Stop hitting on windows XP!

Have you seen the utter BS that gets posted about xp when someone says they've got a problem?
Those people are either ms ops or they just dont know what they're talking about!

XP was the best OS microsoft ever created. The only reason its failing is because microsoft have deliberately decided to not support it anymore. Yes updates are still to be had but there's much more they could have done.

They purposely create new browsers so that they wont run on xp (all the other modern browsers do), they deliberately designed directX to nolonger work on xp, and they could easily have fixed its caching problem.

But they wanted to sell a new OS, and being as xp was such a good OS the only way they could create sales was to stop supporting xp.

Next time your in any kind of corporate establishment take a look at what they're running on their pc's....thats right, XP
Why? because it does its job reliably!

ABout a year ago I downloaded the studio sdk. While reading some of the blurb that came with it I came across a section that told developers where there apps should install into the new operating systems, the reason it gave was to HIDE it from the user!

Bil Gates might be upto bad things these days, but ms has certainly gone downhill since he got out.

reply to post by VoidHawk


You're absolutely on the money with this one.

XP was their best operating system. Although, the downhill slide started with XP, when they produced a "Home" and "Professional" version, which prevented you from connecting your home pc to networks with more than a few pc's connected.

All the big banks still run XP on their machines as far as I can tell - in the UK at least.

I work in IT, and I would say that XP has been their best OS to date. Vista was a disaster - and one I'll never ever regret downgrading back to XP on a new laptop a few years ago. 7 was an improvement, but not great, and 8 was just a joke. Removing the Start Button was a bold move, but ultimately a mistake, as their 8.1 update proved.

Eventually I think I'll move over to Linux, although I just can't be bothered to spend all that time backing everything up, and then transfering all my files to the new OS, and setting it all back up.

Time will tell I suppose.

reply to post by VoidHawk


As a big fan of XP, I very heartily agree.

At work I've given users a choice between Win7 and XP. (To the extent that I can still find computers that will install and run XP, I've given them dual-boot choices.) They always choose XP. Unfortunately, MS has twisted enough arms and greased enough palms that some of the newer machines won't even run Win7, only Win8. No drivers, you know. Go to the manufacturer's website and they don't even provide Win7 drivers.

One of the major problems I've found with the new OSes (7 & 8) is refusal to network properly, and even to accept RDP connections. I've spent an ungodly number of hours troubleshooting network stuff. They're either easy or impossible.

I intend to run XP until I retire; and then it's someone else's problem....

reply to post by VoidHawk

XP Pro was the best.
I still have PC's running that OS that are WAY MORE STABLE than anything else that Microsoft ever made.
I miss those days!

- From an IT "expert"

an "ex" is a has-been and a "spurt" is just a drip under pressure

PS- Using XP Pro on a 2009 Dell laptop right now. WAY LESS problems than all the Vista, 7, or 8 machines I have to deal with now.

I agree with you and use XP on my laptop...which did an "update" today.
Here is some more background from:
TheTechGuy

I've used essentially every Windows operating system and imo Windows 7 is by far the best, but XP is definitely in 2nd place. The problem with XP these days is the security issues, honestly I would never use XP any more because without constant security updates from Microsoft it will become extremely easy to hack into an XP machine. In fact if I was trying to hack into a computer network, the first thing I'd probably do is scan the network for any machines running XP.

ChaoticOrder
I've used essentially every Windows operating system and imo Windows 7 is by far the best, but XP is definitely in 2nd place. The problem with XP these days is the security issues, honestly I would never use XP any more because without constant security updates from Microsoft it will become extremely easy to hack into an XP machine. In fact if I was trying to hack into a computer network, the first thing I'd probably do is scan the network for any machines running XP.

edit on 21/11/2013 by ChaoticOrder because: (no reason given)

Security is an issue, but only because ms dont want to deal with it anymore. 7 and 8 will have security issues too but ms support them better than they do xp. But really, security starts at the router, get that right and all is more or less good.

reply to post by VoidHawk


I also agree 100% xp was and still is the best OS. I would love to be able to use it on my pc's but the new hardware would not work. I think MS should have just kept improving XP. I do like windows 7 but xp was still better.

reply to post by ChaoticOrder


That's where everybody seems to hit a wall: Security. There are a number of techniques for keeping your computers secure, if you're willing to do the work. I haven't even so much as glimpsed a virus in the past 3 years. The worst I've encountered is a browser hijack. And if I can't fix it 10 minutes, I just restore from an image. Takes 20 minutes or less, total.

Hand to God, I haven't bothered with a security update in more than 5 years.

I've often lectured people about virus fearmongering; I think that brings more people to grief than the viruses themselves do. For example, I've seen people (on bad advice) install two or three competing (and incompatible) antivirus programs, a software firewall, and then also download the McAfee junk that comes in alongside Flash Player. And if they've heard of Norton 360 (the worst thing you can do), they'll install that too.

Madness, I tell you....

I love windows XP I`ve never had any problems with it. When my computer died a few years ago I replaced it with a refurbished computer, mainly because the refurbished one had windows XP,the new computers had windows 7 or 8 or 9 or whatever number they were on.

Ex_CT2
reply to post by ChaoticOrder

 

That's where everybody seems to hit a wall: Security. There are a number of techniques for keeping your computers secure, if you're willing to do the work. I haven't even so much as glimpsed a virus in the past 3 years. The worst I've encountered is a browser hijack. And if I can't fix it 10 minutes, I just restore from an image. Takes 20 minutes or less, total.

Hand to God, I haven't bothered with a security update in more than 5 years.

I've often lectured people about virus fearmongering; I think that brings more people to grief than the viruses themselves do. For example, I've seen people (on bad advice) install two or three competing (and incompatible) antivirus programs, a software firewall, and then also download the McAfee junk that comes in alongside Flash Player. And if they're heard of Norton 360 (the worst thing you can do), they'll install that too.

Madness, I tell you....

LOL
NORTON!!!! I remember many years ago they made a serious cock up, and the only way you could get shot of it was to reinstall the os.

Competing AV's Isnt that fun

"McAfee junk" Thats gotta be responsible for my fear of clicking on things, its everywhere! I spend a lot of time looking for the hidden check boxes that usualy lurk at the other end of the page. They should make that illegal.

Tardacus
I love windows XP I`ve never had any problems with it. When my computer died a few years ago I replaced it with a refurbished computer, mainly because the refurbished one had windows XP,the new computers had windows 7 or 8 or 9 or whatever number they were on.

Well, I think they're on 8 at the moment, although I might be wrong. Eight had the start button missing so I expect nine will be minus the desktop. When 10 comes out it'll probably look like dos

reply to post by Ex_CT2

Hand to God, I haven't bothered with a security update in more than 5 years.

You should at least have the latest service pack and security updates Microsoft released for XP before they stopped supporting it. If you don't at least have those updates I can almost guarantee your system is wide open to some sort of remote exploit attack. I'm not talking about viruses here, I'm talking about if a hacker had your IP address and for some reason wanted to target your machine it would be fairly easy to break into. The first thing most hackers do is look for old XP machines without the latest updates because they are so amazingly simple to break into. Of course it's less likely that a hacker will directly target your PC, but it's still not a good idea to be running an outdated version of XP in case some one does target you directly.

reply to post by ChaoticOrder


You're probably right. It's never smart to get all cocky about it, and then have to eat your words later.

Yeah, you're probably right, since they're ending support before long. The least I should do is download the latest security roll-up and have it at hand. While I'm at it, maybe do a quick audit and see what ports I may have left discoverable inadvertently.

Well, I guess I should say thanks. I guess I was just waiting for someone to say the words....

Windows XP had it's issues from the beginning, and still does. Yes, MS could have fixed those issues, if they had been so inclined. But it wasn't financially expedient to do so. In my opinion, Windows 7 is the best thing they've ever done. Yet, it has its own issues. Issues they could still fix, instead of trying to dominate the market with a total fail of an OS called Windows 8.

I still like XP, but since it has purposely been put in obsolescence, I can't run it for what I do. What really annoyed me was how quickly they trashed XP 64 bit. Oh well. C'est la vie.

reply to post by Klassified


Sometimes I suspect that MS has an actual plan whereby they make every-other release a POS, so that we end up buying one, trashing it, and buying the next. Seems like we'll never catch onto that little trick.

But what I'm responding to is your comment about XP x64. I'm actually running x64 on this machine. And you're right: They really should have put their shoulders to the wheel on it. My only theory is that 64-bit computers were a rarity at the time. And by the time they became widely available, MS was ready to release Vista (and then let it die an ignominious death), and then onward to 7.

Actually, this is a triple-boot machine (W7x64, WinXPx64, WinXPx86). I wasn't going to install XPx86, but I needed to run Fontlab Studio5. Wouldn't install on x64. So I run FontCreator on XPx64, but I prefer Fontlab enough that I actually had to install XPx86 to use it.

Pain in the a**, but it works for me....

Windows 7 is definitely more rock solid than XP in terms of security and stability. But as an end user and a power user I still prefer XP. They killed off way too much of the functionality I depended upon daily. I could list off a whole bunch of stuff. But recently I've found annoyance with the dumbed down file search. Go ahead and try to find a non-binary file that contains a specific string of text that was modified during a specific time frame. You're gonna struggle with that one when the only option is a silly little search box. Or try detaching individual custom toolbars from the task bar - can't do it at all in Win7. And many more...

XP definitely was a better user experience. Too bad Microsoft dropped the ball.

reply to post by Terrormaster


Oh, God. Search. They have destroyed it. All that's left is some ugly, fruitless exercise that makes me want to hurl it across the room.

And there's not even a really decent 3rd-party substitute. The best I could find was Agent Ransack. Which is good, but it's nothing like the great search in XP. In fact, if I need do a satisfying search I boot into XP to do it.

Seriously, the absolute best I can say about Win7 is that they took a wrong turn and kept going. Until they got to Win8—and then they really poured it on....

Ex_CT2
reply to post by Klassified

 

Actually, this is a triple-boot machine (W7x64, WinXPx64, WinXPx86). I wasn't going to install XPx86, but I needed to run Fontlab Studio5. Wouldn't install on x64. So I run FontCreator on XPx64, but I prefer Fontlab enough that I actually had to install XPx86 to use it.

Pain in the a**, but it works for me....

Same here, but for me its WinXP, WinXP, and MINT. Thats two xp's because one of them doesn't get online, its too open to be safe, and its running xamp. I used to have two boxes set up, but what I wanted was always on the other, so I got a KVM switch, but still wasn't satisfied, so now its all on the one system. I also have virtuals running too

DP