Windows XP diehards: Can you survive the April 2014 deadline?

[cyrilhubert]

Win7 is no longer updating so what's the big deal for XP? Get a new AV that is backward compatible!

 

[x BlueRobot]

Win7 is no longer updating so what's the big deal for XP? Get a new AV that is backward compatible!

The support for Windows 7 doesn't end until 2020, so everyone will still be receiving updates until then.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Win7 is no longer updating so what's the big deal for XP? Get a new AV that is backward compatible!

Funny, I get new updates every month shortly after the second Tuesday and, occasionally, afterward.

Good luck finding an AV for XP after 04/08/2014. A few might cover XP for a short while after that but don't count on it.

 

[x BlueRobot]

Windows XP struggles to support most of the modern hardware, and is very unstable in comparison to Windows 7.

 

[cyrilhubert]

Win7 is no longer updating so what's the big deal for XP? Get a new AV that is backward compatible!

Funny, I get new updates every month shortly after the second Tuesday and, occasionally, afterward.

Good luck finding an AV for XP after 04/08/2014. A few might cover XP for a short while after that but don't count on it.

I only get an update a month, sometimes an update in two months! The last update for me was in April 2013.
Just got an update that is 131 MB in size. I check windows update every time I am online. Very odd indeed!

 

[x BlueRobot]

I've just had a check, and have 16 Windows Updates available to install

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Win7 is no longer updating so what's the big deal for XP? Get a new AV that is backward compatible!

Funny, I get new updates every month shortly after the second Tuesday and, occasionally, afterward.

Good luck finding an AV for XP after 04/08/2014. A few might cover XP for a short while after that but don't count on it.

I only get an update a month, sometimes an update in two months! The last update for me was in April 2013.
Just got an update that is 131 MB in size. I check windows update every time I am online. Very odd indeed!

Very odd as in something's wrong. I get at least half a dozen every month.

 

[jimbo45]

Windows XP struggles to support most of the modern hardware, and is very unstable in comparison to Windows 7.

Hi there
Don't forget that by running Windows XP as a Virtual Machine you can run it INDEFINITELY into the future - you don't need to connect XP to the Internet and by sharing network drives etc you can transfer data to and from the XP machine. By not connecting to the internet you wouldn't have to worry about security updates either.

A lot of people run XP systems for dedicated Engineering / Lab / other specialized hardware that can work perfectly for DECADES such as Lab measuring gear. This stuff isn't in any way "compromised" by not having updates / security systems in place. The HOST machine will keep the VM isolated.

I don't see "Lack of hardware support" as a big issue -- on a modern machine a 2GB Virtual XP machine would consume so few resources you wouldn't even know you were running it and it would perform far faster than on the original hardware it was installed on.

Here's an Icelandic version of XP running as a VM -- works fine and does everything I need it to do - I'm still running some Minidisc hardware and studio apps for example MD simple Burner application -- works fine on the VM although support for the hardware has long ceased to exist on newer OS'es. I have a decent Canon Scanner as well that only works on XP and a whole load more of eseoteric hardware that I have no intention of junking for ages yet -- why should I.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[bobafetthotmail]

I don't see "Lack of hardware support" as a big issue -- on a modern machine a 2GB Virtual XP machine would consume so few resources you wouldn't even know you were running it and it would perform far faster than on the original hardware it was installed on.

Especially true if the installer was axed down to remove most unnecessary services and components. (like for example all the update services, which become useless beyond 2014, and bulk of the company network services)

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

...The HOST machine will keep the VM isolated...

Cheers
jimbo

I'm not so sure about that.

 

[techtitan100]

Windows 7 is on mainstream support until January of 2015, so that means IE11 will be released for Windows 7

 

[cyrilhubert]

Thank you xBlueRobot and Lady Fitzgerald for your concern.

 

[jimbo45]

...The HOST machine will keep the VM isolated...

Cheers
jimbo

I'm not so sure about that.

Hi there
It's actually VERY HARD to access a VM if you set something like HOST ONLY networking (an option in VMware workstation) -- that way the rest of the network is unaware of the VM's existence - it will only be seen on the HOST.

If this is STILL a matter of concern then you don't even need to connect the HOST to a network or the Internet so contamination of the VM will be almost impossible.

For the typical applications that the VM is being used for I don't really see "hacking" or Virus infections as being of any consequence whatsoever - especially if the VM is essentially running very specialized legacy applications on ancient hardware which might have been around long before the young hacker was even BORN. !!!

Cheers
jimbo