Windows XP: Chronicle of a death foretold
Juan Carlos Perez, IDG News Service @JuanCPerezIDG


When Microsoft ends support for Windows XP on Tuesday, a security
sinkhole will likely open and gradually widen, threatening hundreds of
millions of PCs worldwide in homes, companies, government agencies and
schools.

Along with the Y2K bug, Windows XP’s support termination is one of the
computer industry’s most publicized—and most ignored—deadlines, toward
which many business and IT managers have taken a curiously casual attitude.

The implications could be dire for those organizations that continue to
use Windows XP, a decrepit OS Microsoft launched in 2001, and whose bugs
and security vulnerabilities it will no longer patch.

Microsoft hasn’t minced words painting doomsday scenarios of malicious
hackers and cybercriminals having a field day with Windows XP PCs,
unleashing a barrage of malware, carrying out ransomware attacks, and
stealing sensitive personal and financial data stored in those machines.

“Once support ends and the OS is no longer patched, the PC is at risk,”
said Tom Murphy, Microsoft’s director of communications for Windows.

http://tinyurl.com/lum9pmr


snerk

It’s the end of the world, especially for Gregg, whose array of
computers will blow up one by one. Whatever you do, don't accept
any emails from folks running XP.

On 4/8/14, 1:11 PM, wrote:
On Tue, 08 Apr 2014 10:35:19 -0400, F*O*A*D wrote:

Windows XP: Chronicle of a death foretold
Juan Carlos Perez, IDG News Service @JuanCPerezIDG


When Microsoft ends support for Windows XP on Tuesday, a security
sinkhole will likely open and gradually widen, threatening hundreds of
millions of PCs worldwide in homes, companies, government agencies and
schools.

Along with the Y2K bug, Windows XP’s support termination is one of the
computer industry’s most publicized—and most ignored—deadlines, toward
which many business and IT managers have taken a curiously casual attitude.

The implications could be dire for those organizations that continue to
use Windows XP, a decrepit OS Microsoft launched in 2001, and whose bugs
and security vulnerabilities it will no longer patch.

Microsoft hasn’t minced words painting doomsday scenarios of malicious
hackers and cybercriminals having a field day with Windows XP PCs,
unleashing a barrage of malware, carrying out ransomware attacks, and
stealing sensitive personal and financial data stored in those machines.

“Once support ends and the OS is no longer patched, the PC is at risk,�
said Tom Murphy, Microsoft’s director of communications for Windows.

http://tinyurl.com/lum9pmr


snerk

It’s the end of the world, especially for Gregg, whose array of
computers will blow up one by one. Whatever you do, don't accept
any emails from folks running XP.

If I really thought that was true, the W/98 machines I have running
would have the Ebola virus by now.
The "vulnerabilities" are usually in new code, not old code.

Bear in mind the updates are coming fast and furious on the newer
windows platforms too and these only come after there was an attack.

If enough people had apples to attract hackers, they would be attacked
too.

I don't really trust microshaft for my security anyway. There are far
more robust protection packages out there.



My wife runs a freebie anti-vi package on her Win 7 home desktop. It
might be AVG. My server's modules include anti-vi, which updates itself
from time to time and allegedly will send me a message if it finds
anything malicious. I've never gotten a “Danger, Will Robinson!� message
on any of my Apple devices. That Apple's computers are not "attractive"
to hackers is yet another reason to use them.

On 4/8/2014 1:39 PM, F*O*A*D wrote:
On 4/8/14, 1:11 PM, wrote:
On Tue, 08 Apr 2014 10:35:19 -0400, F*O*A*D wrote:

Windows XP: Chronicle of a death foretold
Juan Carlos Perez, IDG News Service @JuanCPerezIDG


When Microsoft ends support for Windows XP on Tuesday, a security
sinkhole will likely open and gradually widen, threatening hundreds of
millions of PCs worldwide in homes, companies, government agencies and
schools.

Along with the Y2K bug, Windows XP’s support termination is one of the
computer industry’s most publicized—and most ignored—deadlines, toward
which many business and IT managers have taken a curiously casual
attitude.

The implications could be dire for those organizations that continue to
use Windows XP, a decrepit OS Microsoft launched in 2001, and whose bugs
and security vulnerabilities it will no longer patch.

Microsoft hasn’t minced words painting doomsday scenarios of malicious
hackers and cybercriminals having a field day with Windows XP PCs,
unleashing a barrage of malware, carrying out ransomware attacks, and
stealing sensitive personal and financial data stored in those machines.

“Once support ends and the OS is no longer patched, the PC is at risk,�
said Tom Murphy, Microsoft’s director of communications for Windows.

http://tinyurl.com/lum9pmr


snerk

It’s the end of the world, especially for Gregg, whose array of
computers will blow up one by one. Whatever you do, don't accept
any emails from folks running XP.

If I really thought that was true, the W/98 machines I have running
would have the Ebola virus by now.
The "vulnerabilities" are usually in new code, not old code.

Bear in mind the updates are coming fast and furious on the newer
windows platforms too and these only come after there was an attack.

If enough people had apples to attract hackers, they would be attacked
too.

I don't really trust microshaft for my security anyway. There are far
more robust protection packages out there.



My wife runs a freebie anti-vi package on her Win 7 home desktop. It
might be AVG. My server's modules include anti-vi, which updates itself
from time to time and allegedly will send me a message if it finds
anything malicious. I've never gotten a “Danger, Will Robinson!� message
on any of my Apple devices. That Apple's computers are not "attractive"
to hackers is yet another reason to use them.

The free version of AVG is rated very highly ... in fact some who have
tested the various anti-virus packages say it say it outperforms most of
the software packages that you pay for and, in most cases, is all you
need.

On 4/8/2014 9:45 PM, wrote:
On Tue, 08 Apr 2014 20:24:22 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 4/8/2014 7:46 PM, wrote:


Disk Wizard, free from Seagate/Maxtor does a great job of creating
images, cloning drives and manipulating partitions.
It either runs from Windoze or boots from a CD if your system is
toast.
I keep a big Maxtor drive, just for the purpose since DW wants to see
one somewhere anyway.


I can't be bothered with all that. A computer is an expendable device.
When this Vista dies (that I bought 5-6 years ago) I'll just start
using the Win 7. If that dies I'll use the iMac. If that dies (or
frustrates me too much) I'll just spring for another computer.

I just download the utility programs that Windows doesn't have. Most
are free. I use Audacity quite a bit, Infranview for image viewing and
simple editing, Gimp 2 for more complex image editing and a few more,
again mostly free. That's all I need for what I do.




If you are just assuming you will never lose a hard drive, go for it.
Most people feel the same way.
I can say the most common and devastating computer failure is a hard
drive and it has been true for over 3 decades.

I used to ship a box of bad ones out every week. Occasionally one was
really OK and just got replaced because it was the "usual suspect"
(where I got my stash).
I would still burn one in for a couple of days with Norton before I
trusted it.

I have lost more drives that I bought new than used drives I brought
home from work. Western Digital is by far the leader in dead drives by
2 to one compared to every other brand.

This one was one of the most frustrating. It cost me a couple days of
work. It was only a few months old and I could have got a new one on a
warranty ... if it didn't have that .,380 wound.

http://gfretwell.com/ftp/Bad%20W-D.jpg


Again, I don't keep anything I couldn't live without on the hard drive
alone. I selectively transfer some files to an external drive and also
use flash drives to store current documents I may be working on or
important emails. I haven't trusted hard drives since I had my first
computer so I guess I am in the habit of not relying on them. That
said, the XP laptop that croaked after several years of use didn't have
a hard drive crash. It was something on the motherboard. I took the
hard drive out of it and bought one of those USB devices that could
power and read it. I was able to view many of the files using the Win7
laptop but not all. The issue there was incompatibility of XP and Win7.

On 4/9/14, 1:03 AM, wrote:
On Tue, 08 Apr 2014 22:06:06 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

Again, I don't keep anything I couldn't live without on the hard drive
alone. I selectively transfer some files to an external drive and also
use flash drives to store current documents I may be working on or
important emails. I haven't trusted hard drives since I had my first
computer so I guess I am in the habit of not relying on them. That
said, the XP laptop that croaked after several years of use didn't have
a hard drive crash. It was something on the motherboard. I took the
hard drive out of it and bought one of those USB devices that could
power and read it. I was able to view many of the files using the Win7
laptop but not all. The issue there was incompatibility of XP and Win7.

For me it is just the pain of getting going again after a crash since
my "data" is well backed up, Mostly the problem is reloading all of
the software and getting it configured the way you like it.

My Time Machine and SuperDuper! backups backup everything, including my
customized settings, so there is nothing to do for a restore but invoke
restore.

Both my Apple computers run the same OS version, so there are no
compatibility issues. Saves time and worry. I keep the two machines
pretty much in sync so that even if one's backup went teats-up, I would
be able to do a 99% complete restore from the other machine's backup.

On Wed, 09 Apr 2014 07:42:51 -0400, F*O*A*D wrote:

Both my Apple computers run the same OS version, so there are no
compatibility issues.

===

If you like your Apple, you can keep your Apple.

On 4/9/2014 7:42 AM, F*O*A*D wrote:
On 4/9/14, 1:03 AM, wrote:
On Tue, 08 Apr 2014 22:06:06 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

Again, I don't keep anything I couldn't live without on the hard drive
alone. I selectively transfer some files to an external drive and also
use flash drives to store current documents I may be working on or
important emails. I haven't trusted hard drives since I had my first
computer so I guess I am in the habit of not relying on them. That
said, the XP laptop that croaked after several years of use didn't have
a hard drive crash. It was something on the motherboard. I took the
hard drive out of it and bought one of those USB devices that could
power and read it. I was able to view many of the files using the Win7
laptop but not all. The issue there was incompatibility of XP and Win7.

For me it is just the pain of getting going again after a crash since
my "data" is well backed up, Mostly the problem is reloading all of
the software and getting it configured the way you like it.

My Time Machine and SuperDuper! backups backup everything, including my
customized settings, so there is nothing to do for a restore but invoke
restore.

Both my Apple computers run the same OS version, so there are no
compatibility issues. Saves time and worry. I keep the two machines
pretty much in sync so that even if one's backup went teats-up, I would
be able to do a 99% complete restore from the other machine's backup.


Too bad you couldn't invoke payment of your back taxes.

On 4/9/2014 7:51 AM, Wayne.B wrote:
On Wed, 09 Apr 2014 07:42:51 -0400, F*O*A*D wrote:

Both my Apple computers run the same OS version, so there are no
compatibility issues.

===

If you like your Apple, you can keep your Apple.

Unless OhBama invokes an executive order banning them.

On 4/9/14, 12:21 PM, wrote:
On Wed, 09 Apr 2014 07:42:51 -0400, F*O*A*D wrote:

On 4/9/14, 1:03 AM, wrote:
On Tue, 08 Apr 2014 22:06:06 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

Again, I don't keep anything I couldn't live without on the hard drive
alone. I selectively transfer some files to an external drive and also
use flash drives to store current documents I may be working on or
important emails. I haven't trusted hard drives since I had my first
computer so I guess I am in the habit of not relying on them. That
said, the XP laptop that croaked after several years of use didn't have
a hard drive crash. It was something on the motherboard. I took the
hard drive out of it and bought one of those USB devices that could
power and read it. I was able to view many of the files using the Win7
laptop but not all. The issue there was incompatibility of XP and Win7.

For me it is just the pain of getting going again after a crash since
my "data" is well backed up, Mostly the problem is reloading all of
the software and getting it configured the way you like it.

My Time Machine and SuperDuper! backups backup everything, including my
customized settings, so there is nothing to do for a restore but invoke
restore.

Both my Apple computers run the same OS version, so there are no
compatibility issues. Saves time and worry. I keep the two machines
pretty much in sync so that even if one's backup went teats-up, I would
be able to do a 99% complete restore from the other machine's backup.

Harry, you act like you just invented the backup.

Source Forge has a **** load of good backup tools for free on their
web site. I am downloading "Clonezilla" as we speak. It is supposed to
be able to image a DishTV DVR disk among other things (just about any
format)
I want to change out the 250g external disk I have for a 1TB and not
lose any of my recordings.



Not at all. It just seems that Time Machine, which is not even my main
backup software, is easier to use than whatever you're using.

On 4/9/14, 1:09 PM, wrote:
On Wed, 09 Apr 2014 12:42:09 -0400, F*O*A*D wrote:

Not at all. It just seems that Time Machine, which is not even my main
backup software, is easier to use than whatever you're using.

Bold statement since you don't really have a clue what I am using



It must be easier, Greg, since I am not having problems and it doesn't
take any of my time to run backups for all the computers in the house.
Yes, my wife's Win 7 machine also backs up to the server without
intervention. Took my about 30 seconds to make that connection about two
years ago.