What do I do when Windows XP ends?

[spreadsheet]

I have browsed few sites but come
up with conflicting stuff

I thought the forum would have a consensus of what is the
best thing to do when Windows XP ceases being supported

What do I do - preferably without shelling out extra money?

[Kabaal]

Either keep using it and accept that your PC will be more and more vulnerable as time passes or move to a Linux Distribution.

[spreadsheet]

Originally Posted by Kabaal

Either keep using it and accept that your PC will be more and more vulnerable as time passes or move to a Linux Distribution.

ok

[MovedGoalPosts]

Not unduly worry about it until your PC itself dies or is no longer powerful enough for what you need. There will be hundreds of thousands of people out there still running XP. Meanwhile ensure you do have a current antivirus, and don't worry about lining Bill Gates' pension fund.

[djmagnifique]

You should be ok as long as you have a good antivirus and firewall (I use both a software firewall and the one built into the superhub2). I've had about 5 viruses since getting my first pc back in the late 90's and non of them were system killers. the two worst ones were one that renamed all my mp3 files into dos filename format a very long time ago and the other was one that installed a batch file that caused the pc to shut down as soon as it was started up. The latter was really easy to remove once I figured out what it was.

[swoop101]

They actually rolled out an IE security update last week, after the end of the support.
They said it made sense to make sure everyone was safe.
I suspect they will do so again if a really bad problem emerges.

[mart44]

End of support doesn't mean end of support if Microsoft release an update after the deadline.

The IE security patch for XP is good because it keeps those still using the OS safer. However, I think the release means people won't be so inclined to say goodbye to XP. Having received one patch, it will always be hoped further ones will be released if a vulnerability is serious enough. Again, this could be good but I can't help thinking that it is time to leave XP behind. It's been supported for 12½ years. A long time for any OS. I can't think of any other platform where an OS has been supported for that length of time.

[Hom3r]

My trusty Samsung NC-10 uses XP, but will not work with Win 8, despite the fact I have 2GB of RAM.

I did look at upgrading to Win 7, but think why bother I'm careful what I access on it.

[qasdfdsaq]

I don't see what the deal is with obsessively hanging on to out of date software. If you use up-to-date hardware like me then most of the time it won't work properly with older OS' anyway and you lose half the benefits of having it.

Then again most of the time I get Microsoft products free of charge, and even if I didn't, I couldn't care less about "lining bill gate's pocket". He lines my pockets most of the time anyway. If Windows didn't break so often I wouldn't be getting paid so much to fix it.

[mart44]

Originally Posted by heero_yuy

I'm not going to upset a perfectly running machine honed to my liking just to line Gates' pockets.

I can see your point when everything works OK but just an opinion about Microsoft's pockets. I've been using/buying Microsoft operating systems since 1995. The cost for them over that time is, more or less:

Windows 95 to 98SE - About £80 I think ..but can't be certain.
XP Pro disk - £100 (retail).
Windows 7 - £45 (bought retail on the pre-release price offer).
Windows 8 Pro - £25 (price from Microsoft as an early purchaser).

£250 since 1995 works out at about £13 a year. Maybe that's a bit more than some pay because the operating system very often comes pre-installed on new computers. I don't know how much of the cost of a new computer is the operating system. £13 a year doesn't seem excessive for all of the hours of usefulness and interest the operating systems have given. Not much else these days gives that sort of value.

The reason Microsoft is so successful is because they have sold operating systems and other products in the millions. Not (I feel) because they have been charging us too much as individuals.

[Qtx]

It's trivial to bypass most AV's using standard settings and many software firewalls if you are able to exploit a vulnerability through a browser and drive-by download, so don't feel they protect you 100%. There is always a time frame before signatures appear for newly found stuff. For something that isn't spread wide then there may not be a signature for it at all. Then there are various custom cryptors and things like powershell payloads which nearly all the AV's don't stop.

Turning heuristics on in the AV will help a lot although may also give you more false alarms.

I only moved up when I got a new PC(built by my son). Only had to replace the scanner..and I'd only just replaced the printer..so I had no other issues.
I'll wait to upgrade to another OS until I need to upgrade this PC.

[Taf]

New incarnations of Windows invariably require more power and more space, so I only upgrade when buying a new PC, and usually I get the OS for "free" i.e. bundled.

Incidentally, I am still using the FIRST versions of MsMoney and MsWorks... they do the job perfectly.

[qasdfdsaq]

Originally Posted by heero_yuy

Nothing like checking on running tasks and also who has hooked what API is there.

Good luck finding a rootkit in running tasks.

I'm still impressed how easy it is to fumble some people by just renaming your trojan "iexplore.exe"

[qasdfdsaq]

AVG (and all other online AV packages) frequently fail to detect rootkits as well.

Though I agree on the vulnerability issue. It's no different to if you forgot to run Windows Update for a few months (or years). Or had it turned off, deliberately or otherwise.

Especially if the machine has external network access control enforced properly, there's no real risk. Plenty of banks and retailers still have terminals (e.g. ATMs and POS terminals) still running XP, 2000, or even NT4. Saw a Windows 98 bluescreen on a bus display not too long ago.

If it has no network access and you don't shove dubious removeable media in it all the time, there's no real risk.

If it has network access then a proper firewall along with keeping whatever server software it is you're running up to date is enough.