Does XP users have to upgrade to Linux?

[SistemaRayoXP]

I think this is a curious topic since there is many people saying that. But the point is that, before in anoher post I said that it was a security blackhole, but the main reason is because it's a very modificable OS, and it could be infected without note it, but if you are very careful, you'll never get infected. Maybe someone is very careful and doesn't wish to check EVERY SINGLE DOWNLOAD OR WEB PAGE that he visits. But let's take a look at Linux: It's the MOST SECURE OS that exists, but it's hard to learn it after coming from XP or Vista or almost any Windows OS. Windows XP is receiving updates in the Embedded version, but not everybody seems to like upgrading to such version. Honestly I have a bad experience with the updates: They slowed down my PC, that still happened when I was using Windows 7 or 10, and even with or without the updates, I didn't got any virus or malware, and this was more notable in Windows XP. I'm careful of what I download and visit, principally hat my browser downloads. We must In fact, actually the hackers are "unsupporting" Windows XP and almost all the viruses are for Windows 7. The reason: Windows XP is being less used few to few and there are less computers with this OS. So I think now should be safe to use Windows XP.

What do you think? Is it safe? Isn't it? Must we upgrade?



Windows XP EOS for public ended a long ago



Still so, Windows XP computers affected are so few that they don't appear on this graphic

[whistler2250]

No. If you have a computer with at least a Pentium 4 HT and 2GB of ram, you should be able to run Windows 10.

[SistemaRayoXP]

I meant users that have XP with a Pentium II or so with 256 MB of RAM and maybe 8 or 16 VRAM. The point is that users that cannot upgrade to newer OSes should change to Linux

[qazmko1029]

To be honest, no, I can't get the point as you think. Since the wide spread of various Linux releases, there has been viruses and malwares for Linux as well, but it might be fewer than those on Windows, for most general family PCs' still running Windows. And sure, most of famous Linux release provide excellent support, build help system and provide fixes ASAP, just like Microsoft does to Windows, but none of the popular operating system is definitely secure, history proved. To me if someone's ready to change from Windows XP, I would recommend Windows 10.

[MrFreeman]

No. If you have a computer with at least a Pentium 4 HT and 2GB of ram, you should be able to run Windows 10.

A computer with a modern dual-core CPU and 4GB of DDR3 RAM can't handle windows 10 all that well, so why would you even think a P-IV could handle it? And yes, I speak from experience when I point that out.

I meant users that have XP with a Pentium II or so with 256 MB of RAM and maybe 8 or 16 VRAM. The point is that users that cannot upgrade to newer OSes should change to Linux

If that's all you have, you should just get a better computer first. Some people are literally able to grab computers better than that from out of dumpsters

But let's take a look at Linux: It's the MOST SECURE OS that exists, but it's hard to learn it after coming from XP or Vista or almost any Windows OS.

To be honest, many linux users converted their tech illerate parents/grandparents to linux without them having any problems using it. If an old grandma can use linux without having any difficulty, than neither will you.

[roytam1]

Nope. I still having a XP machine (bare metal) of i5-3450, 4GB RAM, Radeon HD7730 for daily use.
Maybe I will have new machine with AMD Ryzen in a year or two with Win10.

[AlphaBeta]

If the user doesn't use any critical programs without any equivalents for Linux, then switching to some light-weight distro might be a good choice.

Now let me address some specific points:

But let's take a look at Linux: It's the MOST SECURE OS that exists, but it's hard to learn it after coming from XP or Vista or almost any Windows OS.

Linux is not the most secure OS that exists. Linux isn't hit by viruses as often as Windows because it is not a mainstream OS on the desktop. Furthermore, as we saw in the past few years, open-source is not and never will be equal to secure - remember Heartbleed and Shellshock.

To your second argument - the magic of the Linux ecosystem is the amazing freedom of choice that extends much further than setting a background and an accent color in Windows 10 settings. Yes, GNOME Shell can be quite confusing for a new Linux user coming from Windows, but KDE and LXDE/LXQt are so similar in concept to Windows that the new user should have little to no problems getting used to Linux.

Windows XP is receiving updates in the Embedded version, but not everybody seems to like upgrading to such version. Honestly I have a bad experience with the updates: They slowed down my PC, that still happened when I was using Windows 7 or 10, and even with or without the updates, I didn't got any virus or malware, and this was more notable in Windows XP.

I seriously doubt updates would slow down your computer. Also let me express one major fact: updates do *not* prevent you from getting infected by malware by your own fault, but they try to protect you from other means of infection, such as infected networks, malvertising or exploit kits and similar. Of course antivirus programs also try to protect you from such attacks as well, but patching the hole in the fence is always better than placing a guard in front of it.

We must In fact, actually the hackers are "unsupporting" Windows XP and almost all the viruses are for Windows 7. The reason: Windows XP is being less used few to few and there are less computers with this OS. So I think now should be safe to use Windows XP.

New viruses might be dropping support for Windows XP, but there is still a lot of old malware hiding in the dark corners of the Internet. I would remain alert.

I meant users that have XP with a Pentium II or so with 256 MB of RAM and maybe 8 or 16 VRAM. The point is that users that cannot upgrade to newer OSes should change to Linux

If that's all you have, you should just get a better computer first. Some people are literally able to grab computers better than that from out of dumpsters

In the United States. That might not be the case in other poorer countries.

Nope. I still having a XP machine (bare metal) of i5-3450, 4GB RAM, Radeon HD7730 for daily use.
Maybe I will have new machine with AMD Ryzen in a year or two with Win10.

Would you mind me asking why don't you switch to at least Windows 7?

I donot see any need of upgrade ... Windows 10 itself a malware Spying on you like a hell so it is better to get 3rd party malware on XP than first party malware so called windows 10!!

Sigh... Windows has been sending telemetry for ages and nobody cared. You can disable it. And there always was and still is Windows 7.

[whistler2250]

No. If you have a computer with at least a Pentium 4 HT and 2GB of ram, you should be able to run Windows 10.

A computer with a modern dual-core CPU and 4GB of DDR3 RAM can't handle windows 10 all that well, so why would you even think a P-IV could handle it? And yes, I speak from experience when I point that out.

I have an old Dell Optiplex 780 with 2GB of RAM, and it runs Windows 10 perfectly. I have also heard that the original MacBook can run Windows 10 very well, and that's a computer from 2006 with a 32-bit processor that's limited to 2 GB of RAM.

I meant users that have XP with a Pentium II or so with 256 MB of RAM and maybe 8 or 16 VRAM. The point is that users that cannot upgrade to newer OSes should change to Linux

Also, I don't know a single person who uses a Pentium II as their daily driver. Maybe it's because most XP users are using Pentium 4 or Pentium D systems.

[roytam1]

Nope. I still having a XP machine (bare metal) of i5-3450, 4GB RAM, Radeon HD7730 for daily use.
Maybe I will have new machine with AMD Ryzen in a year or two with Win10.

Would you mind me asking why don't you switch to at least Windows 7?

Switching to Win7 32bit doesn't worth due to higher system footprint.
Switching to Win7 x64 will be better but losing NTVDM is real pain to me.

[Sumanai]

SistemaRayoXP, if you are so worried about the insecurity of Windows XP, then why do you even go into this forum?

Would you mind me asking why don't you switch to at least Windows 7?

If a person is happy with everything, then why?
I have a similar configuration, namely i3570@4GHz, 24Gb RAM, GTX 650 Ti Boost and Windows XP x64, and I'm completely satisfied with this.
To protect against viruses, I use a combination of work from a limited user, SRP and EMET.

[LuLu]

use wepos '09

[SistemaRayoXP]

There are several countries that can't buy computers like to buy fired chips or so. There are some countries where computing could be very cheap, and telephony very expensive (Just an example, don't take this personal), others where the computing is extremedly expensive and phones are the cheapest that you can found (In my country that's the situation, I live in Mexico). What I meant, if you cannot get a better computer that can handle Windows 7 or 10 because you live in a poor country or because you are happy with your computer and do not want to upgrade it, Do you have to make the jump to Linux? I think not, because I cannot get a better computer and in my country, well, not everybody learns very fast (At least where I live).

[cdnmlh]

Using an outdated OS is always going to be a security risk but as long as you take precaution and understand what you're working with, use whatever you want. I'm typing this from a machine running OS X Snow Leopard right now. I wouldn't use it for banking or anything like that but for most things, you'll be fine.

[LordKappa]

I meant users that have XP with a Pentium II or so with 256 MB of RAM and maybe 8 or 16 VRAM...

If you really had a working Pentium II with 256MB of ram and a 16MB video card, I'd trade you a computer new enough for Windows 10 for it.

[Procta]

I meant users that have XP with a Pentium II or so with 256 MB of RAM and maybe 8 or 16 VRAM. The point is that users that cannot upgrade to newer OSes should change to Linux

10 years ago, i did help out a college friend at his learning centre. He did get a bunch of systems with that sort of spec, all running either windows 95 or windows 98 and the odd windows ME. He was going to donate them to some 3rd world charity or something, But was worried about the licencing etc, So he wanted to go Linux, this was when support for windows 98 had just been finished. He wanted to give them something that they could use, but the idea never really moved forwards as he bought some software to wipe the HDDs clean and realised how much time it would take to get the project rolling, Sad thing all those systems ended up been just took down the local tip.

Nope. I still having a XP machine (bare metal) of i5-3450, 4GB RAM, Radeon HD7730 for daily use.
Maybe I will have new machine with AMD Ryzen in a year or two with Win10.

My team leader at work still uses windows XP too as his daily, and the systems at work still run windows XP too. They are only used for word processing now though, but i think there is a system that might be running windows 98 which as a program that controls one of the injection machines at work.

[thunderbird32]

I meant users that have XP with a Pentium II or so with 256 MB of RAM and maybe 8 or 16 VRAM. The point is that users that cannot upgrade to newer OSes should change to Linux

NetBSD is also a decent alternative. I'm running it on a Pentium Pro 200 with 256MB of RAM and it's pretty usable. Though, to be fair, that is without a GUI. I haven't gotten around to installing one yet. That said, its got an accelerated video card (Matrox Millennium II), so I can't imagine it'd do that bad with a simple GUI anyway.

[whistler2250]

Nope. I still having a XP machine (bare metal) of i5-3450, 4GB RAM, Radeon HD7730 for daily use.
Maybe I will have new machine with AMD Ryzen in a year or two with Win10.

Would you mind me asking why don't you switch to at least Windows 7?

Switching to Win7 32bit doesn't worth due to higher system footprint.
Switching to Win7 x64 will be better but losing NTVDM is real pain to me.

If losing NTVDM is a "real pain" to you, why don't you try DOSBox:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/dosbox ... e/download

[roytam1]

Nope. I still having a XP machine (bare metal) of i5-3450, 4GB RAM, Radeon HD7730 for daily use.
Maybe I will have new machine with AMD Ryzen in a year or two with Win10.

Would you mind me asking why don't you switch to at least Windows 7?

Switching to Win7 32bit doesn't worth due to higher system footprint.
Switching to Win7 x64 will be better but losing NTVDM is real pain to me.

If losing NTVDM is a "real pain" to you, why don't you try DOSBox:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/dosbox ... e/download

I does have DOSBox installed for games.

but DOSBox doesn't work well with APPLICATIONS.

Not to mention Win16 programs.

[whistler2250]

I does have DOSBox installed for games.

but DOSBox doesn't work well with APPLICATIONS.

Not to mention Win16 programs.

Which applications? (Games are technically applications)

[moonlightz]

no. add that registry hack so m$ sees you are using POSReady.
it's a xp later edition that still gets updates.

[SistemaRayoXP]

That's a good deal, but what about newer apps that doesn't support XP? For that there's a topic on this link: https://www.betaarchive.com/forum/viewt ... 61&t=36763

[DanielOosterhuis]

I meant users that have XP with a Pentium II or so with 256 MB of RAM and maybe 8 or 16 VRAM. The point is that users that cannot upgrade to newer OSes should change to Linux

Modern versions of Linux that (still) receive security updates, probably won't run all that well if at all on a Pentium II system. With those specs, rendering any of the popular GUIs would be a hellish task of waiting minutes for anything to draw on the screen, probably. Either you'd have to run a very, very cut down GUI, or go for a pure command line install. But from XP to CLI Linux is probably not preferable. With such specs, upgrading is pretty much necessary if you're planning on using the machine as a daily driver connected to the internet.

If there are specific apps you use that don't require an internet connection and won't run on anything newer than XP, you could always just use the machine offline. Often specific-purpose machines that run old, security hole ridden operating systems due to the software running on it not working on newer, supported operating systems, and upgrading to new software is too costly or time consuming, are kept offline.

[Wyrmmidon]

If you have a computer with a Pentium II and 256 megs of ram, the final solution is to just get a new computer. Would it be possible to still use a computer like that? Sure, I guess. Would it be actually useful? I don't really think so.

[SistemaRayoXP]

Any way remember we are talking in a theorical case and because in the developed countries it could be easy to get computers, but in the countries in development path it's hard to get a good computer and you can't just buy a Intel Core i3 or a new Graphic Card. And let me tell you my case:
I have a 2006 PC with a 256 MB Graphic Card with a Pentium 4 Prescott 2.93 GHz, 250 GB hard disk and just 1 GB of RAM. This computer is able to run Windows Vista, Seven, Eight and 10, but with 10 this goes slow, with eight the use isn't very comfortable, and with 7 there's high system footprint (The memory gets filled up instantly with the Automatic Updates Enabled) and this machine runs XP like a breath, it's really fast and it can handle websites like YouTube and Facebook fine. Runs some games like Halo CE, AOE II, etc. And this is my actual main machine (I have another one with a 2003 AMD Duron, which is bad ).
So the point is that if machines like the mine must get into Linux or now that hackers got bored hacking a 18 years old software it should be safe now to use Windows XP. In personal experience i think not, because the virus usually are Win32 not valid applications (Ha ha, hackers unsupporting XP), and if you care what do you visit, you could even use Windows 98 without any danger.

[TVW55]

No, XP is still supported by lot of software. I used XP until 2016