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XP death in April

jocko

By jocko
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jocko Gold Member

jocko

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Hello All

I am looking for a simple answer to the following question.

My PC in the house has XP os and as we all know it has no support after April so in preparation of this I bought a Linux mint to put on there unfortunately I left it in the UK as I still spend a lot of time there. When I am here now I use my Nexus tablet for browsing so don't use the PC for much as my Wife usually on there reading the Thai papers and singing to the latest Thai songs in other words no Facebook or social media she has no interest in it Thank Buddha but I have some stuff on there from the past , e-mail etc my idea was to get Google Firefox on the Linux and let her do her thing now I am no expert and don't know much about Linux but I have mint 10 on a old notebook and it works fine needless to say the Wife just wants to keep doing same same.

Can I buy a disc here would there be much danger to carry on with XP or do I take it to the shop for Windows 7. I try to keep the PC clean have virus protection band and scan with malawerebyts and run cleaner when I am here and so far I have no problems with bad infection the PC is about 6 year old but works fine for what I want.

HP Pavilion 63821, 320gb 3g HD, 1024mb

All advice welcome

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dharmabm Silver Member

dharmabm

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I would love to give a simple answer, but as the question seems pretty complex...

First, you don't need to 'buy' any linux disc, it is available free for download and can be installed by either burning to CD or creating a bootable USB thumbdrive. You can either save any data to an external source and wipe the HP drive, or resize the partitions and dual-boot windoze and linux.

I would certainly recommend dumping XP, advise against upgrading to Win7 with that old hardware, and suggest going with linux but XP will continue to function as long as you want it to. There will no longer be any security patches released, but XP has never been a model of security anyway, so if you keep all other software up to date and maintain your antivirus and antimalware applications you will probably be able to keep running it for years.

Simple enough?! blink.png

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jocko Gold Member

jocko

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I would love to give a simple answer, but as the question seems pretty complex...

First, you don't need to 'buy' any linux disc, it is available free for download and can be installed by either burning to CD or creating a bootable USB thumbdrive. You can either save any data to an external source and wipe the HP drive, or resize the partitions and dual-boot windoze and linux.

I would certainly recommend dumping XP, advise against upgrading to Win7 with that old hardware, and suggest going with linux but XP will continue to function as long as you want it to. There will no longer be any security patches released, but XP has never been a model of security anyway, so if you keep all other software up to date and maintain your antivirus and antimalware applications you will probably be able to keep running it for years.

Simple enough?! blink.png

Ok i understand and thank you i bought the disc for 5 Pound it was just a easy option my intention was to ditch XP anyway.

I havent read anything about XP extention for one more year but thanks .

Food for thought

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Jiu-Jitsu Platinum Member

Jiu-Jitsu

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Microsoft have extended for 1 more year.dont panic

Do refrain from posting such nonsense.

They are simply supporting Microsoft Security Essentials for Consumers beyond the 8th of April 2014.

If you are not able to understand what you read, then at least provide a link so that others can comprehend.

Link to the article here.

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Jiu-Jitsu Platinum Member

Jiu-Jitsu

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It is an HP Pavilion a6382l

Fully capable of running Windows 7 with an upgrade of RAM to 2GB. Also the Graphics card is easily upgradeable if necessary, as it has a PCI Express x16 slot. Though the slot is already populated with a Graphics card.

Still a capable machine.

If you are able to follow some relatively simple instruction, we can update the Motherboard firmware so as to install Windows 7 properly, without the need to visit a Thai shop to install a dodgy copy.

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jocko Gold Member

jocko

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More good info gent's and thank you.

I

As ii mentioned in my OP the wife is the main user of the PC for reading and singing the latest Thai songs not good on the ear I may add she doesn't download them just sings them she also play's silly simple games can all this be done with Linux

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Jiu-Jitsu Platinum Member

Jiu-Jitsu

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More good info gent's and thank you.

I

As ii mentioned in my OP the wife is the main user of the PC for reading and singing the latest Thai songs not good on the ear I may add she doesn't download them just sings them she also play's silly simple games can all this be done with Linux

For that you can continue to use XP or update the Motherboard and install Windows 7.

The program that she uses may not be compatible with Linux, so WINE may need to be utilised...if it works at all.

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jocko Gold Member

jocko

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Thanks that was what I thought so as there is nothing serious on the PC I may just leave it .

After your previous post I run a check from windows site about win7 on the PC and as you said it would need more ram and some new drivers and would have to be custom installed.

Maybe later.

Next time I come to Thailand I will bring my win7 laptop.

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Jiu-Jitsu Platinum Member

Jiu-Jitsu

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Thanks that was what I thought so as there is nothing serious on the PC I may just leave it .

After your previous post I run a check from windows site about win7 on the PC and as you said it would need more ram and some new drivers and would have to be custom installed.

Maybe later.

Next time I come to Thailand I will bring my win7 laptop.

Custom installed?? All this you could do yourself in a few minutes. Windows 7 and Update would likely take care of the Drivers or just going to the HP website may reveal anything not generally available.

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t8769 Senior Member

t8769

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Why not just use Win7?

It works fine, never crashes, you can get all the latest security upgrades and other stuff.

I've used it for years on over 10 machines, and never had a serious problem.

Take your PC to any IT guy and he'll install it for a few hundred Bhat - put in free antivirus - and away you go.

That's what I do.


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Chicog Star Member

Chicog

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XP won't stop working it just won't have any updates, security patches etc. from Microsoft.

Unless it's a work critical piece of equipment of you store highly sensitive information I suggest you keep using it and don't worry.

Oh yes, just what we need another zombie chucking out spam and malware.

thumbsup.gif

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Richard W Platinum Member

Richard W

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Drivers can be a real issue. When I replaced an XP machine, I lost ink level information for my printer (not supported by the replacement Windows 7 or Ubuntu drivers) and my HP scanner simply ceased to work on Windows 7, but fortunately there is a driver for it on Linux.

I then bought a second-hand XP machine and converted it to dual boot. Unfortunately wifi via a USB dongle stopped working on the Linux side, and it took me a long time to work out why. Under the threat of open season on XP machines, I finally worked out an explanation. It seems that USB stopped working at the high data rates (probably a creeping hardware failure) - dmesg revealed repetitive faults - 'cannot enumerate' in my case. It seems that Windows worked out that it had to reduce the data rate, but Linux could not work out that that needed to be done. I had to disable the USB 2.0 driver on Linux, ehci_hcd by blacklisting it in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf and inserting code into /etc/rc.local to unbind the driver. In some kernels, modprobe -r ehci_hcd will do the trick, but in others the kernel module is compiled into the kernel rather than explicitly loaded.

It is highly probable that the first Windows security patch in May 2014 will be analysed to work out how to exploit XP machines, which will in general not have the correction applied. Most viruses etc. exploit security holes that have already been patched in properly maintained systems. By definition, XP systems will cease to be properly maintained systems from 8 April 2014.

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Razer64 Explorer Member

Razer64

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Do try the new UBUNTU Tahr distro that is now released? soon to be released? I'm not sure which. But what I do know about it is that I have read all the reviews, it is solid as a rock, and it is being touted as the replacement for the soon-to-be-deceased Windows XP.

Why they want to put a stop to Windows XP is beyond me. It's one of the most stable operating systems Microsucks has ever put out and it is my favorite Windows ever (and you are hearing that from a guy who hates Windows with a passion!). Stupid to end XP. Great little system.

Your wife, no matter how inept she is with computers, will have no problems learning and using UBUNTU, even from scratch, without having to wean herself off Windows. I am inept with computers at best, and even I started with Linux from nothing, never even having seen it before, fresh off the store shelf. I stuck the disc into the drive, installed it, encrypted my drive for security, and was off and running literally in minutes -- and wiping Windows clean off my drive forever -- and I haven't looked back even for a second.

Linux MINT will be another distro she can start with just as easily as UBUNTU. In fact, MINT is an offshoot of UBUNTU, only it's a lot better than UBUNTU. I love MINT!

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jocko Gold Member

jocko

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Do try the new UBUNTU Tahr distro that is now released? soon to be released? I'm not sure which. But what I do know about it is that I have read all the reviews, it is solid as a rock, and it is being touted as the replacement for the soon-to-be-deceased Windows XP.

Why they want to put a stop to Windows XP is beyond me. It's one of the most stable operating systems Microsucks has ever put out and it is my favorite Windows ever (and you are hearing that from a guy who hates Windows with a passion!). Stupid to end XP. Great little system.

Your wife, no matter how inept she is with computers, will have no problems learning and using UBUNTU, even from scratch, without having to wean herself off Windows. I am inept with computers at best, and even I started with Linux from nothing, never even having seen it before, fresh off the store shelf. I stuck the disc into the drive, installed it, encrypted my drive for security, and was off and running literally in minutes -- and wiping Windows clean off my drive forever -- and I haven't looked back even for a second.

Linux MINT will be another distro she can start with just as easily as UBUNTU. In fact, MINT is an offshoot of UBUNTU, only it's a lot better than UBUNTU. I love MINT!

UPDATE.

I downloaded Slacko Puppy on to a usb and use that as a live OS you can almost put this on a PC of any age as it works from your ram.

On saying that i am just a general surfer nothing to tricky and it works great for me its got all i want..

And its a takeaway OS.

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JSixpack Ruby Member

JSixpack

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Do try the new UBUNTU Tahr distro that is now released? soon to be released? I'm not sure which. But what I do know about it is that I have read all the reviews, it is solid as a rock, and it is being touted as the replacement for the soon-to-be-deceased Windows XP.

Why they want to put a stop to Windows XP is beyond me. It's one of the most stable operating systems Microsucks has ever put out and it is my favorite Windows ever (and you are hearing that from a guy who hates Windows with a passion!). Stupid to end XP. Great little system.

Your wife, no matter how inept she is with computers, will have no problems learning and using UBUNTU, even from scratch, without having to wean herself off Windows. I am inept with computers at best, and even I started with Linux from nothing, never even having seen it before, fresh off the store shelf. I stuck the disc into the drive, installed it, encrypted my drive for security, and was off and running literally in minutes -- and wiping Windows clean off my drive forever -- and I haven't looked back even for a second.

Linux MINT will be another distro she can start with just as easily as UBUNTU. In fact, MINT is an offshoot of UBUNTU, only it's a lot better than UBUNTU. I love MINT!

How to install Linux Mint on your XP PC
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