New Windows

Terry

Terry

Line Up and Wait
Joined
Apr 3, 2005
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738
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LaCrosse
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Display name:
Terry
Hi everyone,

I have an old Dell Desktop with Windows XP. It is almost full, slow, and they wife uses it mainly for her email and Facebook. It runs okay, just outdated. She uses Office/2003 and Outlook.

I have a Gateway Laptop with Windows XP. I downloaded Office 2010 but rarely use it. It works okay and is not full. I use Office/2003 and Outlook.

I have a new, under 1 year, desktop, that uses Windows 7. I have not loaded any email on it. I use Google email, Google chrome as well as IE and Mozilla.

I was notified by my internet provider through their newsletter that Windows XP is going away by April of 2014.

Should I load everything over to the new desktop? It has 1 Terrabyte hard drive and is capable of handling everything?

What could I do with my old laptop and desktop? I am afraid if I try and load Windows 8, it will slow them down to where they are not much use.

Your suggestions and comments are welcomed.

I have never liked or wanted Apple Products.

Thanks,
Terry

ps.> Using computers as boat anchors is against my religion. :)
 
Okay, dumb question.

You mean Linux will run my Windows?

So Linux is a different operating systems that is able to run my Windows programs?

Can someone provide me a link please so I can download Linux?

Thanks,
Terry
 
It can't run Windows. It can run web browsers and Microsoft office clones nicely and it is a good alternative to throwing away a pc.
 
What do you mean it's "going away"? Support may end, but it will run for a long time after that!
 
Terry said:
I was notified by my internet provider through their newsletter that Windows XP is going away by April of 2014.
Click to expand...
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/endofsupport.aspx
Windows XP SP3 and Office 2003
Support Ends April 8, 2014
Click to expand...
It means you should take action. After April 8, 2014, there will be no new security updates, non-security hotfixes, free or paid assisted support options or online technical content updates.
Running Windows XP SP3 and Office 2003 in your environment after their end of support date may expose your company to potential risks, such as:

  • Security & Compliance Risks: Unsupported and unpatched environments are vulnerable to security risks. This may result in an officially recognized control failure by an internal or external audit body, leading to suspension of certifications, and/or public notification of the organization’s inability to maintain its systems and customer information.
  • Lack of Independent Software Vendor (ISV) & Hardware Manufacturers support: A recent industry report from Gartner Research suggests "many independent software vendors (ISVs) are unlikely to support new versions of applications on Windows XP in 2011; in 2012, it will become common." And it may stifle access to hardware innovation: Gartner Research further notes that in 2012, most PC hardware manufacturers will stop supporting Windows XP on the majority of their new PC models.
Get current with Windows and Office. This option has upside well beyond keeping you supported. It offers more flexibility to empower employees to be more productive, while increasing operational efficiency through improved PC security and management. It also enables your organization to take advantage of latest technology trends such as virtualization and the cloud.
Click to expand...


If you keep Windows XP past the end of support date, there will be no new updates for the platform. This means that, after this date, if there is a security exploit discovered that leaves your PC vulnerable, Microsoft will not fix it.


This means different things to different people, and you can probably get years of life out of your PC after Microsoft EOL's XP.
 
Right, Windows XP is the perfect operating system. Solid as a rock, Window Explorer is easy to use, shows thumbnails for photos, and XP runs Windows Office. So long as you keep the old software, they will continue to work.

If a home computer is working fine now, it will continue to do so after the support goes away. A business computer in which you have to interact with other machines, that is a different story.

Hackers prefer new challenges and will move on to the next big thing.
 
I just put ubuntu on a pc that was so slow as to be unusable and it is quite zippy now. It probably had spyware on it but it was pretty old and scrappy when we bought it.

If your Windows xp pc works, keep using it :)
 
Terry said:
Hi everyone,

I have an old Dell Desktop with Windows XP. It is almost full, slow, and they wife uses it mainly for her email and Facebook. It runs okay, just outdated. She uses Office/2003 and Outlook.

I have a Gateway Laptop with Windows XP. I downloaded Office 2010 but rarely use it. It works okay and is not full. I use Office/2003 and Outlook.

I have a new, under 1 year, desktop, that uses Windows 7. I have not loaded any email on it. I use Google email, Google chrome as well as IE and Mozilla.

I was notified by my internet provider through their newsletter that Windows XP is going away by April of 2014.

Should I load everything over to the new desktop? It has 1 Terrabyte hard drive and is capable of handling everything?

What could I do with my old laptop and desktop? I am afraid if I try and load Windows 8, it will slow them down to where they are not much use.

Your suggestions and comments are welcomed.

I have never liked or wanted Apple Products.

Thanks,
Terry

ps.> Using computers as boat anchors is against my religion. :)
Click to expand...
Almost full? Like your harddrive is almost full? You can buy a new drive, or an external drive, a file server for your network, or start deleting crap! It's amazing how much junk people have on their harddrives and most is not organized so you can easily clean stuff up.
Now if you mean memory, you could get a memory upgrade. Usually either a new memory sim or just filling a vacant slot.
The last thing I would do is install LINUX. LINUX is a fine OS and don't get me wrong, I have several here and they work perfectly fine on older hardware but you do have to do a lot more stuff for yourself. It isn't windows. There is a lot of help online. If your harddrive is nearly full, you will have to clear some of the stuff off it, and once you do that, you solve your original problem.
As to windows xp support, if it works perfectly fine for you today, it will carry on for years to come.
 
+1 ~John ...
And don't do any needless software upgrades
 
silver-eagle said:
Almost full? Like your harddrive is almost full? You can buy a new drive, or an external drive, a file server for your network, or start deleting crap! It's amazing how much junk people have on their harddrives and most is not organized so you can easily clean stuff up.
Now if you mean memory, you could get a memory upgrade. Usually either a new memory sim or just filling a vacant slot.
The last thing I would do is install LINUX. LINUX is a fine OS and don't get me wrong, I have several here and they work perfectly fine on older hardware but you do have to do a lot more stuff for yourself. It isn't windows. There is a lot of help online. If your harddrive is nearly full, you will have to clear some of the stuff off it, and once you do that, you solve your original problem.
As to windows xp support, if it works perfectly fine for you today, it will carry on for years to come.
Click to expand...

I agree with most of this. You don't sound like a good candidate for Linux. Windows 8 is actually must faster than Windows 7 on the same hardware. You didn't give a lot of detail on the age and capabilities of the hardware, but I am guessing that the old Dell desktop is ready for retirement. If the old laptop will run Office 2010, it will most likely run Windows 8 (I installed Win 8 on a 4 year old netbook and it runs fine). You need at least 2 GB of RAM, but this is an inexpensive upgrade. I don't recommend running Win XP past the support date. It puts your data at risk.
 
tinerj said:
Right, Windows XP is the perfect operating system. Solid as a rock, Window Explorer is easy to use, shows thumbnails for photos, and XP runs Windows Office. So long as you keep the old software, they will continue to work.

If a home computer is working fine now, it will continue to do so after the support goes away. A business computer in which you have to interact with other machines, that is a different story.

Hackers prefer new challenges and will move on to the next big thing.
Click to expand...

I have had the same experience. My old Dell with XP is working as well and as fast as the day I bought it. You have to keep it clean, clean the registry errors, use the right protection software that doesn't slow it down with each update and it will serve you just fine. But, if you have money to burn - get a new one.
 
Thanks everybody.

The wife doesn't want me touching it so I will probably leave alone as long as I can.

Just the monthly newsletter from my ISP telling me I need to upgrade to Windows 8 that got me concerned.

This is one of the reasons I like this site.

Terry
 
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