weakness that applies to all versions of Windows, and Microsoft patch
them all except XP. Then it depends on what that particular
vulnerability happens to be, and whether anybody decides to exploit
it. Nothing will happen straight away, but if anything does happen, it
will be too late by the time anybody realises it has.

Rod.

On 31/03/2014 18:40, Jeff Layman wrote:
On 31/03/2014 12:33, Mark wrote:
On Mon, 31 Mar 2014 12:18:23 +0100, David Kennedy
wrote:

On 31/03/2014 12:12, Max Demian wrote:
"Martin" wrote in message
...
If use WinXP after the last update and there is fraudulent use of your
Internet
Banking account don't expect to get any compensation from your bank.

********.

In this case you're both right. Yes, it is ******** but you still
shouldn't
expect to get any compensation as they would claim that you were
warned that
your OS was unsafe.

How would the bank know?

Simply by connecting to the bank's website they can determine quite a
bit of information about your bowser - including the OS you are using.

Try the test he
https://panopticlick.eff.org/

A few years ago Alliance & Leicester put up a message when I logged in
that I could not continue with my transaction as they had detected a
virus on my computer. They asked that I run a virus scan and send them
the report when it was clean.
I was dubious and phoned them to confirm that it was genuine.
Derek.

Remove MSSE and replace it with another (free) AV program, e.g. Avira.

--
Max Demian

I agree with the above. I ditched MSSE in favour of Avast Free which works
better and is well supported.
Microsoft also say Internet Explorer wil be vulnerable, so I use Chrome or
Firefox instead and I have disabled IE via the Control Panel.

I did read that most ATMs run on Windows XP by the way.

Paul



---
This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active.
http://www.avast.com

In article , Woody
wrote:
....


What is annoying is that everyone knows that W8 is dire, but due to
arrangements with the likes of Expensive World you cannot even buy (or
will have difficulty buying) W7, so why didn't M$ keep XP going until
W9 comes along later this year? That would have kept millions of people
(especially IT persons) happy?

Also, why do you have to BUY W7/8/9 when Apple are issuing the new OS
version f.o.c.?

Because most people either don't realise that you *don't* "have to", or
aren't willing to try out alternatives!

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html