Are you forced to use XP at work?

[nate42nd]

My hard drive at work died, so the IT department brought me a "new" workstation about 2 weeks ago. I though "Oh, great...I can finally get an updated system, maybe Windows 7 and more RAM and a decent CPU" I was so excited.

They brought me an Athlon 1640b system with 1GB of RAM (2 X 512MB) and Windows XP SP3.

It must have been sitting on some shelf somewhere for years. I promptly ripped into a spare machine and "borrowed" the RAM from it so I have 1.5GB now. It's almost unbearable to use this stuff for 8-9 hours per day when I go home to 4 (four) systems that have better hardware.

Are you also forced to use this kind of hardware at work...I guess they are paying me to use it but, it's hard sometimes.

 

[slithernet]

My work PC is my Laptop by choice because I don't want to use a crappy PC.

 

[echrada]

I have to agree with you, they want 'productivity' and do not give people the right tools to get that 'productivity'.

 

[DarkXeno]

Yeah Im going to bet a lot of people are stuck on using XP at work. Im one of them. It drives me nuts to use XP all day then go home to a much better system with Win7. My biggest complaint at work is being forced to use IE6 the security holes are so big Air Force One sits nicely in them, and to make things even more fun they have added a new software package that disabled all USB items so no FireFoxPortable anymore

 

[Jonathan_King]

You guys are lucky. You won't believe what I have to use at work. Highlight for answer: 2 70's John Deere 4020's and a 90's 2440.

 

[nate42nd]

I actually work for a company based in Ireland. World-wide with 40,000 employees in North America alone. I guess it's a lot of $$ but they have to upgrade sometime. I wish XP support would end.

 

[Dwarf]

My current machine at work runs XP and, compared to my previous one which ran 2K, is a reasonable performer. The 2K one was a pain in the proverbial - it took 10 minutes from switching on before it came to the first login screen.

Most of the problems with work machines stem from the fact that the installed memory is woefully inadequate (usually 128MB and ocassionally 256MB), in my opinion, to run anything more demanding than 98. Because my current machine uses the same type of memory as my home system, I was able to use the spare 1GB stick that came with my motherboard (I replaced that with a 4GB dual-channel set) to boost its performance. Login times came down from around 4 minutes (for that machine) to just under a minute. Application response improved as well.

Tip: If you are able to get into your BIOS setup on your systems, disable any hardware such as COM (serial) and parallel printer ports, floppy drive (if your system doesn't have one). This will free up valuable resources and, if your system is low on memory, it can make a difference, albeit a small one. The best way to improve performance, though, will be to install more RAM.

 

[jimbo45]

My hard drive at work died, so the IT department brought me a "new" workstation about 2 weeks ago. I though "Oh, great...I can finally get an updated system, maybe Windows 7 and more RAM and a decent CPU" I was so excited.

They brought me an Athlon 1640b system with 1GB of RAM (2 X 512MB) and Windows XP SP3.

It must have been sitting on some shelf somewhere for years. I promptly ripped into a spare machine and "borrowed" the RAM from it so I have 1.5GB now. It's almost unbearable to use this stuff for 8-9 hours per day when I go home to 4 (four) systems that have better hardware.

Are you also forced to use this kind of hardware at work...I guess they are paying me to use it but, it's hard sometimes.

Hi there
"He who pays the piper calls the tune".

Actually what BUSINESS APPS are you running that would make much difference - if it's Office 2007 there won't be any difference, whilst a load or corporate DB / apps / queries will just use the client computer as a terminal device to log on to the relevant application.

About the only thing you might miss are some of the Aero effects when switching applications - but in a workplace there wouldn't be a whole lot of difference whatever front end you used.

I think also its pretty normal for people to have MUCH better equipment at home than work -- you could always see if you could uuse your own laptop at work.

(A few years ago it was the other way around - but businesses usually have a long update cycle -- whereas at home if you want something you just go and get it pronto -- no Purchase requisition, justification, management / I.T approval / budget sign off etc etc).

Cheers
jimbo

 

[DarkXeno]

Jimbo is right, a lot of companies have changed their update cycles to a very long run now since the hardware is so powerful. A ton of desk workers doing spreadsheets don't need the latest hardware. Id just like to not have to use IE6...boy does that bug me.

 

[strollin]

My main PC at work, as well as my work supplied laptop, is running Win 2000! I could get upgraded if I pushed it but I pretty much use those 2 machines as terminals to log on to servers I have in the lab so it really doesn't make any difference to me.

 

[pparks1]

At my current job, I'm using a Dell laptop with Vista Enterprise on it. Prior to starting this job in Jan of 2009...I worked for a company and used XP by choice as I didn't want to use Vista.

The biggest issue that I can see in your post really is the crappy hardware. I've been fortunate to work in software development shops that cannot keep super old hardware around for all that long...so upgrades came every 18-36 months. For me, I think the slow hardware would be the bummer rather than the actual OS. I think I could work just fine on XP, Vista or 7. There really isn't all that much in Windows 7 that would make me more proficient or able to do my job in all honesty.

 

[nate42nd]

Tip: If you are able to get into your BIOS setup on your systems, disable any hardware such as COM (serial) and parallel printer ports, floppy drive (if your system doesn't have one). This will free up valuable resources and, if your system is low on memory, it can make a difference, albeit a small one. The best way to improve performance, though, will be to install more RAM.

Good idea Dwarf, I had not thought of this. Thanks.

 

[Dinesh]

99% companies in India uses XP and will continue to use XP come what may.

 

[nate42nd]

99% companies in India uses XP and will continue to use XP come what may.

For how long? Past the support end date? Some companies might.....pretty dangerous.

 

[Scotteq]

XP at work here, as well. SP2, even.

And yeah, I share the pain of the earlier poster who's saddled with Internet Exploder 6. You know it's bad when there are sites which tell you "Your Browser is Outdated", provide a link to get a new browser, and then steadfastly refuse to do anything else. And, of course, corporate standards being what they are I'm not even allowed to install IE7. There's work I have to do from home because of this. Just got a new cellular, and am seeing if I can ue the cellphone to download the files I need and then eMail them to myself at my work addy.

*SO* annoying....

 

[Dinesh]

99% companies in India uses XP and will continue to use XP come what may.

For how long? Past the support end date? Some companies might.....pretty dangerous.

Many companies here uses win 2000 even today.

 

[Win7User512]

You shouldn't complain. I am using Vista @ work. :-(

I want to use 7.

 

[DarkXeno]

You shouldn't complain. I am using Vista @ work. :-(

I want to use 7.

Id take Vista just for the IE7 lol now what does that say.

Scotteq just do what I do refuse to do the work due to the tech limiting you, hell i tell them if you want me to do it from home you better be increasing my pay by x2.

 

[Win7User512]

You shouldn't complain. I am using Vista @ work. :-(

I want to use 7.

Id take Vista just for the IE7 lol now what does that say.

Perhaps it says you aren't aware that IE7 runs on XP? LOL

 

[Zidane24]

99% companies in India uses XP and will continue to use XP come what may.

For how long? Past the support end date? Some companies might.....pretty dangerous.

Many companies here uses win 2000 even today.

2000 was a pretty solid OS...