Your windows xp Laptop or computer Meets the Requirements To run Windows 10?

I do have Windows 10 Pro x64 1903 on a mini Dell PC I use as an HTPC hooked up to my TV. The Netflix app and DLNA/Miracast support are the only reasons otherwise it would be Windows 7.

It took A LOT of tweaking to remove the unwanted bloat and telemetry that comes with 10. Updates are turned off and I will NOT be updating unless something stops working. I have had too many bad experiences with updates on various platforms breaking something that was otherwise working perfectly. I have many other things I would rather be doing on a beautiful sunny afternoon than spending hours trying to fix something that was broken due to an update.

 

Though I have 3 PCs running 10 Pro I rate it as a bloated resource hog standing 3rd in rank of lousiness behind ME & VISTA,
My favourite Microsoft O/S is of course XP followed closely by 7.
I have several Linux computers.

 

HDD loaded with XP Pro just went for a dump on a favorite older IBM laptop so I popped in a new one and loaded her up with Linux Mint v19.2 32 bit XFCE.
Working fine after a little configuring of the WiFi.
Don't want any part of Win 10.
LM reminds me a lot of Win 7.

 

Not sure, but I think you might be the resident Linux guru here. My question is certainly off-topic, but I'm not comfortable starting a separate Linux thread on this forum, so I'll just ask. Do you know of any reason why a Linux LiveCD would be causing my HDD to spin into hyperdrive? It is my understanding that LiveCD mode runs only from RAM, and does not touch the hard drive. Two of the last four Linux distros (MX Linux & Linux Mint) does this consistently....usually like within half hour of startup, the hard drive goes into superspin mode for at least a couple minutes.TAILS and AntiX does not do this. Since the HDD is where my XP Pro resides, and since I'm very protective and paranoid about it, I've replaced MX Linux with AntiX and TAILS, even though MX is the best and easiest distro I've found. Any idea why MX is throwing my HDD into spin cycle, and is it any danger to XP Pro?

 

My best guess is that it is probing the hard drive for a Linux installation or swap partition. In that case, your drive is safe.

 

At risk? Nah, you need to execute the virus first to get infected,because i was never hit with any virus in ages(last time was 7 years ago with Win7 and with an AntiVirus, can you believe it?) Plus, i monitor my systems with Sygate Personal Firewall anywayz( I don't use any AV) and i will be online until my XP's will be UnUsable!

 

What are you doing in a dedicated Windows XP forum. This forum- if you have not noticed it- is to support Windows XP users. Not to attempt to drive them away with half assed opinions.

 

@ trimis:-

Computer semi-expert is thinking along the right lines. It's almost certainly accessing the swap partition (think 'page file' in Windows; it performs exactly the same task).

Linux OSs do a lot of stuff in the background - in that respect they're quite similar to Windows - but it's rather different stuff to what Windows does. The prevalent thinking in Linux is that regardless of the amount of RAM you have installed, RAM is there to be used.....so let's use it!

Most of what goes on in the background boils down to disk caching, with the intention of making your system faster, and more responsive. Unlike Windows, which has a horrible tendency to allocate large chunks of your RAM to background processes which then refuse to release it when YOU want it, Linux always puts the system user first. This is a legacy of its UNIX 'roots'.

I was going to link you to a site called www.linuxatemyram.com which explains this beautifully, but it's been 'down' for a while, so.....this one here gives a pretty good synopsis of the main site:-

https://calix.force.com/CalixCommunity/s/article/LINUX-ate-my-RAM-1

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you check the amount of free RAM you have (just open a terminal, and type 'free' followed by Enter) you'll almost certainly find that your RAM is nearly 100% 'used up'.....all the time. However, whenever you want to do anything, run something, carry out a task, whatever, the OS instantly releases that RAM for use by the application. It only ever uses it, productively, when it's not required by anything else.

A corollary to all this is the way the swap partition is accessed. Because of the background usage of your machine's memory, the degree of what's called 'swappiness' tends to be dialled up rather high by default; typically, about the 60% mark. (The higher this percentage, the more likely the OS is to start accessing the swap partition, as opposed to using RAM for tasks.....and we all know that HDD access is a darned sight slower than RAM access, since RAM is by far the fastest component of any machine.)

So; re-setting this 'swappiness' level down to a saner figure (10% is the usual recommendation) is one of the first things most people do after installation. It can be done during a 'Live' session, but you have to set it up again at every boot, since 'Live' sessions don't normally save (unless you deliberately tell them to save something to a specific location). A 'Live' session is intended for trying an OS out, primarily to see whether the OS and your hardware like each other, and are happy to 'play ball' together.

Sorry to be long-winded, but I wanted to make it clear what this phenomenon stems from. You're by no means the first to notice this over the years....probably 25-30% of new users ask this same question during their first few months of 'ownership' (because with any Linux OS, you essentially DO 'own it'. Unlike M$, who go out of their way to make it crystal-clear in the initial EULA that the whole thing remains their 'property' for the duration......and you, the user, only EVER 'borrow it'.)


Mike.

 

THIS section Is general and Not for support. Know it!

 

This is the exact reason I have XP SP3 dual booted with W10. I only have W10 for gaming (R7 2700 16gb RAM and Radeon 5700 XT). Dosent run XP right but it gets me away from the spy that is MS

 

So the MX and Linux Mint distros have to go through my HDD to access the 8GB RAM? Is this any danger to my XP Pro? Any idea why AntiX and TAILS don't do this? I've been using LiveCD mode exclusively to test drive Linux distros because I had often heard LiveCds don't touch the HDD, so figured the XP was safe. When MX Linux and Linux Mint started sending my hard disk into hyperdrive, it was freakout time!

If I was to go ahead and install MX Linux on my secondary HDD, would it still be messing with my primary HDD that has XP Pro, or would it then be contained to the secondary HDD? It's a 'new' (i.e. never used) Western Digital WD1001FALS in a mobile-rack, so nothing would be on it but the MX. Thanks for your reply, and wish I understood more of it than I do, but your skill level exceeds mine.

 

"Messing"... What exactly do you mean?

 

Does this mean the secondary is a removable drive?
Is your primary (XP) drive removable?

 

I was dual booting 7 and 10 on my Toshiba Satellite L675D-S7052 and it runs decent, once you stop a lot of the background processes you don't really need. Then i bought an SSD and installed Windows 10 and it ran no better than it did on my basic Toshiba hard drive. So then i installed Windows Xp over 10. You can't really get many themes for Windows 10, so that played a big part in my decision.

 

If I download Linux Mint, what all is going to be lost(programs, passwords, ETC?

 

This Was Just In News

APL News Breaking
Windows 10 installed on a lap top and placed on your lap will take X ray pictures of your ^*#$%^&
and they will be passed around the office

 

PROVE YOUR A HUMAN

 

CLIPPY DECLARES HIS INDEPENDENCE and I am much relieved, fact is we all are,
AND HAVE NO DOUBT---there are many of us

 

Theres some great truth here, about once every 3 years, I get a huge alarms going off you are infected full screen page, last one I got said I had to call MS to have them go in my computer, I *67'ed the number on screen , guy says he's
MS, but GOOGLE says he is BS, I HIT THE RED X BOX IN TAB BAR AND HAD NO MORE VIRUS



NOW GIRLS AND BOYS, HE WAS STILL ON THE LINE THO,

guess what kinda stuff I said to him,

for starters I told him his mother ate used kitty litter

sometimes you must get mean

 

I got a phone call earlier this week, strong hindi accent, lotta people talking in the background, an obvious boiler room. Claimed there was MUCH trouble on my computer & wanted to talk to the owner. I said I bought it in my dogs name & he couldnt speak english so they had to deal with me. I used a pleasent voice, not angry at all. He replied 'Thank you very much and f*** you.' & slammed down the phone. Quite enjoyable!