Just an important headsup for Windows XP users

[TonyV225]

I knew this was coming and know alot of you heard or knew this was happening. I had been telling all the people running XP whos computers Ive serviced in the past year that the end was drawing near for this operating system as I was told 2 years ago that 2014 was gonna be it and was told a few months back or this past fall that spring of 2014 was gonna be it for XP support and tomorrow April 8 2014 is definately the deadline and thats it.

It doesnt mean that XP is no longer useable but it does mean that there will be no more program and most importantly security updates so it is no longer supported on those lines. What does this mean you ask? Well it means that those updates to secure your computer updates for improvement or patches for problems are no longer offered meaning you can be or are definately at risk as far as security goes.

I will admit that I along with several other users and techs alike had labled XP one of the best programs it was my favorite though not as expandable as 7 it was a very simplified operating system and I will continue to run it on a few of my DJ compter setups but I also have machines running Windows 7. Im going to leave a machine at the house running 7 to monitor any glitches or troubles that may arise in the future.

All in all we all need to atleast keep all this in mind and eventually at the very least switch to windows 7. The downside to this for some will be that the older computers will not meet the specifications for utilizing or being able to even load windows 7 leaving consumers to having to by a newer computer. It sucks but we all have to to this at some point.

Dont panic and your ok for now running Windows XP versions but dont put this on the back burner and keep in mind that and upgrade in the near future is your best bet.

 

[w9cll]

And there is always Linux...

 

[Mudfoot]

I'm afraid Linux is still for hipsters only.

 

[w9cll]

I'm afraid Linux is still for hipsters only.

Maybe maybe not, when was the last time you tried it?

 

[Mudfoot]

I started out with it in the mid 90's. I occasionally mess with it. If I ran a server I'd use it, but for simple computing... It's to much hassle.

 

[KD2GOE]

some of the new Linux OS are not to older computer friendly as that run slow..
there just is not a lot of support for programs and installing some are just a PITA...

 

[w9cll]

some of the new Linux OS are not to older computer friendly as that run slow..
there just is not a lot of support for programs and installing some are just a PITA...

Yes ans No. Some of the newer distributions of Linux do require more hardware just like WinDOZE but there are many that are geared towards older HW. If you haven't played with it in a while then you really have no idea. Today Linux is a viable option to replace XP on someones PC.

 

[KD2GOE]

Yes ans No. Some of the newer distributions of Linux do require more hardware just like WinDOZE but there are many that are geared towards older HW. If you haven't played with it in a while then you really have no idea. Today Linux is a viable option to replace XP on someones PC.

Yes i am aware i am running it on my server at home. And i dont think it is for the every day user.

 

[Mudfoot]

It's a good platform for advanced users who want to get a tickle.

Every time you get it up and running, you always encounter some conflict with it when you change hardware or install an innocent program.

I think it's a disservice to recommend any variation of Linux to the casual user, unless your going to be there to help them through the inevitable headaches.

It's just to open source for me. To many wanna be Devs poking around with the kernel.

I'm happy with Windows.

 

[RadioGuy772]

Just try a new dist of it. Try Ubuntu, the new 13.10 works excellent with most hardware right "out of the box". Try running it "live" first off of a USB drive, then if you want, partition up your drive. Heck, it will do most of it for you these days. Then, install it, and you can dual boot.

If your Windows install ever gets "funky" you can also mount your NTFS partition right from within Ubuntu and either repair the problem or retrieve important files and move them to your linux ext3 or ext4 partition or move them to an external HDD, USB drive, etc. You can do this even if you cannot boot into windows for what ever (pick one) reason.

Then there is drive (file system) management. The way it manages and arranges files is much more organized and secure than the old NTFS. Memory management is better as well, not to mention how it handles caching and swap usage.

You have OpenOffice which is just like MS Office, and the software center, to where you just simply go in, search or click on the application you want, and it installs it for you. How easy is that?

Other than having to run certain specific applications specifically for Windows, why would anyone still want to use XP? I mean, yes... I agree that it was one of the better OS out there from MS, BUT look in depth at all of the duplicate call routines, and how it manages things. Also, bet you didn't know that probably as you're reading this using your XP computer that most "techs" don't understand all of the services that are constantly running in the background that automatically start up upon boot.

For instance, before I do an image, and get it ready to roll out, I specifically disable *many* services. Ones you never use or will never need. I don't have a bluetooth coffee maker, or wireless thermostat for my house. I don't need those services running. Some of them seem like they were afterthoughts, or included in case certain technologies take off.

I could get into memory management, limitations, the way it addresses RAM, disk cache, "guesses" what I am going to do next, etc and while some of them work, and some of them don't so well, we should probably start a new discussion on it.

Ad no, I am NOT a Linux fan boy. I managed a complete enterprise MS environment for many years. All the way from NT4 to AD (active directory) / internal DNS exchange, virtual servers.