So, who else is bummed about losing windows XP? I am reading about all kinds of issues regarding security,hacking,lack of support,etc,etc for anybody using windows XP. Microsoft no longer supports it with updates,patches, and protection. You better have a real strong firewall and antivirus protection if you intend to keep using it. For now, switch to Chrome.
I am deciding whether to upgrade my operating system or just buy a new computer. I am leaning towards a new one, since they are alot cheaper than in years past, even laptops are pretty cheap, and then there are the cool touchscreen ones. I have read mixed reviews,mostly unfavorable about Windows 8. I guess another option is to go with a Mac, but they are so expensive.
Any thoughts, ideas,advice?
There is more than one way to lose your life to a killer
http://www.zodiackillersite.com/
http://zodiackillersite.blogspot.com/
https://twitter.com/Morf13ZKS
New hardware is always nice..e.g. the Samsung 9 series. Personally I upraded from XP directly to 8.1, which cost me only about 60 bucks in the starting phase of win8, very happy with it. However I installed start x, which brings back the start menu. Under right click on start menue button > options, click on the hot corners to decide if they shall show up or not, so you can easily switch between metro and desktop. Overall very well working, fast and easy..definitely worth to switch although some changes might lead to ‘i gotta look this up’. Definitely worth to change.
QT
*ZODIACHRONOLOGY*
yes I am bummed . I am not sure my old Emachine will run newer software right
it gets told it cannot run IE9 or above brousers.
I have a newer comaq PC someone gave me but needs more ram and the hard drive sounds like a typewriter
When you have the Chinese and Russians gov tring to sabetouge software ,I think your fighting a up hill battle
I was forced to get a new laptop last year and at that time the new ones all had Windows 8, there really wasn’t much of a choice unless I wanted to go Mac. I ended up getting an HP because it was reasonably priced with the mail-in rebate. Windows 8 took some getting use to but I’m good with it now. There are some features that I liked better on Windows 7 but there also features I like better on Windows 8, and I have now upgraded to 8.1 which took out some of the unnecessary steps to do certain things on 8. I love the snipping tool on Windows 8 and 8.1!!!
I all boils down to accepting change and having the willingness to learn things all over again. If you are forced to change, just do it and go with the flow!!!
Im getting a new laptop,with 8.1. Gotta get the 1TB Ram Harddrive to store all my Z materials,photos,and my Song collection,etc. Also gonna add a wireless printer to boot.
I have been reading and if you MUST run a computer with XP on it use a Google chrome browser,and a good secure & up to date Virus & Firewall. The Govt is warning against using XP in any form, and they think there is a real threat that your computer can be comprimised,taken control of, and launch attacks against business,govt,etc….be careful, or just upgrade like I am doing. I don’t know what I am going to do without a big bulky desk, and desktop computer on it with all kinds of wires undeneath. 
There is more than one way to lose your life to a killer
http://www.zodiackillersite.com/
http://zodiackillersite.blogspot.com/
https://twitter.com/Morf13ZKS
It was a big surprise to me that Windows XP lasted so long!!! Vista was supposed to be the replacement, but that OS bombed, support ended and XP just "kept on going" – even during the release of Windows 7. My wife has Windows 7 Professional on her desktop and Windows 7 Premium on her laptop!
Like you, Morf, I was sorry to see XP finally end support! However I got Win 8.1 for Christmas and, despite the major difference between 8.1 and older Windows OS’s, 8.1 is very easy to use once one realizes that the START button is no longer a pop-up with different catagories – it is a full page with
boxes representing your favorites apps. (To see all available APPS (programs installed on your PC called APPS on Win), press the down arrow to the upper right on Win 8, or the lower left-hand bottom on 8.1.
More important, Win8.1 is more stable and does not have the problems XP had! Sorry, some of your older programs and hardware will probably not work with 8.1 – especially if you had it on XP! XP was a 32-bit OS (some 64 bit XP OS were available) and 8.1 is a 64-bit. Some computers have "touch screen" so
one can touch the icons and move them along. Win 8.1 is designed and installed on Microsoft tablets designed to compete with IPADS!
"My Computer," My Documents"" and "My Pictures are gone! You can find the equivalent by going to desktop and after the word "desktop" at the bottom, click on the >> and a pop-up dialog box will show the user’s name, this computer, and so on. Under the user name, you will find "documents, pictures, etc.
Win 8.1 (those folks who have Win 8 should upgrade to 8.1 – much tighter security – appears intimidating to many at first glance – once you get to know the OS, I think you will love it and not even miss XP!!!
Trainmaster
Quicktrader and others:
If you want to change from a older OS to Win8.1, first check your system resources and make sure your present computer meets the requirements of 8.1.
If it does, I STRONGLY recommend you do NOT use the upgrade version, but get the FULL Version. If the system crashed, you first have to install the original OS, then the upgrade version of 8.1, and that is a pain. The complete version of 8.1 is well worth the investment.
For those of you who can’t part with WinXP, maybe because of older programs that you like, you can format your hard drive to operate both XP and Win 8.1.
Also, if you bought Win 8 after January, you might be entitled to a full-version 8.1 automatically installed for you! Check with your computer manufacturer and Microsoft. That is what happened to me! (Win XP is still operational – it just does not have Microsoft support and the IE8 browser is the highest you can go. The current browser is IE-11. Slowly but surely, IE8 is beginning to fail on opening web sites, so those who are reluctant to convert to IE11, via Win 7 or 8.1 (8.1 being much superior) may be forced to. As a last resort, try Google Chrome. However, those other browsers are updated, along with plug-ins, to requirements IE-11 shares.
Also, (at least with MSN, for which 8 and 8.1 are specifically designed for) mail is sorted automatically for you into folders. Thus, you may not see replies to your posts unless you search for them! That’s progress for you!
Hope that helps…..
Trainmaster
One last word about Win8.1:
When I left NIS in the late 1980’s, due to a very bad back injury (good thing I did, because the 12ND was relocating, and I was soon to face mandatory retirement), I was reassigned to NARDAC and got training in computers to be able to keep working……
If any of you have questions on WIN8 or 8.1, or any other WIN OS, feel free to PM me. I will do my best to answer any inquiries. When thing I do ask to help me narrow down your problem is to tell me your OS (Operating System), RAM (Random Access Memory) and your processors (single core-dual core or quad core and make and model, usually AMD or Intel.) If you don’t know the answers to that, I can show you just how to find out that information from the OS you give me.
Computers are great when they work, and a headache when they act up. I have built them from the "ground up." MAC users…..sorry – the Navy used IBM clones. But, that is one contribution to this membership that I would be happy to make.
Best to all
Trainmaster
This article appeared on MSN news Friday, May 2, 2014
Microsoft rescues XP users with emergency browser fix
BOSTON – Microsoft is helping the estimated hundreds of millions of customers still running Windows XP, which it stopped supporting earlier this month, by providing an emergency update to fix a critical bug in its Internet Explorer browser.
Microsoft Corp rushed to create the fix after learning of the bug in the operating system over the weekend when cybersecurity firm FireEye Inc warned that a sophisticated group of hackers had exploited the bug to launch attacks in a campaign dubbed "Operation Clandestine Fox.
It was the first high-profile threat to emerge after Microsoft stopped providing support to its 13-year-old XP operating software on April 8.
Microsoft on Wednesday initially said it would not provide the remedy to Windows XP users because it had stopped supporting the product. But on Thursday, as Microsoft started releasing the fix for the bug through its automated Windows Update system, a company spokeswoman said the remedy also would be pushed out to XP customers.
"We decided to fix it, fix it fast, and fix it for all our customers," spokeswoman Adrienne Hall said on Microsoft’s official blog.
She said there had not been many attacks exploiting the vulnerability, which Microsoft decided to patch in XP "based on the proximity" to its recent end of support.
"There have been a very small number of attacks based on this particular vulnerability and concerns were, frankly, overblown," she said in the blog.
At the end of last week, FireEye initially uncovered attacks involving recent versions of Windows that are still supported by Microsoft.
Then, three days ago, it began identifying attacks on Windows XP, which users would not necessarily have been able to thwart if Microsoft had not decided to roll out the update to XP users in addition to other customers.
FireEye said in a blog published on Thursday that it had observed new groups of hackers exploiting the vulnerability to attack targets in government and energy sectors, in addition to previously identified financial and defense industries.
Microsoft was under pressure to move quickly as the U.S., UK and German governments advised computer users on Monday to consider using alternatives to Microsoft’s Explorer browser until it released a fix.
Microsoft first had warned that it was planning to end support for Windows XP in 2007, but security firms estimated that 15 to 25 percent of the world’s personal computers still run on the version of the operating system that was released in October 2001.
(Reporting by Jim Finkle; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Leslie Adler)
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If I notice any official articles about WIN-XP, I will post them. I still strongly recommend any XP "die-hards" switch to Win 8.1
trainmaster
I said goodbye to Microsoft period – I dislike the company and have been using a Chromebook for 6 months now.
"If, after I depart this vale, you ever remember me and have thought to please my ghost, forgive some sinner and wink your eye at some homely girl."
Although I realize many folks use "IBM Clone" computers which use Microsoft software, the Mac is far superior in terms of stability, being vulnerable to viruses and bugs and planned obsolesense, the costs of a Mac are astronomical compared to a PC.
Hope your Chromebook works well.
One sad truth I found about WIN-XP:
Some drivers for my CD-ROM and DVD/CD recorder were deleted.
Don’t be fooled! Microsoft does not support XP in any way and that includes drivers! There are NO drivers available for XP! Perhaps one can find a disc of drivers on E-BAY,
but no guarantee the one you need will be included.
So, like any other XP user, I will have to make a complete current back-up of my contents on an external hard drive, then roll-back (recover) the XP back to factory defaults….that
miserable action will restore the deleted drivers. That is about the only way to make the CD/DVD media work!
You may wonder, "why all the trouble?"………………….XP runs programs I like that WIN-8.1 won’t accept – a printer is included among the rejects of 8.1!!!
Here is a little "hack" to help extend WindowsXP for 5 years worth of updates:
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/18 … of-updates
I hope someone finds the info helpful or interesting. Also, as a caveat, use at your own risk.
As for myself, to me WindowsXP was the pinnacle of a stable O/S that was fun and functional too!
I know one thing, I am NOT a fan of Windows 8.1
There is more than one way to lose your life to a killer
http://www.zodiackillersite.com/
http://zodiackillersite.blogspot.com/
https://twitter.com/Morf13ZKS
Windows 8.1 grows on you Morf. I was a bit frustrated with it at first and there is still a thing or two that drive me nuts but it’s like most everything else, the more you use it the more accustom to it you become.
