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[Entwood]

Hmmmm so what to do with an older PC running on XP then?   

Have a good software firewall, or a good router firewall is even better, have a really good antivirus programme, don't visit "strange" sites, take care what links you click and what attachments you open, and generally .. just be security "savvy".

At the end of the day ... are you really important enough to be actively targeted by a hacker ??  Probably not ... so the only way you'll get into trouble is through "mass attacks" that look for the vulnerable, unprotected systems (and their operators) ...  play it safe and you'll probably remain safe ..

Botnets are made by taking control of hundreds or thousands of PCs just like yours. You don't feel that you are at risk which makes you perfect for their purposes because you won't know when your PC is used to attack a more valuable target.

Rather a lot of assumptions being made there ... none of those assumptions actually apply BTW .. ..

[Andy H]

Hmmmm so what to do with an older PC running on XP then?   

Have a good software firewall, or a good router firewall is even better, have a really good antivirus programme, don't visit "strange" sites, take care what links you click and what attachments you open, and generally .. just be security "savvy".

At the end of the day ... are you really important enough to be actively targeted by a hacker ??  Probably not ... so the only way you'll get into trouble is through "mass attacks" that look for the vulnerable, unprotected systems (and their operators) ...  play it safe and you'll probably remain safe ..

Botnets are made by taking control of hundreds or thousands of PCs just like yours. You don't feel that you are at risk which makes you perfect for their purposes because you won't know when your PC is used to attack a more valuable target.

Rather a lot of assumptions being made there ... none of those assumptions actually apply BTW .. ..

Glad to hear(read) that.

[blackviper90210]

This wasn't meant to be a scare tactic for people running XP etc. Our IT company contacted us to inform us and thought I'd share it 

[Rog]

I think people are taking notice of this as according to a sales chart I saw the other day, Windows 7 sales are growing and are currently much higher than Windows 8. 

I seem to be getting along fine with Windows 8 - have had the lot of course from 1980s, fond memories of 3.1 in early 90s (config.sys and auto exec.bat management)  and moving from XP to  Win 7 via Vista.

Windows 3.1 ! New fangled stuff       

I sell computerised medical diagnostic equipment. I've recently had to work with old kit running MSDOS and needed to try and drag commands out of my creaking brain. It's remarkable that our NHS still has such old systems in use, and also in private healthcare where they constantly brag about state of the art technology in their advertising ! NOT


 

[Rods2]

Life cycle management and support is a nightmare for hi-tech long life cycle systems, this particularly applies to defense equipment.

There are big profits to be made by manufacturing or storing old integrated circuits and other components, where high prices can be charged to keep old equipment running.

When I worked for the MOD many years ago, having spares kits for the equipment's expected lifespan was an important factor in the overall procurement cost and I suspect it is an even bigger one now.

[dbug]

Hmmmm so what to do with an older PC running on XP then?   

Have a good software firewall, or a good router firewall is even better, have a really good antivirus programme, don't visit "strange" sites, take care what links you click and what attachments you open, and generally .. just be security "savvy".

At the end of the day ... are you really important enough to be actively targeted by a hacker ??  Probably not ... so the only way you'll get into trouble is through "mass attacks" that look for the vulnerable, unprotected systems (and their operators) ...  play it safe and you'll probably remain safe ..

Probably the most relevent statement re xp!  Xp sp3 is now quite secure, and stable.  As said use a decent firewall (best is router firewall), antivirus and antimalware software.

Or as suggested go to Linux. 
Or maybe win3.1 or dos 6.22 - both run damn quick and are stable on a modern system (3.1 sees 64Mb ram and flys!!)

[JamesV6CDX]

My laptop is running Windows NT 4 with service pack 6

[Kevin Wood]

My laptop is running Windows NT 4 with service pack 6

I thought the Windows 2K machine I use for LPG mapping was bad. Don't make 'em like that any more...

[Marks DTM Calib]

Life cycle management and support is a nightmare for hi-tech long life cycle systems, this particularly applies to defense equipment.

There are big profits to be made by manufacturing or storing old integrated circuits and other components, where high prices can be charged to keep old equipment running.

When I worked for the MOD many years ago, having spares kits for the equipment's expected lifespan was an important factor in the overall procurement cost and I suspect it is an even bigger one now.

True of many systems, the setups we put onto ships are curently shipping with XP and will see 25 year life or possibly longer.

Sadly, the short sighted product developemnt team are only just migrating to Windows 7 and finding it 'hard'.....bit late in the day in reality so we will continue to ship XP!

[aaronjb]

Fear not, Microsoft have extended security fixes through 2015 for anyone still using XP: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25758308

security updates will be produced until 14 July, 2015

[mikesomega]

Fear not, Microsoft have extended security fixes through 2015 for anyone still using XP: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25758308

security updates will be produced until 14 July, 2015

Thats not true. Microshaft have agreed to continue to supply updates to Security Essentials malware/av until July 2015. All security patches end this April as before.

[TheBoy]

When its replacement is 7 years old, nobody really should be using the 13yr old XP as a general purpose PC. Since XP, we've had 3.5 new versions of Windows - Vista, W7, W8 and W8.1, and W9 due to be announced when XP support dies, for release next year.

Not connecting it to the internet is no guarantee of safety either. Malicious software existed long before consumer internet.


I still use XP - Rover's Testbook diagnostics kit is flakey enough even on the hardware/software it was designed for, so at best, under Win7, it would have to run in XP Mode, which kinda bypasses the point . I have no choice to stick with XP, but this is not on a general purpose PC - its on an unconnected laptop thats unlikely to ever see another floppy/CD/USB.


Thats another reminder - W7's XP mode will be equally exposed, so you need to migrate off that if possible.


This shouldn't come as any surprise, as MS have been telling us for years that XP will cease in Spring 2014.

[TheBoy]

Fear not, Microsoft have extended security fixes through 2015 for anyone still using XP: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25758308

security updates will be produced until 14 July, 2015

Thats not true. Microshaft have agreed to continue to supply updates to Security Essentials malware/av until July 2015. All security patches end this April as before.

Wot he says ^^^

Security updates stop in April. End of. No reprive.

To be honest, there are already some massive holes in XP that MS say cannot be (viably) fixed, and have been for a year or more.

Move on, get over it. XP was always shite.