Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: pauls on 03 April 2014, 10:15:12
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Just had a warning on my windows security essentials saying it will not be supporting windows xp from the 8th april 2014. I was happy with this av and was wondering is their another one out there thats free and easy to use as this one.
Also do I now need to dump my xp pc and buy something else or can I just carry on using this one.
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The magazine "Computer Active" has been running a series of articles over the past few issues outlining options and survival strategies for continuing to use XP safely. Without Microsoft's support, your PC will be vulnerable to hackers and other wrongdoers, so I would recommend that you try to find back issues of the magazine, possibly at your local library.
Ron.
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You can carry on using it, its just the Microsoft Security that is no longer supporting an outdated operating system... install your own like McAfee AV or Norton AV... but Windows XP is very outdated now even though IMHO its a good operating system and very user friendly....
You could possibly upgrade to Windows 7 64 bit using your current PC's set-up or upgrade the PC you have at the moment and install Windows 8<<<< but that is more confusing than sitting in a hall of mirrors....
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So long as you have it installed on XP before the 8th April update will keep coming for some time (currently not specified).
However MS wont be patching it anymore so over time it may become more vulnerable to attach.
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Security updates no longer supported, but you can pay for extended cover if you want. XP is a decade out of date, and a victim of its own success, so jump to Windows 7 64-bit (avoid Win 8 like the plague) if you want to upgrade to another solid Windows environment. XP isn't gonna suddenly stop working, but it's just gonna be susceptible to viruses etc when later security patches are released to counter vulnerabilities i.e. announcing that a patch is released to counter issues X Y and Z while simultaneously pointing out that XP isn't supported is like saying that XP is susceptible to issues X Y and Z, which is a green light for malicious software authors to attack XP.
As others have said, just ensure your machine is covered with anti virus software that IS regularly updated. AVG is a good free one (avoid installing the 'helpful' toolbar tho, hehe!)
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Its time to bin old XP stuff now (for general purpose stuff). TBH, it was time to bin XP about 5 years ago, and any machine still running XP must be several years old.
Time to move on, Windows 8.1 is the current version, and once used to its split personality, is excellent.
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This is exactly the issue I am working on right now. I cant go in to detail but I would certainly change if you can. Staying on XP even with a decent AV etc is too risky. AV will only protect from known threats so no protecction from 'zero day' attacks. Plus AV cannot clear all infections, often they just contain the problem until MS updates the OS and neutralises the threat.
The best mitigation we can find without upgrading seems to be Stormshield (Arkkon/Cassadian) and Trend Micro's DeepSecurity. Both are pretty good but Stormshield seems to be better in that once installed it can be left alone. It does what an OS should do by monitoring and preventing things like buffer overflows. It can also be installed on stand alone machines.
Problem is tjhat even though they are relatively cheap they are both only available on Enterprise licenses and thus not available to individuals. So upgrade, now, before you regret it :y
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Which reminds me, my bro reminded me I haven't upgraded his tills yet ;D
*sigh*, no bugger sells desktop PCs now...
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Which reminds me, my bro reminded me I haven't upgraded his tills yet ;D
*sigh*, no bugger sells desktop PCs now...
Turn them all in to thin clients running isolated VMs.....it's so easy........... ::)
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Its time to bin old XP stuff now (for general purpose stuff). TBH, it was time to bin XP about 5 years ago, and any machine still running XP must be several years old.
Time to move on, Windows 8.1 is the current version, and once used to its split personality, is excellent.
I have had my new HP computer for 1&1/2 months now and 8.1 is ok it is just that it is so very different from others it takes a little time to get used to, I am no expert at all so if I can get to grips with it then most people should be ok with it. :y
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Which reminds me, my bro reminded me I haven't upgraded his tills yet ;D
*sigh*, no bugger sells desktop PCs now...
Turn them all in to thin clients running isolated VMs.....it's so easy........... ::)
Not an option due to the hardware interaction. Not to mention the app is purposely coded to have a monk on with Citrix (although that's easily fixed).
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Its time to bin old XP stuff now (for general purpose stuff). TBH, it was time to bin XP about 5 years ago, and any machine still running XP must be several years old.
Time to move on, Windows 8.1 is the current version, and once used to its split personality, is excellent.
I have had my new HP computer for 1&1/2 months now and 8.1 is ok it is just that it is so very different from others it takes a little time to get used to, I am no expert at all so if I can get to grips with it then most people should be ok with it. :y
Win8 is a fantastic OS, let down by a poor user interface. Win8.1 (free upgrade from Win8, available from Windows Store) is a decent improvement, but still suffers the split personality between desktop and the interface formally known as Metro.
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The latest version of Win 8.1, which is about to ship, apparently makes the desktop side much better where it is much more divorced from Metro. They are going to have to work on making metro much better for phones and tablets, where it still has too many legacy awkward to use systems which means iOS is still much better from a consumer ease of use point of view. They seem to have ended up with the worst of both worlds with Win 8.0 and are now trying to repair the damage.
IMO Microsoft has been forced into taking this action, where there Windows customer base has been shrinking rapidly and people have been upgrading to Windows 7 over Windows 8. In terms of computing devices Android has a over 50% of the market and growing, Microsoft about 30% and Apple most of the rest. 5 years ago Microsoft had about 90% of the market.
In the phone / tablet market again they have made an offensive move by making the OS free, where this is now dominated by Android, followed by iOS to try and gain some market share. Realistically it is too little too late where Android has too much momentum with a flood of different tablets at different price points expected in 2014 from Samsung, so there is one for everyone with Apple dominating the top end of the market. Samsung is using the same methodology they have used to dominate the smartphone market in terms of volume sales, whereas Apple have concentrated much more on maximising profits. Apple and Samsung are the only two smartphone manufacturers that are profitable.
On the 4th generation console front the PS4 is winning at a ratio of about 2:1, with more competition arriving for the smart lounge TV / entertainment market which Sony and Microsoft are trying to dominate from things like the Apple TV and the Amazon Firebox. The TV / film / entertainment market is going to be the next major battleground with the main winners being the consumers and the TV content providers and the losers terrestrial TV, satellite and cable companies. This is why broadband delivery and entertainment packages from BT and Sky along with other new entrants is being fought over so keenly. Where will PC's, laptops and Windows fit in this increasingly blurred computing device environment?
MS Office is their one bright spot, but this is also coming under increasing attack, by cloud services that include the providers office suite.
Now Microsoft have a new CEO who has been making these changes to strategy very quickly, so this may improve their lot, time will tell, but they are going to have to learn that ease of use and the customer is king, can they do that?
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Which reminds me, my bro reminded me I haven't upgraded his tills yet ;D
*sigh*, no bugger sells desktop PCs now...
I tend to use misco for desktops. I've dumped lenovo's in as tills for the past 6 years-since they bought ibms desktop arm-and they have been very reliable.
Normally pick up cash back deals, every so ogre on lenovo's.
HP have some decent cashback on towers and sff's at the mo. i3, 4gig ram and windows 8 with downgrade rights for about £280 (ex vat).
No monitor included, but normally not an issue on a till swap.
They've proved equally, if not more reliable than the digipos stuff and infinitely better than the crap I flirted with from the aures touchpos range.
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The latest version of Win 8.1, which is about to ship,
Been out ages :-\
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Which reminds me, my bro reminded me I haven't upgraded his tills yet ;D
*sigh*, no bugger sells desktop PCs now...
I tend to use misco for desktops. I've dumped lenovo's in as tills for the past 6 years-since they bought ibms desktop arm-and they have been very reliable.
Normally pick up cash back deals, every so ogre on lenovo's.
HP have some decent cashback on towers and sff's at the mo. i3, 4gig ram and windows 8 with downgrade rights for about £280 (ex vat).
No monitor included, but normally not an issue on a till swap.
They've proved equally, if not more reliable than the digipos stuff and infinitely better than the crap I flirted with from the aures touchpos range.
It will be the likes of Dell/HP for performance and reliability under relatively harsh conditions. It won't be Lenovo.
So Dell OptiPlex (as Vostro is discontinued) or HP Business (as definitely not their Pavilion/Presario junk)
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The latest version of Win 8.1, which is about to ship,
Been out ages :-\
I believe there is a big update due at the end of the month. :-\
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The latest version of Win 8.1, which is about to ship,
Been out ages :-\
I believe there is a big update due at the end of the month. :-\
Correct, to fix some of the major usability problems that 8.1 didn't address.
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The latest version of Win 8.1, which is about to ship, apparently makes the desktop side much better where it is much more divorced from Metro. . . . .
Not about to ship - its a automatic downloadable update available due April 8th. Win 8.1 with this update incorporated won't "ship" for a while yet - loads of retail and oems no doubt exist in the retail chain still ;) Up to date retail and oems take a while to come through "the chain" - likely the major "box shifters" will offer updated pre-installs a tad earlier ;)
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Last time I ordered dells was about 6-7 years ago, (I'm sure it was a load of vostro 200's) when I think they'd decided to try cost saving by dropping quality of materials and components-out of about 30 machines about ten had issues ranging from nic failures to HDD failures. I was astonished by the failure rate at the time having replaced rock solid optiplex's and also never having encountered anything like it before. That coupled with the lack of legacy ports as an available option ruled them out for me. I believe it's around the time they decided to push their colourful consumer range and support it through cuts in their business aimed desktops.
Reliability wise I've had lenovo's sat in warehouses getting covered in dust and all sorts, on 24/7/365 for the last 5 years with no issues - serial and parallel ports as standard are an essential they meet too.
Saying that I am looking at 30 HP machines at the moment, I've found their laptops significantly better than the Lenovo equivalents of late.
One thing I find common among them all that does my head in though is all the bloatware they ship with now.
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About 5 years ago was when the legacy ports started to disappear off all machines, and Dell tend to use reference Intel designs, so they were one of the first to lose them.
Although the plastic case isn't all that special, the Vostro 200/400 that we've used have all been flawless at my Bro's business, unlike all the no-name and self build ones, where the fans and disks tend to cause constant grief, due to a horrible, black, soot-like dust that plagues one of his sites. Due to the reliability of the Vostros (and Dimensions before), that's what he wants, and as he's the one playing... ...but he's shit out of luck, so OptiPlex is the only suitable Dell.
HP do some decent stuff, but need to avoid the consumer PCs, then you start paying premiums for management that he doesn't need, so price bumps up. He wouldn't be adverse to HP kit, due to the reliability of his HP servers and the majority of his printers (the last one that annoyed him went down 2 flights of stairs... ...see a family resemblance ;D)
Lenovo are out due to reliability and quirkiness with drivers/updates. Although nice and cheap, and outage on any of his tills is unacceptable.