The Cellar - View Single Post - Windows xp will only connect to the internet in safe mode w/ networking

mbpark · 08-25-2012, 08:22 PM

The best defense against these types of viruses that I have found is either Linux or Windows 7. Both of them are significantly more resilient than Windows XP, which admittedly is years behind on security technologies and had to be retrofitted to fix entire classes of issues in 2004 (quite badly, I may add).

The reason I say this is because of two factors:

1. Virtualization is now free. You can run VirtualBox for free and run XP in a Virtual Machine if you need to on Win7, Win8, or Linux. You can take "snapshots" so that if a VM screws up, you can roll back to a previous version in minutes. You can run XP, DOS, and all sorts of other OSes in a VM without screwing up your primary OS.

2. DOSBOX and WINE are now at a point where they will run your legacy software that would not run on Windows better than Windows XP or 7 will. You're SOL if you have older legacy hardware that requires you to hit the PCI or ISA buses, but it's easier to load up DOSBOX or WINE to run older DOS and Windows apps. DOSBOX runs on MacOS and Windows 7 too.

I used to use Windows XP on all my machines for years. I have 5 work machines these days. The only one that now primarily runs XP is a Dell Netbook that I use just to prove our encryption software doesn't kill PC performance. I dual-boot my Ubuntu laptop with it too. Windows 7 is just that much better for what I am using it for, and it's got the benefit of 8 additional years of security research built into it.

For what it is worth, Microsoft did get it right with Windows 7 64-bit and IE 9 in terms of overall security. It came at the expense of backward compatibility with 16-bit programs and older web apps, but the addition of newer tech fixes many issues. Linux has similar technologies (and I really think Ubuntu got it right there which is why I run it). Mac OS X only caught up to Windows 7 with Mountain Lion when they implemented ASLR technologies in their OS.

08-25-2012, 08:22 PM	#8
mbpark Lecturer Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Carmel, Indiana Posts: 761	The best defense against these types of viruses that I have found is either Linux or Windows 7. Both of them are significantly more resilient than Windows XP, which admittedly is years behind on security technologies and had to be retrofitted to fix entire classes of issues in 2004 (quite badly, I may add). The reason I say this is because of two factors: 1. Virtualization is now free. You can run VirtualBox for free and run XP in a Virtual Machine if you need to on Win7, Win8, or Linux. You can take "snapshots" so that if a VM screws up, you can roll back to a previous version in minutes. You can run XP, DOS, and all sorts of other OSes in a VM without screwing up your primary OS. 2. DOSBOX and WINE are now at a point where they will run your legacy software that would not run on Windows better than Windows XP or 7 will. You're SOL if you have older legacy hardware that requires you to hit the PCI or ISA buses, but it's easier to load up DOSBOX or WINE to run older DOS and Windows apps. DOSBOX runs on MacOS and Windows 7 too. I used to use Windows XP on all my machines for years. I have 5 work machines these days. The only one that now primarily runs XP is a Dell Netbook that I use just to prove our encryption software doesn't kill PC performance. I dual-boot my Ubuntu laptop with it too. Windows 7 is just that much better for what I am using it for, and it's got the benefit of 8 additional years of security research built into it. For what it is worth, Microsoft did get it right with Windows 7 64-bit and IE 9 in terms of overall security. It came at the expense of backward compatibility with 16-bit programs and older web apps, but the addition of newer tech fixes many issues. Linux has similar technologies (and I really think Ubuntu got it right there which is why I run it). Mac OS X only caught up to Windows 7 with Mountain Lion when they implemented ASLR technologies in their OS.