Windows XP kaput come April '14

[NY_Yankees_Fan]

Microsoft extends updates for Windows XP security products until July 14, 2015

Microsoft Security Essentials for Windows XP Updates Until July 2015

 

[newbury]

Microsucs is ok if it comes with your computer. Various forms of Linux rock. I usually install Ubuntu on all my machines, but I've been using Linux since version 0.9? (about 1993?) so I may be biased

Look at Google Chrome also.

 

[WM75Guy]

I just rebuild our old Dell D620 Win XP laptop. The hard drive crashed and the battery would not charge. Cost about $120 for a 40GB hard drive, new battery and 2 Megs RAM as it had 512K from the factory. I upgraded to Win 7 as it is good through 2020 and it runs OK. It's now in the kitchen for recipes and surfing the net. Check Goodwill and see if they have an old machine that doesn't work that still has the key sticker for Win 7. You can download the software from the Microsoft support website.

 

[Alan L.]

I did see where Microsoft will continue to update security essentials til July '15. However my impressions was that with an XP computer that will constantly be on the internet, not having security patches past April will result in attacks on the computer than neither Microsoft's fully updated securities essentials, nor any other anti virus or anti malware software will be able to control.

Making an image using Acronis is a good idea. However after MANY hours with that program and other imaging programs from Symantec that restoring the image is a huge problem, even while on the phone with tech support. Must be working for somebody though else people wouldn't still be buying these prorams.

Thanks for the all the comments.

 

[grsthegreat]

the easiest way to prevent all atacks on your computer and never bother with any updates is a program called sandboxie. Sandboxie - Sandbox software for application isolation and secure Web browsing

theres a little bit of a learning curve, but basically it creates a computer inside a computer. nothing you downloads ever really gets installed in the real computer unless you want it to. Nothing can ever take over the computer. Ive used it on all my computers for over 5 years, and ive never had a virus attack, malware attack or any other crap harm my computers.

 

[Daver1963]

If you have to continue to reset the time and date, the button battery on the motherboard will need to be replaced.
XP will run as long as the computer lasts. Win 98 still works fine as long as you can get drivers for the hardware.
If your main concern is anti-virus, there are plenty of free anti-virus programs just as good as Norton or McAfee and better than Microsoft AV.
The only software program you may want to consider is something like Acronis True Image to make a backup of your setup in case of hard drive failure so you have all XP updates. I use it every couple months so when the hard drive fails, I do not have to reinstall Win 8 and all software from scratch, which takes a day or more. Already have used it once.
Computer viruses are always developing via the internet. They were just as problematic in DOS (remember stoned virus ??) and it is not any software companies fault. I believe cars are recalled many times for things that should have been caught before production.
Good luck.

I too would recommend getting the Acronis software and backing up every few months. Not only for the possible hard drive crash, but sometimes you get a virus, malware, or spyware that NO anti-virus will fix and it is just easier to plug in the Acronis disc and start at the point of your last backup.
I would also suggest:
An external hardrive for the backups or a large capacity (32gb) thumb drive.
Go into the bios and change the primary boot order to 1) CD-DVD drive 2)Hard Drive
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