Still useing XP?

Jamie Marchant · **Posted:** Mon Dec 09, 2013 10:44 pm

Adam's announcement of support ending of XP on the Gehn shard got me thinking...

Who here still uses XP?

cpt-jericho · **Joined:** Sun Apr 24, 2011 12:36 am **Posts:** 319

I actually upgraded two month ago.But mostly because I was at a stage which meant upgrading to Win7 or wiping and reinstalling XP32.
Still, was a bad move as I had to rebuild my computer some weeks ago... Well at least Win7 installs rather fast.

Charura · **Joined:** Wed Oct 14, 2009 4:14 pm **Posts:** 1773

Dual Boot....XP and 8..never liked 7 that much

Ricard · **Posted:** Tue Dec 10, 2013 2:36 am

Mostly kicking, screaming, and resisting, I upgraded to Windows 8 last spring.
I hate Windows 8, but I run extra software that makes it behave like a "normal" pc.

I must admit that MO:ULa and the shards run very well on it, though. So ultimately I'm happy.

ventris · **Posted:** Tue Dec 10, 2013 5:20 am

I am getting ready to try to load Uru onto an XP laptop.

lunanne · **Posted:** Tue Dec 10, 2013 8:48 am

I would like to mention that it doesn't seem like Microsoft will stop selling Windows 7 and it's certain it will be supported by them until 2020. If you don't like all the Modern UI stuff in Windows 8, Windows 7 could be an option to upgrade to, as it is less different from XP.

I would also like to add it's not just the shards dropping support for XP, Microsoft itself will too and it will become easy to break into for others because of the lack of security fixes. Even if you don't really want to, it really would be better to upgrade to something newer.

Edit: spelling

Tomala · **Posted:** Tue Dec 10, 2013 10:35 am

I use XP, but only because of hardware audio recreation (whereas in Win 7 it's all digital). But mostly use Windows 7 for Uru and other windows games/programs (Linux for everything else).

Nalates · **Posted:** Tue Dec 10, 2013 5:49 pm

Windows Vista/Win7 are similar to XP in many ways. Win 8 and 8.1 are difference on several levels. One significant difference is there is no COA (Cert of Authenticity) on computers that came with 8/8.1 pre-installed. This means you DO NOT have easy access to the software product key that allows installing 8/8.1. Check your computer and documentation that came with it for the product key. I'm betting you won't find it.

That does not matter until your computer crashes. Then rebuilding the unit without the key gets complicated. While your computer is running get the key, write it down, and put it where you can find it. I was amazed at how many road blocks Microsoft has put in in a persona's way when they need to reinstall Windows 8x. Without the key one is blocked at several points.

To find the key use a free program like: Belarc Advisor.

Windows 8 is an excellent reason to look at Linux...

Jamie Marchant · **Posted:** Tue Dec 10, 2013 6:28 pm

Hmm... there was a time when OEMs had a contractual obligation to affix a COA to your compueter*. If you don't have one, you have no way of knowing weather the copy of Windows you bought was acctully priated and hacekd to look like a legitamite copy.

* I can track down a citation for this if anyone is intersted.

Mac_Fife · **Posted:** Tue Dec 10, 2013 8:30 pm

I still have a couple of machines that run XP Pro (I even have a very old laptop in my garage that runs Win 98 :shock:

) and I have XP in a VM on my main Win 7 PC (there are a couple of hardware items I need to use that just don't work on a 64-bit OS, and I also like to keep Visual Studio 2003 available, which won't work on Win 7).

The fact that Microsoft are withdrawing support doesn't mean XP will suddenly stop working, but you do need to be aware that it might become increasingly vulnerable to new means of exploitation. However, my experience tends to show that the malicious software writers tend to target what's new and/or popular since that generally gives them the best "return on investment" but with Windows what affects one version often also affects other versions.

Jamie Marchant · **Posted:** Tue Dec 10, 2013 11:13 pm

Mac_Fife wrote:

but with Windows what affects one version often also affects other versions.

To an extent yes, programs written to target Windows 7 could work just fine in XP due too them not useing any code that is exclusive to Windows 7. However these programs may not work in 98 if they use code introduced after 98. So as we get further and further from the drop of XP support, there will be less and less chance a virus written for to target newer OSs will work on XP.

Robin · **Posted:** Wed Dec 11, 2013 3:37 pm

I "upgraded" to Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit last year on my desktop machine from XP. (University student discount at ~ $20)

My laptop came with Windows 7 64-bit Personal, which I immediately upgraded to Ultimate using the same student discount. (I was eligible for both a 32-bit and a 64-bit version upgrade at that price.)

Fortunately, the laptop processor was able to run another virtual machine with XP. Some of the software needed for my classes at the time wouldn't run on Windows 7. This is a free download version of XP from Microsoft.

At the time there were a lot of business operations software packages that hadn't been upgraded to work on Win7, and along with the hassles required to upgrade an XP machine, this meant businesses were slow to migrate to the new system.

Worse, there were no drivers available for some of the legacy hardware. On my desktop machine I had to fight with it to get everything running again, only to have another Microsoft Windows update a couple months later that killed one of my cards. Unless I wanted to write my own drivers, something I haven't done in years, my only option was to do without or buy a new card. At $15 for the replacement, you can guess my decision, but it was still VERY annoying. :evil:

cpt-jericho · **Joined:** Sun Apr 24, 2011 12:36 am **Posts:** 319

Robin wrote:

I "upgraded" to Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit last year on my desktop machine from XP.

Normally you can get a 64bit version for free from MS using your 32bit key.

Jamie Marchant · **Posted:** Wed Dec 11, 2013 8:57 pm

That's handy to know.

Nalates · **Posted:** Wed Dec 11, 2013 9:44 pm

Jamie Marchant wrote:

Hmm... there was a time when OEMs had a contractual obligation to affix a COA to your compueter*. If you don't have one, you have no way of knowing weather the copy of Windows you bought was acctully priated and hacekd to look like a legitamite copy.

* I can track down a citation for this if anyone is intersted.

There is a COA holographic sticker on the new Win8 machines. But, it does not have the product key printed on it. So, you can know it is authentic. But, not including the key greatly simplifies the printing and COA distribution process, which reduces Microsoft's costs.

It also greatly complicates restoring a system.

Still useing XP?

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