I have given up attempting to show a certain friend that XP is dangerous to use on the net. I am just waiting for an anguished phone call, after I told him that I am no longer available for intervention if he does not use 7.

Bertison said:

I have given up attempting to show a certain friend that XP is dangerous to use on the net. I am just waiting for an anguished phone call, after I told him that I am no longer available for intervention if he does not use 7.

Well just how are you showing him that it's dangerous? See, I was one of those like-minded as you, but I ate crow when WannaCrypt came about. Turns out in that respect, XP was actually safer (since WannaCrypt didn't even work on it). It was Windows 7 users that bore the pain.

I was talking about a totally Tech-unsavvy Senior, who has been limping along with an old XP machine. This is not someone who really understands computers, never mind malware. I cleared 3 infections for him over the last few years and tried to tell him that XP is no longer supported, which means that it is open to the infections his machine suffers. I have repeatedly shown him that the 'hookey' sites he accesses, and the malware he picks up in downloads, is what causes the problems. Makes no difference: he sees something, does not pause to think and dives in.

Where I live, is a 23 - home bungalow complex of mostly Seniors. I am one of only 2 people here with the faintest idea of how to build, operate and protect devices. The other person long ago gave up trying to help people with the devices they buy and then break or infect, because they will not either follow advice, or accept advice to take free basic training available locally.

That is the kind of user I am talking about: not one of those who uses this excellent forum and usually has at least a modicum of training or experience.

FYI, XP machines were not simply immune to a wannacry attack: they crashed when hit with it:
Windows XP computers were mostly immune to WannaCry - The Verge

So were unusable after the attack, until purged. Not much of a difference, really.

Do to XP's ability to easily be infected, or crashed, all the more reason that every XP user keep backups on non infectable media. An external HD works great.

There are still AV and AS software that work just fine on XP. Out of my 20 PC's, I still have a few that run XP very nicely. And, in most cases those PC's cannot be upgraded to Windows 7 (for instance).

XP lives on in the homes and minds of millions of PC users.

Cheers Mates!