Do I persist with XP?

Unabashed fan of XP, love it, I deal with around 500,000 images on a regular basis,
and use USB 3.0 to fast transfer.

I have used MSWorks for 20 years (ver 3.5a) and ACDSee ver 3.1 both old
but magic software.

My current XP box died (4 years old) and it looks like MB or the graphics card.

Trying to get someone to work on my computer is very difficult, (country town)
most want to instal win7 or win 8 OS

Do I "upgrade" (ugh) or persist with XP? comments please

Rough system MSI mainboard (MS-7519)
3 HDD's, optical drive, graphics card GE Force 210 USB3.0 card in PCIe socket
scanner, printer, USB 3.0 caddy 2 Tb.

I'd love to stay with XP, but all shops are telling me I'm crazy.
Cheers
Rod

 

since xp is unsupported after april 2014, it would be as well to go to win 7

 

Why should you not persist?
Just keep on, mine xp is working fine.. many people are just repeating "no updates, no updates...".. but why you need updates. internet security depends on browser and firewall

 

If you want to stay with XP you aren't any crazier than anyone of us

The cons:
- getting the right XP drivers for your hardware is becoming increasingly more difficult, especially if your hardware is new
- more and more services offered on the web won't be available to you for you won't be able to use the latest fashionable software versions

The pros:
- you will be master and commander in your computer
- your private data and thoughts will stay yours unless you decide to share them
- your OS won't slow down because of some mysterious tasks you're not allowed to know about
- you'll be able to understand (at least partially) what goes on under the hood
- you'll be able to run your old faithful software without having to spend a fortune for the new versions (if any)
- your system will be brisk and snappy, mostly because it will do (almost) only what you tell it to do
- you'll be able to proudly show your middle finger to Microsoft and their "the world is ours" policy

I wouldn't worry exceedingly about the bogeyman of malware that most vendors wave before your eyes to persuade you to part with some of your money: about four years ago I threw all my malware crap to the bin and started making full backups regularly once a week. You won't believe it or maybe you may think I'm indecently lucky, but so far I never had to use them: no virus, no malware, no ransomware, no tentacles growing out of my PC... just nothing, and since then my PC runs appreciably faster

And now a small confession: as I needed to work with a website that wouldn't talk to my old version of firefox (the last XP-compatible one), a few months ago I had to bow to the whims of fashion and install Win7 as a second OS. All in all not that bad either - but XP still feels more comfortable and crashes less often.

 

This has been almost the same as my experience. I found an occasional bit of spyware that I got rid of easily

Have you tried changing User Agent in about:config to cheat and make websites believe you are using a later version of Firefox? It has worked for me so far. See this thread:

https://www.xpforums.com/threads/regarding-serpent-browser.933970/ Post #19

and this thread is more comprehensive:

https://www.xpforums.com/threads/serpent-web-browser.933889/

 

Thank you Janice!
I'll give it a try tomorrow - cannot do it right away as tonight (Europe speaking here) I have a virtual celebration with some alten Kameraden, thus I'll have to wait till the hangover fades away...

 

The only problem I have with XP Pro is the inability to use Chrome/Chromium derivative browsers, but being stuck with Mypal, Centaury, and the ever crappier Firefox is a big problem for me. I will likely be setting aside my XP Pro rig until such time as I can overcome this problem...or give up. I have bought a Win 7 Pro PC, which is being prepared for use. Possibly I will use the XP as an airgapped computer or DIY VPN. Moving to Win 7 is a huge undertaking, made worse by the fact greedy lil Billie Gates and his M$ minions are up to no good as usual. Win 7 is not XP, and despite what the talking heads want you to believe, you will need to learn it the way you learned XP. I'm using "Microsoft Windows 7 Simplified' (ISBN#9780470503874), and 'Windows 7 Secrets' (ISBN#9780470508411). Not as difficult or involved as learning Linux, but not easy either.

If you are in America you can easily get a good used rig, having either XP or Win 7, delivered to your door via eBay, Amazon, or many other suppliers. My Dell OptiPlex 960 with XP Pro installed was $119, and my Dell OptiPlex 7010 with Win 7 Pro was around $250.

My previous computer tech got uppity like that, saying from now on he would only deign work on Win 8 or Win 10, like some silly maid announcing she 'doesn't do windows'. He forgot who was the employee and who was the employer; who was paying and who was getting paid. A reminder was swift in coming. I found his replacement within a couple months, who is just as proficient, charges half his rate, and parks any EOL/EOS attitude at the door. Yeah, you may have to go outside a small town to find someone who does housecalls or a computer shop without attitude. Your choices are to get the defective parts in your current computer replaced, buy a new rig. Guess you could just have the shop fix the hardware (sans OS), and you deal with getting an XP install disc. Whatever you decide, do not mess with Win 8 or Win 10!

 

Good day all,

use k-meleon browser.. not perfect but opens most of things
http://kmeleonbrowser.org/

yes, yes, yes all you mentioned
plus if you install kerio firewall nothing gets in or out without your approval!

 

The latest version of K-Meleon now works with Youtube:

http://kmeleonbrowser.org/forum/read.php?19,153118

Still disappointing that the only working plug-in is Adblock. K-Meleon is maintained by our old friend Roytam, also responsible for MyPal, Centaury, Basilisk and others.

I don't think you should persist with XP unless you have a need of some software that won't run on modern Windows OSes. It's not the lack of security updates, it's the lack of software that will still run on Windows XP. (No Skype etc.) If it weren't for Roytam, the only choice for web browsing in XP would be Firefox. You are also rolling the dice with any new hardware you buy having drivers that work with XP. You are basically painted into a corner. I have XP on an old laptop from 2004 but that's it. Windows 7 is my main OS...for now. Eventually I'll have to switch from that as well as developers start abandoning it in favor of Windows 10.

 

you have old versions of software which works.. for eg. I am a designer.. and all old works.
the problem would be is someone with who you need to work would insist to use new software. for eg. (because the companies insist on updating and new versions.. and, honestly new versions are worse in functionality ...)

for skype you have very good replacement called "zoom" - works on my xp.
not to mention that skype was working perfectly on xps until some bastards did not canceled it from xp...

 

Now that's intriguing: I just found in my E-mail an interesting message reading...

... but cannot find it here.
Am I missing something obvious? Did Microsoft censorship creep into this forum too?

Jerry, if you're reading would you mind passing me the coordinates of that survey? I'd really like to learn more on the subject. Thanks!

And, in spite of everything, merry Christmas to everybody!

 

it was a spam msg and was removed,

 

XP doesn't recognize USB 3.0. I don't even know how you're able to use them...

 

USB 3 is supported by Windows XP.

You of course have to have a USB 3 PCI Express adapter card or a motherboard that supports USB 3 and of course the drivers for said card, just like any other card.