Alternatives to Windows XP

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Forum' started by Hunter2022, Jun 10, 2022.

  1. Hunter2022

    Hunter2022

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    For me Windows XP died the moment my banks stopped allowing me to login using the latest browser that it could use, which was FireFox 52ESR.

    Actually, Windows XP isn't really dead. I still have machines that came from that era. I keep them to run old school games as I really hate to dig around for solutions to make them work on the newer versions of Windows.

    Anyways, the story of how I defeated Windows 11:

    My daily beater laptop that ran Windows XP as the primary OS recently died and I needed a replacement fast. So off I went to buy a laptop from Amazon that came with Windows 11.

    Me being a die hard Windows XP fan decided it was possible to tame the abominations Microsoft made after version 8.1!!

    Here's what I did:

    1. When I booted up Windows 11 for the first time, it asked me to connect to the internet and login to my Microsoft account. Sorry MS, you will never know the password to my router and I shall never associate my machine with any particular MS account. So I pressed shift+F10 and terminated one system task. I was then able to complete Windows setup without entering my WiFi password or MS account info.

    2. I immediately shrank some disk space, created a blank/unformatted partition. I then installed Deepin OS as a dual boot. I was surprised how easy it was to dual boot Windows with Linux. All I needed was one free partition. Didn't even need to format it under Windows. The Deepin setup menu took care of everything for me.

    3. Went back to Windows 11 and disabled my WiFi card so that abomination of an OS never finds a way to ping mined data back to mothership or sneakily connect to some free WiFi access point to force updates on me.


    All in all Windows 11 never even saw 1 second connected to the internet all the time I've had this new laptop so far. I do everything online thru Deepin OS, only go back to fully offline Windows if I need to use a Windows-only software. The days when Windows truly became popular (ie. Windows 3.1) people didn't even have internet connection. I now treat my Windows 11 like 3.1, not allowed to access the internet ever.

    There is life after XP. It's not Windows, but I am still effectively able to tame the OS (Deepin) according to my whims and desires. The only reasons I don't like Windows 11 because of 1. Spying on me and 2. Forced updates. Once I found a solution that does neither, can kick Windows to the curbside!
     
    Hunter2022, Jun 10, 2022
    #1
  2. Hunter2022

    Hunter2022

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    BTW, the reason I picked Deepin OS over all other flavors of Linux (Mint/Ubuntu, etc.) because UnionTech (Deepin parent company) is not starved for capital. UnionTech sells a commercial version of Deepin in China called UOS (Unified OS), so they are generating income and revenue on their own. Deepin is just a side project of theirs to help improve the UOS experience.

    Ubuntu/Mint, etc. Have you ever wondered where they get their funding/revenues from? Nobody does stuff for free and do it for years and years. There must be some kind of money involved. I will share with you all a dark secret. Many years ago, when I ran Ubuntu as my primary OS, I noticed a very strange behavior. Approximately around midnight every night, Ubuntu would send hundreds of MB's of data from my computer to some remote web server. My first thought was they were using my computer as a part of a large botnet to crunch astronomy data. These days, with the popularity of crypto currency ever rising, I now know the truth. The reason Ubuntu/Mint etc. giving away Linux for free/updating them for free because they are making money using your machine (as part of large botnet) to mine crypto currencies!
     
    Hunter2022, Jun 10, 2022
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  3. Hunter2022

    ClippyBeer

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    This has got to be one of the funniest posts I've read on this forum.

    First, DeepinOS is Debian-based which is also what Ubuntu is based on. Whatever mysterious connections were sending hundreds of MB's of data (you failed to provide what service or IP addresses were accessed) were likely due to some software you installed. I had Lubuntu 18 and Mint 19 running for over a year and there were no mysterious connections uploading MB's of data (I have a proxy that monitors all incoming/outgoing connections). You probably installed a distro from some dubious source that had some kind of mining malware built-in. Download from official repos.
    There is.

    https://ubuntu.com/pricing

    Canonical which owns Ubuntu make money from their enterprise services.

    You can't just say something to make it become true. I trust the millions of Ubuntu/Mint users not the paranoid ramblings of someone who just joined. By your logic we can't trust Deepin OS because it comes from China. Oooh Noooes!!! it comes with spyware from China! It doesn't, a lot of Linux users have reviewed it and found it to be safe and many agree that it has a pretty user interface. None of these users have found Cryptomining in Ubuntu/Mint.
     
    ClippyBeer, Jun 11, 2022
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  4. Hunter2022

    xperceniol

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    I'm sorry, did you mean Deepin OS doesn't contain spyware? I don't trust linux (usually) that originates from parts of the world that have been deemed untrustworthy and knows for spying, unless folks here say otherwise re: Deepin OS. That being said: I am (of course) trusting (using that word very loosely) Chinese browsers repacked by Russians ... I just don't allow them much to get if you know what Imean and I block most IPs via the host file once discovered. ;)

    Thanks in advance...

    -Sal
     
    xperceniol, Jun 11, 2022
    #4
  5. Hunter2022

    xperceniol

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    xperceniol, Jun 12, 2022
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  6. Hunter2022

    Hunter2022

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    LOL. You're the one who's funny. UnionTech is the owner of UOS. Deepin is the free version of UOS. They rebuilt everything from scratch using Open Source code base. Deepin "isn't" Debian. It's like Google takes AOSP then adds some propietary stuff and makes it Android that you can't use unless you buy a license from Google.

    You can't say Google Android and AOSP are the same thing, they are not.

    Same with UOS/Deepin, it's based on Debian but also contains propietary stuff. They even rebuilt Chrome Open Source as their own browser to compete with Edge/FF/etc. and boy does it work wonderS!
     
    Hunter2022, Jun 13, 2022
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  7. Hunter2022

    Hunter2022

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    Anyways, just know at the end of the day Ubuntu/Mint/Debian etc. doesn't generate a cent on their own and has to resort to dirty tricks like using your PC as part of large botnet to mine crypt. Deepin already gets money selling UOS license. The free version is just there to improve the user experience of the paid version.
     
    Hunter2022, Jun 13, 2022
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  8. Hunter2022

    Elizabeth23

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    agree to disagree and move on , please. Thank You
     
    Elizabeth23, Jun 14, 2022
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  9. Hunter2022

    MisterEd

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    I installed both Windows 11 Home and Pro a couple months ago. The trick to terminate a process worked with the beta Insider versions but not the release version of Windows 11. However, there is a simpler method that works with both Home and Pro.

    1. Windows 11 Home: Setup will not start without an Internet connection. However, when the setup asks you to log in with your Microsoft account or create one just disconnect the Internet. A minute later you are allowed to press the back arrow and create a local account. After that you can reconnect to the Internet if you want updates.

    2. Windows 11 Pro: Setup will start OK without an Internet connection. However, you must connect the Internet right before it asks you to log in with your Microsoft account or create one. When it does just disconnect the Internet. A minute later you are allowed to press the back arrow and create a local account. After that you can reconnect the Internet if you want updates.
     
    MisterEd, Jun 15, 2022
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  10. Hunter2022

    tekkaman

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    On my laptop I have MX Linux which is based on Antix. Pretty good. And they're anti-fascist :)
     
    tekkaman, Jun 18, 2022
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  11. Hunter2022

    xperceniol

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    I've been curious ... do you by any chance know if they offer a live DVD option?

    Thanks in advance :)
     
    xperceniol, Jun 22, 2022
    #11
  12. Hunter2022

    tekkaman

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    They have live DVD and they also have live USB with persistance. Meaning you can try everything from USB including adding or removing software and the changes are saved. I´m currently using the 19.4 KDE version on my laptop from 2009 and I must say that in terms of responsiveness it feels like Windows 7. This laptop can´t handle any newer OS so this is a great alternative to keep up to date with the web standards.
     
    tekkaman, Jun 24, 2022
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  13. Hunter2022

    xperceniol

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    Just burned a DVD and will likely give it a shot today and I'm excited to try it, and it took endless searching on the web to find its origin and it would appear that is from Greece, is that right? We'll see, my hardware is extremely outdated and I'm working with a bad hard drive and only 2GB of (reliable) memory now as my other two 500MB sticks are bad.
     
    xperceniol, Jun 25, 2022
    #13
  14. Hunter2022

    cornemuse

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    This, , , is exactly why I stay with XP
     
    cornemuse, Jun 26, 2022
    #14
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  15. Hunter2022

    TMTGTR

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    I'm all ears to hear what I may have wrong...
    Have you tried using the RoyTam1 Serpent builds or Palemoon builds?
    https://rtfreesoft.blogspot.com/search/label/newmoon

    I have no issue so far going to very secure sights and logging in using these browsers.
    And there is the "new" MyPal 68 which I will eventually use but it is still in Beta IMHO.
     
    TMTGTR, Jun 26, 2022
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  16. Hunter2022

    betamani

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    I used Quick heal antivirus on my machine year ago works fine for me. I have not Tried Quick heal Bot Removal Tool yet
     
    betamani, Jul 7, 2022
    #16
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  17. Hunter2022

    xperceniol

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    I believe its based out of India ... basically, run the application and it downloads the database (and other files) to the temp folder and runs:
    a)
    Quick Scan
    b)
    Full System Scan (entire computer and network)
    c)
    Flash Scan

    When the scan is over, if it find something, it will delete it at reboot, otherwise, it deletes its files upon close and I heavily monitor my temp and appdata folders and use Ccleaner as well. I've never caught it doing anything nefarious.

    God luck :)

    EDIT: Correction....

    Once you download the tool, the definitions and files are within main executable and you CAN run and do the full scan offline.
     
    Last edited: Jul 7, 2022
    xperceniol, Jul 7, 2022
    #17
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