Why Are You Still Using Windows XP?
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I have noticed that quite a few people are still running Windows XP on machines connected to the internet.
WHY?
Seems pretty desperate choice, considering there are no more security patches being released as MS dropped support for XP.Just curious.
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If you have a 32bit XP:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\WPA\PosReady]
"Installed"=dword:00000001You can add this to your registry to turn your Win XP into an "embeded system" which gets updates until 2019. But the problem could be that the new patches are only tested on embeded systems and could be unsave for normal PCs... and maybe M$ will block this solution in a future update.
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This is risky, and does not solve the fact that even a well-maintained XP system (before april 2014) had a 6× higher chance to get infections than other Windows-based systems.
I have no clue what holds people away from moving to a secure newer or alternative supported system. The base of your computing activities must be something you can trust.
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Ha! I still have one computer with winXP, but I don't use it for the internet, I just use it as a "server" to back up my files. Nice thing about it is that it's easy to network into it from both windows and Linux. One day I'll switch it to Linux, but I'd have to figure out how to set up a server I can access from my windows machines (I'm sure it's easy, but I just haven't found the time to mess with it.) Also, it's my only 32bit machine, so I run a few legacy software on there also. (can't run a 16bit installer on a 64bit machine)
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I not getting that new fangled XP... I'm sticking with Windows 2000.
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@krisidious said:
I not getting that new fangled XP... I'm sticking with Windows 2000.
You don't want to know how recent it was that I got my in-laws upgraded off of win98...
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Why do I use XP?
My main use for a PC is for amateur music production and plugin development, and the audio hardware I use is rather more specialised than a MoBo sound-chip! The gear is all well over a decade old, but is in perfect working order, still sounds fantastic and I have a decade of experience getting it to do what I want. BUT, there are no PC drivers or configuration software for anything beyond XP, and there's no form of VM or "compatibility mode" that can get it working (oh, how I've tried!).
To replace my studio PC with a Win7/8 machine - that's an expense I can afford. To replace the audio hardware - $1000s, and there isn't even anything on the market any more that duplicates all the functionality that it gives me!I now have a Win7 laptop that I use for most other things, but without getting a re-mortgage...erm, oh, hang on, this place is just rented...
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A computer will always do what it was designed or built to do... newer systems are for newer features.
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I would argue that you are less secure now than you were then. More connections, more processes connecting to the internet, more complex systems of connection. Nothing I have ever done or installed has truly made me feel 'more secure'... Short of just unplugging the internet connection. Then it's as safe as the last thing you installed.
Demographically speaking, I don't think that XP is much of a target for hackers. Perhaps I'm wrong, but I would think that they would be targeting the most widely used systems and those with the most savvy users because they would be more likely to have the juicy credit card info they are looking for. Even if the hacker were just looking for a new drone, an XP machine would likely not be very enticing, unless they just wanted the internet connection for proxy or DoS attacks.
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Well, the browser is typically the vector for exploits, not necessarily the OS. So yeah, I like to think I'm safe with my old XP box as long as I don't browse online or check email there.
http://krebsonsecurity.com/2012/10/the-scrap-value-of-a-hacked-pc-revisited/
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exactly... weakest link and what not.
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The question could well be asked the other way, Why aren't we all still using XP. Why do we let these companies force us to constantly upgrade. Why should a perfectly good computer need to be replaced because the software manufacturers have made their software not work on it. Why should we put up with it. Why does my perfectly good phone that is only a couple of years old not work with newer aps....why should I have to fork over hundreds of dollars regularly to keep up to date. We are already drowning in our own crap and now we are drowning and poisoning the developing world with all our Ecrap. Have you ever looked at the horrors that are the reality of E-recycling!
I have several xp computers that are needed to run quite expensive machines that only work with XP. Once again another manufacturer that wants you to upgrade machinery by only providing drivers for the newer OS. Phuchem, I'll still be using them long after everyone has upgraded to Win11
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You are right, it is called Planned Obsolescence.
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Has anyone ever said something to you that included the words Grandmother and Suck Eggs?
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@box said:
Has anyone ever said something to you that included the words Grandmother and Suck Eggs?
Sorry Box, did not mean to lecture you.
I only included the link for people like me. I had to look up your reference to understand what you mean. -
There is a very easy way to keep XP up to date with the latst security fixes - just get your wallet out!
The UK National Health Service has done just that - paid Micro$oft millions for ongoing security updates for another year or two. i.e. I am paying my taxes for universal health care (a good thing IMHO) only to see it lining Bill Gates' pocket rather than treating patients. If BG wants to be considered a 'charitable benefactor' then hows about not taking the money from such causes in the first place!So yes, planned obsolescence for sure - there is no technical reason that XP cannot continue to be upgraded to keep it "secure", because it is being done as we speak!
As far as "the weakest link" is concerned - that has little to do with your OS, IMHO. The idea of "hackers"** as genius-level super-programmer 007-villains is mostly a distortion to make people wet their pants and get their wallets out - the "weakest link" is usually the bag of flesh and blood sat in front of the monitor, and most of the biggest security breaches come from social-engineering rather than any kind of clever programming.
And I strongly agree with Krisidious - having almost every app' and background task these days punching holes in your firewall, often without you even knowing it, is a massive source of possible 'exploits' for the genuinely technical security breaches. Very little software is upgraded so regularly that it needs a permanent connection, and I am perfectly able to spend a few hours on my PC without checking how "popular" I am, or needing to see a silly cat video! (must 'fess, I do find them rather addictive though!).
Call me old-fashioned, but if I'm not browsing/downloading, the router gets turned off at the wall. If an app' won't play nicely with that, it goes in the bin - simple as that!
*(*PS - apologies to any real hackers out there. As any true hacker knows, a hacker is someone who just loves finding new ways to make computers do the 'impossible'.
There's another word for the 'naughty people' we're talking about here - "criminals".) -
@trogluddite said:
So yes, planned obsolescence for sure - there is no technical reason that XP cannot continue to be upgraded to keep it "secure", because it is being done as we speak!
Then you have never maintained legacy software or been involved with change management?
The cost of change (no matter what type) is low in the design phase, still low during development, but after completion it causes huge effort within the ties of an architecture that never has been made to be changed like that.
The reason why it makes no sense to continue XP for ever is not only that the head of development (Win 7,
employs from the ground up different technologies (that share little with XP), but also that patches can barely avoid the worst case – still during the support time Microsoft wasn't able to keep XP's security on par with its later systems (see the 6× higher infection rate).The way to get for ever updates for software is to accept updates/upgrades when they come, that is what the developers have been producing all the years! Best is not to disconnect, but use rolling releases.
Of course you are right, not all scenarios (corporations etc.) can adopt rolling updates, but that comes with the downside of having to do somewhen a big step, with all the other software and hardware that couldn't be upgraded all the years.
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@aerilius said:
it causes huge effort within the ties of an architecture that never has been made to be changed like that.
Exactly - the basic winXP OS is like swiss cheese against exploits because when it was produced, nobody seemed to consider that all that wide open connectivity and ease of using any app may be a problem down the road.
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@trogluddite said:
*(*PS - apologies to any real hackers out there. As any true hacker knows, a hacker is someone who just loves finding new ways to make computers do the 'impossible'.
There's another word for the 'naughty people' we're talking about here - "criminals".)... criminals and lawful intercept
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