XP users, time to ditch Internet Explorer!

[Naki Rat]

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/software/microsoft-rushes-to-fix-internet-explorer-after-attacks-no-fix-for-windows-xp-users/articleshow/34308915.cms

Firefox, Chrome, ...

[Big Dog]

Does anyone still use xp outside a sandbox?


Stupid phone / Tapatalk, apologies in advance.

[Gremlin]

Does anyone still use xp outside a sandbox?
I use IETab in Firefox? There are the odd things that need IE... like Microsoft products, but seriously, people should have stopped using that crap ages ago, I try to move everyone away...

[Tazz]

First thing I do on any windows install is remove IE :laugh:

I will still use XP on one machine that hasn't been updated in years anyway (just reinstall with the same SP, whatever it is, and leave it at that) without any issues. If you're not cautious it's a good idea to move on otherwise a little common sense goes a long way in regards to a healthy operating system. It is easier on the wallet.

[kevfromcoro]

I got windows 8, and its a pain in the arse...
Anyone no how to sort it?
Was going to load XP,, but wont now.
Perhaps windows 7

[Tazz]

I got windows 8, and its a pain in the arse...
Anyone no how to sort it?
Was going to load XP,, but wont now.
Perhaps windows 7

7 is good and although I haven't used it there is a mod for 8 to make it more like 7 which would probably be more painless. From memory it was 3rd party and free.

[Big Dog]

8.1 is a good mix, but upgrading will modify your user account so if you still like a local login create a burner account you can upgrade with. Pokki offers a good simulation of the program's menu I that is your main gripe.


Stupid phone / Tapatalk, apologies in advance.

[BigAl]

I got windows 8, and its a pain in the arse...
Anyone no how to sort it?
Was going to load XP,, but wont now.
Perhaps windows 7

Yeah Win7 is the way to go, 8 and even 8.1 suck.

Win8 has had a slower user uptake than Vista and no surprises that most of W8 lead development team were sacked.

[Mental Trousers]

I was still using WinXP up until 2 weeks ago when I installed a new SSD, then I changed to Linux Mint + Wine. Works well enough that the missus only notices a password is needed to unlock the machine now as it still uses Iron, MS Office etc.

The funniest thing about this is Microsoft are rushing to fix a bug.

[p.dath]

I was still using WinXP up until 2 weeks ago when I installed a new SSD, then I changed to Linux Mint + Wine. Works well enough that the missus only notices a password is needed to unlock the machine now as it still uses Iron, MS Office etc.

The funniest thing about this is Microsoft are rushing to fix a bug.

I'm almost the same. I got sick of Windows 8, so over Easter I converted to Ubuntu Desktop. I found LibreOffice has been more than good enough that I haven't needed Microsoft Office back. After that, I found about 90% of the applications I used have native Ubuntu versions already, so the conversion was relatively painless.

I currently have Wine installed, but it is not being used for any applications (as far as I am aware ...).

[SMOKEU]

I don't know why people are so sentimental about Windows XP. Not many other software development companies offer free support to cheap, consumer level software for 13 years. Get rid of the fucking XP, and move on with the times. MS hasn't made money off XP in a very long time, and they should have killed it off many years ago because it still costs them money to support obsolete software which would be better spent on supporting modern software instead of people who insist on using archaic software that has little, if any relevance in the modern world.

If a machine came out with XP, then it's probably far too old and slow to serve any purpose in the modern world anyway, except for maybe something like a file server or for playing classic games on a non internet connected PC.


I got windows 8, and its a pain in the arse...
Anyone no how to sort it?
Was going to load XP,, but wont now.
Perhaps windows 7

ClassicShell.


Yeah Win7 is the way to go, 8 and even 8.1 suck.

Win8 has had a slower user uptake than Vista and no surprises that most of W8 lead development team were sacked.

See above.

There's no reason to choose Windows 7 over 8 unless you have specific software or hardware that has compatibility issues with 8. The people who are so vocal about their opposition to Windows 8 often fail to realise that they are the problem, not the OS. It's just a typical case of PEBCAK. Use ClassicShell, and ditch the full screen apps. It didn't take me long to figure it out.

[Mental Trousers]

I'm almost the same. I got sick of Windows 8, so over Easter I converted to Ubuntu Desktop. I found LibreOffice has been more than good enough that I haven't needed Microsoft Office back. After that, I found about 90% of the applications I used have native Ubuntu versions already, so the conversion was relatively painless.

I currently have Wine installed, but it is not being used for any applications (as far as I am aware ...).

The Ubuntu desktop annoyed me, which is why Linux Mint exists. It's Ubuntu with a desktop that's familiar and easy to get on with and it won't change radically.


I don't know why people are so sentimental about Windows XP.........

There's no reason to choose Windows 7 over 8 unless you have specific software or hardware that has compatibility issues with 8. The people who are so vocal about their opposition to Windows 8 often fail to realise that they are the problem, not the OS. It's just a typical case of PEBCAK. Use ClassicShell, and ditch the full screen apps. It didn't take me long to figure it out.

Lost of businesses have packages that work with Windows XP but probably won't with anything else. That or it's ridiculously expensive to move the apps.

The only Win8 computer in the office is running ClassicShell, but our Marketing Director still hates it.

Change is expensive. Microsoft love to change things, businesses don't (because of the expensive bit).

As for WinXP at home, I've had 5 separate desktop machines that I've run WinXP on. It just worked and I also had programmes that were licenced for WinXP but that's all. It was stable and didn't change and I knew where to find everything. I can definitely use Win8 but it's not what I prefer.

Most people don't want to figure out their computer yet again.

[Hashbandicoot]

Use Linux.

[Tazz]

The Ubuntu desktop annoyed me, which is why Linux Mint exists. It's Ubuntu with a desktop that's familiar and easy to get on with and it won't change radically.



Lost of businesses have packages that work with Windows XP but probably won't with anything else. That or it's ridiculously expensive to move the apps.

The only Win8 computer in the office is running ClassicShell, but our Marketing Director still hates it.

Change is expensive. Microsoft love to change things, businesses don't (because of the expensive bit).

As for WinXP at home, I've had 5 separate desktop machines that I've run WinXP on. It just worked and I also had programmes that were licenced for WinXP but that's all. It was stable and didn't change and I knew where to find everything. I can definitely use Win8 but it's not what I prefer.

Most people don't want to figure out their computer yet again.

Yup. One joinery place I used to work at was all XP. All the expensive CAD software was made for XP, all the software for the CNC machine (a slightly important bit of kit not to have any downtime on), XP, the software that tracked jobs and hours that was hooked into the accounting software, XP. Fark going through all that, especially for a small or medium sized business that doesn't have their own IT department and has to $$$ outsource $$$ on top of the software upgrades (if any are available), then the retraining as they will all be different etc etc, and all for a bunch of features they don't need, want or use.

And they didn't charge for support but no one was forcing them not too. I'm sure there are figuratively millions of businesses that would cough up a bit of cash for updates.

[SMOKEU]

The UI on Windows XP is horrible and cumbersome to use compared to 7 or 8.* with ClassicShell. Windows 8.1 + ClassicShell = best desktop Windows OS ever.

[Ocean1]

I don't know why people are so sentimental about Windows XP.

My office machine runs XP, it was a top end workstation six years ago and it wants absolutely nothing in performance compared to a modern good business machine for what I use it for. I've got plugins for CAD systems that simply won't work on an "upgrade".

Nonetheless I've just spent over $6k on a new machine, office and a couple of CAD app updates. The drop in productivity is going to hurt until I get back up to speed.

[Big Dog]

I'm almost the same. I got sick of Windows 8, so over Easter I converted to Ubuntu Desktop. I found LibreOffice has been more than good enough that I haven't needed Microsoft Office back. After that, I found about 90% of the applications I used have native Ubuntu versions already, so the conversion was relatively painless.

I currently have Wine installed, but it is not being used for any applications (as far as I am aware ...).

I use Ubuntu for all things except those I need windows... like connecting to work, playing games etc. Actual home life I prefer Ubuntu, there are a few challenges but a lot less bloatware and better resource control, less crashes etc.

[Big Dog]

My office machine runs XP, it was a top end workstation six years ago and it wants absolutely nothing in performance compared to a modern good business machine for what I use it for. I've got plugins for CAD systems that simply won't work on an "upgrade".

Nonetheless I've just spent over $6k on a new machine, office and a couple of CAD app updates. The drop in productivity is going to hurt until I get back up to speed.

You can always sandbox or virtualise a copy of your working desktop and run it on your new desktop for those things that do not work at a host level.

[Tazz]

You can always sandbox or virtualise a copy of your working desktop and run it on your new desktop for those things that do not work at a host level.

Other than the security crappola if you're all interwebed, what are the benefits of doing such a thing on a machine that is running perfectly fine as is and doesn't/won't need any new software installed that is incompatible with the current OS?

[Gremlin]

I don't know why people are so sentimental about Windows XP. Not many other software development companies offer free support to cheap, consumer level software for 13 years. Get rid of the fucking XP, and move on with the times. MS hasn't made money off XP in a very long time, and they should have killed it off many years ago because it still costs them money to support obsolete software which would be better spent on supporting modern software instead of people who insist on using archaic software that has little, if any relevance in the modern world.

If a machine came out with XP, then it's probably far too old and slow to serve any purpose in the modern world anyway, except for maybe something like a file server or for playing classic games on a non internet connected PC.
Your argument makes perfect sense to a software developer. It makes absolutely no sense to a business. Users do not walk in every day to play with their fun new OS. An OS is a means to an end, a way to work with files, data etc.

We (as a contract IT company) have compatibility problems between Microsoft Internet Explorer, Microsoft CRM and Microsoft Servers amongst our clients. That's all Microsoft software and they don't even play happily, just wait until we add in non Microsoft software. As mentioned, CAD, CNC and other hardware (which makes desktop PC costs look like chump change) don't move nearly as quickly, drivers, even x86 vs x64 is a fun game and we've been slowly moving towards 64bit for 5-6 years. I know exactly why Microsoft wants a new OS every 3 years (money, licencing etc) but in reality, even the shift to Win7 isn't complete across our board and I started testing in 2009 the day before release. The costs that would be incurred to shift to every OS is simply laughable and won't happen. These aren't even large companies. A multinational I can't mention (occasionally we're called in) was running on NT last visit a few years ago and just starting to test shifting to Vista. Of course, Vista was a flop, and the project was abandoned. I hope they've migrated since, but who knows.

Shifting platform to some flavour of Linux etc has been thought about, but everything is Windows based, including the remote support software, remote access, databases (ok, some databases aren't on Windows already)... yeah, ain't going to happen.


The drop in productivity is going to hurt until I get back up to speed.
This is the problem basically... When clients can lose 5 figures in a day (and I'm sure plenty can lose more than that) because stuff isn't working... we tread carefully when changes are made.

[Big Dog]

Other than the security crappola if you're all interwebed, what are the benefits of doing such a thing on a machine that is running perfectly fine as is and doesn't/won't need any new software installed that is incompatible with the current OS?

Less infrastructure.
Free up some desk space.
Less power consumption.
Hardware can be repurposed to being a network drive or ftp server if you don't want to "waste the hardware".
You can have a complete backup on another location that you just fire up if your hardware gets hit by a stray act of god. No Downtime. No restoring files. Just point your player at the files and start it up.
You can take a fresh backup before trying changes.
Software isolation if you are also the person who does accounts, wages, banking.
You can also set up a seperate sandbox on the same hardware for more nefarious activities such as kiwibiker.co.nz that has no access to the files of the other systems just in case.

The one downside is if you need a physical port not provided by your new hardware.

You can power it up when you want it suspend it when you don't to avoid resource consumption and instant on it when you do.


If on the other hand the one and only purpose is CAD / Vinyl plotter cutter or other such beastie then you will probably still want to keep your xp but then you need to evaluate do you need internet access and if so should it be via IE? What are your security precautions?
This becomes an even more important question if out of work hours you also use it for doing your accounting, taxes, banking, kiwibikering... because at this point the question is about the cost to your business if your data was lost.
How much money would you lose if someone gained access to your internet banking?
How much business would you lose if someone messed up your programs and files for fun? What if it took you say 10 days to get back to working?

I could go on but then this post would put you to sleep, if it has not already you are doing better than most of the the people I have set something up for.

IF on the other hand there is no business critical data or software on this box and you have good backups of all your personal files... there is no benefit at all.

Edit: A sandbox is useful for anyone who has reason to visit sites that may not be friendly... or that may carry social diseases. Infected, made changes that wrecked it? Restart and all is as it was built.

[Big Dog]

Other than the security crappola if you're all interwebed, what are the benefits of doing such a thing on a machine that is running perfectly fine as is and doesn't/won't need any new software installed that is incompatible with the current OS?

I thought this reason deserved its own post.


As time goes by it will become harder and harder to get stuff to drive older cad systems etc, taking the time to make the leap before it is too late means they can take the time to get setup before they have to.

[Big Dog]

A short example of how this is useful:
I upgraded to Win 8.
I put a copy of my laptop as a vm on my desktop for those times it is costing my money or time to be using win8.
Time critical issue comes along? Spark up win7 and do what i need.
No productivity lost.
When item is no longer time critical work out how to do the same thing in Win8.

[Ocean1]

A short example of how this is useful:
I upgraded to Win 8.
I put a copy of my laptop as a vm on my desktop for those times it is costing my money or time to be using win8.
Time critical issue comes along? Spark up win7 and do what i need.
No productivity lost.
When item is no longer time critical work out how to do the same thing in Win8.

Unpleasant memories of a dos envelope on a unix server. It was the boss's idea of how save money by not buying the 486 machine and video card I'd said I needed to run Acad12.

He really really thought he knew better...

[Mental Trousers]

Yup. One joinery place I used to work at was all XP. All the expensive CAD software was made for XP, all the software for the CNC machine (a slightly important bit of kit not to have any downtime on), XP, the software that tracked jobs and hours that was hooked into the accounting software, XP. Fark going through all that, especially for a small or medium sized business that doesn't have their own IT department and has to $$$ outsource $$$ on top of the software upgrades (if any are available), then the retraining as they will all be different etc etc, and all for a bunch of features they don't need, want or use.

Provided those machines stay isolated from the outside world and parts can still be obtained to keep them running there's no reason they can't be kept going for a few years yet.

However, this makes changing to new stuff even more challenging. Basically, it's only cost effective when all the big expensive machinery they're driving etc is replaced. Then, for a while, you end up running 2 different systems side by side until the new gear, the operators and everyone else is up to speed.

[Mental Trousers]

The UI on Windows XP is horrible and cumbersome to use compared to 7 or 8.* with ClassicShell. Windows 8.1 + ClassicShell = best desktop Windows OS ever.

Wrong way around. WinXP's UI is simple and uncluttered, whereas Win7 and especially Win8 (even with ClassicShell) are cluttered and just generally fucken awful.

You have to remember a lot of stuff doesn't run on 24 inch flat screens either. There's still lots of machines in workshops etc that are still on 17 inch CRTs, in dusty environments with lots of vibration and EM noise.

[SMOKEU]

I use Ubuntu for all things except those I need windows... like connecting to work, playing games etc. Actual home life I prefer Ubuntu, there are a few challenges but a lot less bloatware and better resource control, less crashes etc.


Wrong way around. WinXP's UI is simple and uncluttered, whereas Win7 and especially Win8 (even with ClassicShell) are cluttered and just generally fucken awful.

You have to remember a lot of stuff doesn't run on 24 inch flat screens either. There's still lots of machines in workshops etc that are still on 17 inch CRTs, in dusty environments with lots of vibration and EM noise.

With XP, you can't just open the start menu and start typing the first few characters of the application you want, you have to manually seek it through the start menu which is a bitch of a job in comparison. And, the 'show desktop' icon is small, and not on the bottom right of the system tray, which takes longer to show the desktop. Those are just 2 annoyances with the UI. Windows 7 and 8 fix that.

I find the general UI of 7 and 8 to be a massive improvement in usabilty over XP. I do hate the full screen apps on 8 with a mouse and keyboard though, so a quick alt+tab minimizes it at least.

[Ocean1]

Provided those machines stay isolated from the outside world and parts can still be obtained to keep them running there's no reason they can't be kept going for a few years yet.

However, this makes changing to new stuff even more challenging. Basically, it's only cost effective when all the big expensive machinery they're driving etc is replaced. Then, for a while, you end up running 2 different systems side by side until the new gear, the operators and everyone else is up to speed.

The cost of software obsolescence.

I used to play with several XY cutting tables. They were driven by a modified Acad batch file (*.rbt?) designed for plotting. :Punk: Autodesk shit was rarely reverse compatible, Acad 12 ran on 386s fine but there was something about the drivers that didn't work with later hardware, and nor did Acad 2000 have the same function. So around 2001ish I had to try to find 386 boxes to hold as spares. Think I found 4, last I heard they were down to the last one. :laugh:

Was it you that was playing with Rhino5? That's one of the updates I've sprung for. And it's almost a decades worth of Rhino and Flamingo toolbar layouts and plugins that the change, (mostly to do with the change to 64bit) will lose.

[Tazz]

Less infrastructure.
Free up some desk space.
Less power consumption.
Hardware can be repurposed to being a network drive or ftp server if you don't want to "waste the hardware".
You can have a complete backup on another location that you just fire up if your hardware gets hit by a stray act of god. No Downtime. No restoring files. Just point your player at the files and start it up.
You can take a fresh backup before trying changes.
Software isolation if you are also the person who does accounts, wages, banking.
You can also set up a seperate sandbox on the same hardware for more nefarious activities such as kiwibiker.co.nz that has no access to the files of the other systems just in case.

The one downside is if you need a physical port not provided by your new hardware.

You can power it up when you want it suspend it when you don't to avoid resource consumption and instant on it when you do.


If on the other hand the one and only purpose is CAD / Vinyl plotter cutter or other such beastie then you will probably still want to keep your xp but then you need to evaluate do you need internet access and if so should it be via IE? What are your security precautions?
This becomes an even more important question if out of work hours you also use it for doing your accounting, taxes, banking, kiwibikering... because at this point the question is about the cost to your business if your data was lost.
How much money would you lose if someone gained access to your internet banking?
How much business would you lose if someone messed up your programs and files for fun? What if it took you say 10 days to get back to working?

I could go on but then this post would put you to sleep, if it has not already you are doing better than most of the the people I have set something up for.

IF on the other hand there is no business critical data or software on this box and you have good backups of all your personal files... there is no benefit at all.

Edit: A sandbox is useful for anyone who has reason to visit sites that may not be friendly... or that may carry social diseases. Infected, made changes that wrecked it? Restart and all is as it was built.

Few I didn't know about but mostly as I thought. Cheers for the details.
In the case of the company I was talking about I'm not sure what they do regarding interweb banking. That is the one thing I get nervous about regarding security on the work computers (I find it less worrisome for personal banking. An empty account is a safe account right? :lol:). But that's a whole other topic.

And yeah, sure it may hold you back from the latest and greatest but it really depends on the industry and it's growth in tech. Some things come in leaps and bounds constantly, others only little things here and there and then a big leap every now and again. So many variables!

[Tazz]

Was it you that was playing with Rhino5?

Wasn't me that you were talking to but I've been messing with that. Got someone to take a snapshot while I was hard at it.


http://i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/234/765/b7e.jpg

[pete376403]

My employer has an old DOS based accounting package that is (finally) being replaced, but it will take a few months. It did however run ok on 1g Celerons under XP. The new package requires a bit more horsepower so is going onto 64 bit W7 on new PCs. In the interim I've installed virtualXP to run the old package (only). Perfectly adequate and everything else, Office, etc is in the W7 environment.

I did read that the government of Canada has an agreement that will see Microsoft provide paid support XP for another couple of years.
http://www.cringely.com/2014/04/09/thoughts-passing-windows-xp/

[Mental Trousers]

With XP, you can't just open the start menu and start typing the first few characters of the application you want, you have to manually seek it through the start menu which is a bitch of a job in comparison. And, the 'show desktop' icon is small, and not on the bottom right of the system tray, which takes longer to show the desktop. Those are just 2 annoyances with the UI. Windows 7 and 8 fix that.

I find the general UI of 7 and 8 to be a massive improvement in usabilty over XP. I do hate the full screen apps on 8 with a mouse and keyboard though, so a quick alt+tab minimizes it at least.

That's simply not the way a lot of people work. Many organise the Start menu the way they want so they know where everything is. You can do that on other versions of Windows as well, but with WinXP there was no unnecessary extra crap, you didn't have to add or enable anything and it's the default way to use it.

That's also what pissed me off about Ubuntu cos they moved to that sort of desktop as well. Fucken annoying when you aren't actually sure what something is called cos you're still figuring out what's what with the system and you have to resort to Google to find out what to type in to do what you want.

[Gremlin]

With XP, you can't just open the start menu and start typing the first few characters of the application you want, you have to manually seek it through the start menu which is a bitch of a job in comparison. And, the 'show desktop' icon is small, and not on the bottom right of the system tray, which takes longer to show the desktop. Those are just 2 annoyances with the UI. Windows 7 and 8 fix that.
Yeah, that'd be the indexing and searching services running in the background consuming excessive amounts of resources for very little real gain (other than combatting laziness). Nothing a shortcut on the desktop/taskbar or knowing your way around the OS. Used to open the network adapter status with one double click in XP. Now it's about 5 clicks, opening a "centre" and shit...

XP and 2003 were fantastic for shutting off services to reduce the footprint. I've got a 2003 server that is nice and snappy on 250mb of memory and the function it has to run only uses 10-20mb ish. I haven't tried recently, but trying to shut off services in 7 and 2008 resulted in one very unhappy machine.

[Scuba_Steve]

That's simply not the way a lot of people work. Many organise the Start menu the way they want so they know where everything is. You can do that on other versions of Windows as well, but with WinXP there was no unnecessary extra crap, you didn't have to add or enable anything and it's the default way to use it.

That's also what pissed me off about Ubuntu cos they moved to that sort of desktop as well. Fucken annoying when you aren't actually sure what something is called cos you're still figuring out what's what with the system and you have to resort to Google to find out what to type in to do what you want.

yep, that ^
Almost no-one uses the search/run function by choice they're forced to learn it through necessity instead. Fuck I've had the option on OS X since XP was MS's most up-to-date consumer OS & I still don't use it.
Aside from that it still doesn't work perfectly anyways, some of the more "unique" programs you still have to manually go looking for or create shortcuts.

As for Ubuntu, completely agree. I think I just found it easier to stay in CLI, at-least I knew what was going on then

[SMOKEU]

Yeah, that'd be the indexing and searching services running in the background consuming excessive amounts of resources for very little real gain (other than combatting laziness). Nothing a shortcut on the desktop/taskbar or knowing your way around the OS. Used to open the network adapter status with one double click in XP. Now it's about 5 clicks, opening a "centre" and shit...

XP and 2003 were fantastic for shutting off services to reduce the footprint. I've got a 2003 server that is nice and snappy on 250mb of memory and the function it has to run only uses 10-20mb ish. I haven't tried recently, but trying to shut off services in 7 and 2008 resulted in one very unhappy machine.

I click start, then ncpa.cpl for the first paragraph.

Shit that's low memory usage! I'm only used to 2008 R2 and 2012.


That's simply not the way a lot of people work. Many organise the Start menu the way they want so they know where everything is. You can do that on other versions of Windows as well, but with WinXP there was no unnecessary extra crap, you didn't have to add or enable anything and it's the default way to use it.

That's also what pissed me off about Ubuntu cos they moved to that sort of desktop as well. Fucken annoying when you aren't actually sure what something is called cos you're still figuring out what's what with the system and you have to resort to Google to find out what to type in to do what you want.

I'm not a fan of Ubuntu, currently I'm using Debian 7.4 KDE and I find it great.

[avgas]

I got windows 8, and its a pain in the arse...
Anyone no how to sort it?
Was going to load XP,, but wont now.
Perhaps windows 7
http://www.startmenux.com/

[Big Dog]

Few I didn't know about but mostly as I thought. Cheers for the details.
In the case of the company I was talking about I'm not sure what they do regarding interweb banking. That is the one thing I get nervous about regarding security on the work computers (I find it less worrisome for personal banking. An empty account is a safe account right? :lol:). But that's a whole other topic.

And yeah, sure it may hold you back from the latest and greatest but it really depends on the industry and it's growth in tech. Some things come in leaps and bounds constantly, others only little things here and there and then a big leap every now and again. So many variables!

Yep, and that is why so many leaks in govt departments :rofl:

All laughing aside, the last time I was in a wins office the desktops were 98se or nt4 depending on workstation or client station.
Granted that was 4 years ago.

Almost every bank I have seen a screen for either has a flashy web app or other full blown client... Sitting on either 98se or xp. In one case win2000. :bugger:


Stupid phone / Tapatalk, apologies in advance.

[Big Dog]

I am no expert in violating pcs, but people brighter than me do some wonderful stuff if you look around the web.


Stupid phone / Tapatalk, apologies in advance.

[Big Dog]

Unpleasant memories of a dos envelope on a unix server. It was the boss's idea of how save money by not buying the 486 machine and video card I'd said I needed to run Acad12.

He really really thought he knew better...

I may not know the specific app but I know what you mean. Things have come a long way in the 30 years since a 486 was a good machine. You'd be hard pressed to find a bleeding edge company that does not virtualise something these days.



Stupid phone / Tapatalk, apologies in advance.

[Mental Trousers]

Yep, and that is why so many leaks in govt departments :rofl:

All laughing aside, the last time I was in a wins office the desktops were 98se or nt4 depending on workstation or client station.
Granted that was 4 years ago.

Almost every bank I have seen a screen for either has a flashy web app or other full blown client... Sitting on either 98se or xp. In one case win2000. :bugger:

Banks do that because pretty much all of the security holes in the OS have been found and fixed by now and, therefore, they're not going to introduce a zero day exploit into what are meant to be very secure systems.

The recent OpenSSL problem highlights how a new problem can be accidentally introduced and then go undetected for years. Banks just can't take that sort of risk (even though the OpenSSL problem was OSS and not Windows but it illustrates the point).

Change is not Secure.

[Gremlin]

Change is not Secure.
Nothing connected to the Internet is usually secure: http://www.essentialmums.co.nz/baby/products/9046252/Abuse-screamed-down-hacked-baby-monitor

[Mental Trousers]

Nothing connected to the Internet is usually secure: http://www.essentialmums.co.nz/baby/products/9046252/Abuse-screamed-down-hacked-baby-monitor

Over time things connected to the internet can be made secure - patching of bugs/security holes, updating firmware of dodgy baby monitors/routers/etc.

However, the NSA is a whole different problem and illustrates why new equipment with a flash new OS isn't secure.

[oneofsix]

Let me get this straight, the original article was about a security hole in a browser, which is an app that runs on an OS. The reporter crapped on about how an app wont be patched because its on a certain OS. Then everyone craps on about OS's. It is just an f'ing app! Even the EU sorted that. So what the F has IE got to do with it being on XP? If the release of the app is patched it is patched, if the security hole is truly in the app and if its not then why patch it on the other OS's?

[kevfromcoro]

Dunno what I have done here....
Google will not work at all,,
Some sites I visit keep putting up heaps of pops. trademe is 1..its dam annoying.
Have tried deleting some programs,, but it just wont do it..
Ready to break this thing in a gazillion bits...
:angry:

[p.dath]

Dunno what I have done here....
Google will not work at all,,
Some sites I visit keep putting up heaps of pops. trademe is 1..its dam annoying.
Have tried deleting some programs,, but it just wont do it..
Ready to break this thing in a gazillion bits...
:angry:

Wipe and re-install the machine ...

[kevfromcoro]

Have wiped the lot,, and reloaded windows
Its going ok..but the desktop has no start icon
Do I load a few of the programs a few people have suggested
And how do I turn it off without taking out the battery and unplugging the power.

[Tazz]

Have wiped the lot,, and reloaded windows
Its going ok..but the desktop has no start icon
Do I load a few of the programs a few people have suggested
And how do I turn it off without taking out the battery and unplugging the power.

Dropping it in a bucket of water or using the almighty BFH 'switch' should work.

Otherwise the same button you turned it on with or settings, power, shut down.