The end of Windows XP
 

Arghhhhh! That's what I'm using on my desktop. I guess I better back up all my data. It's an old system, so I'm not even sure it can handle a system upgrade. I had once asked a friend perhaps I should upgrade it to Win 7 (before Win 8 came out), but he said to best leave it as is. Anyways.....

http://news.yahoo.com/microsoft-endi...203725571.html

(Article copy and pasted below or you can just read the link.)

The end is near for Microsoft's widely used operating system, Windows XP. April 8 — the long-awaited end-of-support date for the 12-year-old OS — shouldn't take most users by surprise.

However, another Microsoft decision regarding XP may startle those die-hard XP users who refuse to upgrade. This week, the company announced that on April 8, it will also end support for the Windows XP version of Microsoft Security Essentials, the company's free security and anti-virus application.

Not only will users of Windows XP receive no more security patches after April 8, but their installations of Microsoft Security Essentials will get no more virus updates, leaving their machines doubly unprotected.

Ending support for Microsoft Security Essentials is Microsoft's not-so-subtle way of nudging XP loyalists toward its newest offering, Windows 8.1. With the free security application out of the picture, the millions of users still clinging to XP will have to find another free anti-virus software product, or risk the onslaught of malware attacks that will likely follow XP's demise.

Between 20 and 30 percent of Internet users worldwide still use Windows XP, according to recent data, including more than 50 percent of users in China. Businesses are scrambling to avoid the coming "XPocalypse," but millions of individuals will also need to update their systems to avoid unrestricted malware attacks.

If you're still using XP on your PC, Microsoft recommends upgrading to a newer version of Windows before April 8. To upgrade to the newest version of Windows from XP, you'll first need to download and run Microsoft's Window 8 Upgrade Assistant to check if your PC meets the hardware requirements for Windows 8. If your PC doesn't, you should consider buying a new computer preloaded with Windows 8.

Whether or not their PCs can support Windows 8, current XP users should also back up any data they wish to transfer to their new systems, as upgrading from XP (or Windows Vista) means losing all files, settings or programs currently stored on the old OS.

I like Windows 7 better than XP. Haven't tried 8.

Again.

xp is brilliant
Vista is shit
Windows 7 is apparently good (people I trust who know about these things say so)
Windows 8 is shit by Microsoft's own admission.
Windows 9 should be good but it'll be 15 months before it comes out on Beta.

simple answer at the moment us to buy your PC with a Windows 8 licence and get the store to install Windows 7 on the same licence number, it's all legit, most of the world is already doing it.
or best of all get a Linux or Android or Apple computer!

No different than what happened with NT and Win 2000. For example, when Win 2000 support ended, Norton also stopped adapting antivirus programs for Win 2000. If someone used the next Norton on Win 2000, Norton actually damaged that OS. Back then, McAfee malware protection still supported Win 2000 some years after Microsoft support ended.

Microsoft's Malicious Software removal tool ended for Win 2000 with something like version 4.19. Eventually Microsoft will end same for Windows XP probably around version 5.20. Get and store last updates for Security Essentials, Windows Defender, and Malicious Software removal so that protection from most malware remains. Also locate full versions of programs such as IE. Since IE installation programs that must download most of that software from MSFT will also stop working.

If your hardware is XP vintage, then it makes little sense to only upgrade the OS. Since later OSes require hardware that was not available with vintage XP hardware.

I only recently retired my last Windows NT system. Older software remains sufficient for most functions including data backup.

Windows 8 is better that Windows 7 except for its Balmer interface. Most only see the interface and not the improvements that permit hardware to execute faster. Only someone like Balmer would have approved that human interface.

From Microsoft:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/w...pgrade-advisor
To check your xp box to see if will run 7.

Many XP boxes were limited to 2 Mbytes maximum. Newer OSes need four or more. They will execute 7. Just not well; especially if also running good anti-virus software.

2-4 'Mbytes' of what? Vise Grips?

XP pro 32bit sees about 3.5 GB of memory max.

My XP system has 4Gb but about 1/2 gig is used for graphics leaving the 3.5Gb to use.
clever stuff like AutoCAD keeps crashing as it is, so it'd probably never get started with Windows 7.

Software does not crash due to insufficient memory. It simply gets slower. Crashing indicates other problems such as a hardware defect or defective driver. Eliminating crashes starts with text and especially numbers is the error message. Or may be identified by error messages in the system (event) logs.

Sorry to contradict tw but there's no doubt this crashes with memory in the error (crash) message, same in the report that gets sent to Autodesk automatically, and is sometimes preceded by a warning "autocad is running out of system memory, do you want to cancel the current command?"

i think I'll stick with what I know to be the cause.

Congratulations, now you're a fully-fledged Dwellar! ;)

That crash would be a software bug. Program that needs more memory simply gave a warning message; should not terminate.

In an crash, the entire OS must be rebooted. Pre-emptive multi-tasking means program software errors do not crash the machine; only terminate a defective task. We are working with different definitions of the word 'crash'.

Why were Windows 95/98/ME so bad? Defective programs could crash the OS. These were only cooperative multi-tasking OSes. Reliable OS means a program does not crash the OS.

Back to the topic. Later OSes need more memory and other hardware features. Upgrading an OS on limited hardware from the XP period is not recommended. Better is to also upgrade hardware.

The XP system is an ideal candidate for other functions such as a repository for data backup or a database for a security system. Or an income source on E-bay.