XP is coming to an end on 4-8...What to do?

[DennisArrow]

Yes, that "End of Support Notification" thing was something that for once I did not download...........I figured it was something possibly malicious............Lately I am running Firefox and NOT Explorer...........In addition I saw the thing above about NO ads.......so......:

https://adblockplus.org/en/firefox

Did that with NO problems, yet, and golly it really works and firefox loads and goes super fast now..........THANKS guys.....God bless.....
Dennis

 

[PastTense]

I think:
1. You should have a backup computer with your more important software installed. So if something goes bad on your primary computer (whether it is viruses, a bad drive or whatever) you can still do computer work.
2. You should have up-to-date antivirus software installed such as free Avast:
AVAST 2014 | Download Free Antivirus Software for Virus Protection
3. You should automatically daily back up your data to an external drive. I use Syncback (free) to do this:
SyncBack Free - freeware version of the ultimate data backup software
4. You should from time to time use disk imaging software to backup your programs such as Macrium Reflect (free):
Macrium Reflect FREE Edition - Information and download

 

[California]

My addition to the topic: Get started NOW TODAY on bringing an XP unit up to the latest updates.

I'm in the middle of this and it looks like its going to take 24 hours - with 5mbs DSL - to download a huge volume of updates. As I understand it these won't be available after a few days.

I have a retired XP laptop as the unit left out at the ranch for guests etc. And I just now remembered why it was so badly out of date - because MS's Windows Update site kept responding 404 Page Not Available. I couldn't install Service Pack 3 (required for subsequent updates) and had given up after many hours wasted. That's why the unit was retired.

Yesterday I researched this and found an unexpected answer. An AMD processor needs a specific update downloaded first before Windows Update will run properly.

After installing that, Start/All Programs/Windows Update runs as expected. I'm in the middle of hundreds of mb's of High Priority then Optional installs. At least only a couple of them have needed my approval to restart the unit, most just finish and go on to the next one.

Recommend get started on this, if needed!

And - as for use after formal support ends - I don't see a big problem with this. Don't download from somewhere likely to have viruses, and I think the odds of a problem are minimal. The unit should run until it wears out. There are still units in use running 95 and 98.

 

[Arky217]

Switched from XP to Linux Mint on a Pentium 4 machine over a year ago and never looked back. It made the P4 so much faster, it was like buying a new computer. And no, you don't have to be a computer guru to run Linux; everything is now done through the graphical desktop environment. The price was nice too !

Arky

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I updated an xp machine yesterday to sp3. I expect to keep it awhile. I still have a winme machine. I keep them off the net most of the time.

 

[von-mil]

My addition to the topic: Get started NOW TODAY on bringing an XP unit up to the latest updates.

I'm in the middle of this and it looks like its going to take 24 hours - with 5mbs DSL - to download a huge volume of updates. As I understand it these won't be available after a few days.

The info I read was a little different. The older Windows XP updates that you are downloading will not disappear after April 8. Windows Update should still work and make these updates available to you well into the future. What will disappear are any new XP updates.

 

[slowzuki]

I'm running a 2003 Mac machine at home with an OS that was end of lifed 3+ years ago. Nothing spectacular happens. Its not our main machine so its not browsing the internet picking up viruses etc.

I also run XP on a virtual machine on my other Mac, I'm not too worried about it. Make regular backups, run virus scanner, don't download stuff, stay off sketchy websites life goes on.

 

[Dutch445]

My addition to the topic: Get started NOW TODAY on bringing an XP unit up to the latest updates.

I'm in the middle of this and it looks like its going to take 24 hours - with 5mbs DSL - to download a huge volume of updates. As I understand it these won't be available after a few days.

I have a retired XP laptop as the unit left out at the ranch for guests etc. And I just now remembered why it was so badly out of date - because MS's Windows Update site kept responding 404 Page Not Available. I couldn't install Service Pack 3 (required for subsequent updates) and had given up after many hours wasted. That's why the unit was retired.

Yesterday I researched this and found an unexpected answer. An AMD processor needs a specific update downloaded first before Windows Update will run properly.

After installing that, Start/All Programs/Windows Update runs as expected. I'm in the middle of hundreds of mb's of High Priority then Optional installs. At least only a couple of them have needed my approval to restart the unit, most just finish and go on to the next one.

Recommend get started on this, if needed!

And - as for use after formal support ends - I don't see a big problem with this. Don't download from somewhere likely to have viruses, and I think the odds of a problem are minimal. The unit should run until it wears out. There are still units in use running 95 and 98.

I just booted my xp desktop machine up for the first time in months, and it found 170mb worth of updates to do! i started it when i was home for lunch and will check in with
it this evening. once it's up to date i plan to transfer all the pictures and files onto a newer laptop that has 1TB hard drive. not sure what the purpose of that old machine will be
now that we both have laptops that are years ahead in performance and speed . (the desktop is probably 12 years old)
at 40 MB hard drive, it isn't even good to use as an external hard drive or backup anymore....

 

[rekees4300]

not sure what the purpose of that old machine will be

Take it to Staples and they will recycle it for free.

Easy on the Planet | Staples.comｮ

 

[KubotainNH]

There's a few options for this. According to Avast they will support your XP boxes for years but not sure if that part will be a pay service. Win 7 - 32bit should work fine if you want to try upgrading one, I really like it. There's multiple Linux distros that are very good for e-mail, surfing and office documents. You can burn an ISO to CD and boot off of it to try it out, it doesn't like some built in video cards. Lastly I'll put in another plug for Adblock Plus for Firefox, it really limits the junk that pops up.