I'm amazed by the number of people on forums that are convinced that XP will still be safe after its EOL. The number rivals those who believe RAID is a secure backup.

Hi there
these sorts of worries are absolutely pointless. If you want to keep using XP -- no problem at all - simply run it as a VM and DON'T CONNECT IT TO THE INTERNET. I'd assume that the XP machine is running legacy applications and Internet access can be provided for in other ways.

If your machine currently can only run XP then simply run it as a stand alone machine - you can share disks if you have to - but the XP machine doesn't need Internet access.

A lot of XP machines are also stand alone computers in places like LABS etc.

Cheers
jimbo

jimbo45 said:

Hi there
these sorts of worries are absolutely pointless. If you want to keep using XP -- no problem at all - simply run it as a VM and DON'T CONNECT IT TO THE INTERNET. I'd assume that the XP machine is running legacy applications and Internet access can be provided for in other ways.

If your machine currently can only run XP then simply run it as a stand alone machine - you can share disks if you have to - but the XP machine doesn't need Internet access.

A lot of XP machines are also stand alone computers in places like LABS etc.

Cheers
jimbo

To quote Ronald Reagan, "There you go again!" Your examples are only limited scenarios where what you say is true. The fact is most home users will be connecting to the internet. All businesses other than possibly some small Mom & Pops have to connect to the internet for banking, contacting vendors, communicating with various branches, etc. yet there are a frightening number that have not upgraded yet. THAT has me seriously worried since my credit/debit cards would be subject to being compromised. I might start using cash for a while after March of next year.

Indianatone said:

Lady Fitzgerald said:

jimbo45 said:

Hi there
these sorts of worries are absolutely pointless. If you want to keep using XP -- no problem at all - simply run it as a VM and DON'T CONNECT IT TO THE INTERNET. I'd assume that the XP machine is running legacy applications and Internet access can be provided for in other ways.

If your machine currently can only run XP then simply run it as a stand alone machine - you can share disks if you have to - but the XP machine doesn't need Internet access.

A lot of XP machines are also stand alone computers in places like LABS etc.

Cheers
jimbo

To quote Ronald Reagan, "There you go again!" Your examples are only limited scenarios where what you say is true. The fact is most home users will be connecting to the internet. All businesses other than possibly some small Mom & Pops have to connect to the internet for banking, contacting vendors, communicating with various branches, etc. yet there are a frightening number that have not upgraded yet. THAT has me seriously worried since my credit/debit cards would be subject to being compromised. I might start using cash for a while after March of next year.

The major hospital I had my surgery in is still using Windows XP and so is the Surgeons office, and my own regular Doctor. Now these are possibly completely closed systems but there was internet and email access as the nurse was using it one night to email. A good adnin should be able to lock down the system but if the underlying OS is no longer secure????

Considering that a hospital has to interface with insurance companies, vendors, financial institutions, etc., I simply do not see how they can have a closed system.

Wenda said:

Lady Fitzgerald said:

I'm amazed by the number of people on forums that are convinced that XP will still be safe after its EOL. The number rivals those who believe RAID is a secure backup.

Mine will be, because after EOL it won't be going online again once I pull the last of the updates.

It'll work fine, and securely offline. As it does 98% of the time now.

Apart from the Win 7 laptop and this Win 8 one, none of my OSes are connected to the net very often.

Wenda.

Your scenario will be an exception to the majority.

A Guy said:

These worries are not pointless as most will not run it in a VM, and will continue to connect to the internet. These are "average" users, who likely don't even keep their systems updated. No one is sayin XP can't be used offline, but that's not how most home users are using them, or will continue to use them. A Guy

Exactly.

Anyway if these people continue to use these machines to surf the web and get their e-mail, they WILL be vulnerable to attacks.

Putting finances aside, I personally can't see why anyone is still running XP. Pretty much anything you "need" XP for is way outdated by now. You also have the decreased performance due to memory limitations - not everyone has/had XP 64.

So yeah, aside from us geeks, the average PC users running XP are pretty much at risk. And for these people "taking the machine offline" is NOT an option.