Bye Bye XP?
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I think that might be an over tech solution to the chaps problem.
He has a installation which he needs to do training with and nothing else.
I know its a good solution but the chap obviously isn't that happy with IT "crap" and a clone with dual boot is relatively easy and involves minimal setup.
Max before you clone the XP disk go into control panel and remove all the software you not going to use under XP but will be using under Win7.
He has a installation which he needs to do training with and nothing else.
I know its a good solution but the chap obviously isn't that happy with IT "crap" and a clone with dual boot is relatively easy and involves minimal setup.
Max before you clone the XP disk go into control panel and remove all the software you not going to use under XP but will be using under Win7.
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if your of a mind to pay someone let them do it from the start.
If you give them the machine without you fannying around with it, its a relatively simple job. Once you have half screwed it, it will take twice as long and mucho frustration to fix.
Don't go to PC world they will feed you some bollocks.
You want current disk cloned to a larger disk 500mb or 750mb will do fine.
Windows 7 or 8 installed as a dual boot with XP.
XP rendered safe by removing hardware drivers for the networking.
If you give them the machine without you fannying around with it, its a relatively simple job. Once you have half screwed it, it will take twice as long and mucho frustration to fix.
Don't go to PC world they will feed you some bollocks.
You want current disk cloned to a larger disk 500mb or 750mb will do fine.
Windows 7 or 8 installed as a dual boot with XP.
XP rendered safe by removing hardware drivers for the networking.
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Apologies for waking mixture, here, folks, but this is what 'TechRepublic' has to say today.
Yup... as the article summarises
At this point, spending no money isn't really an option -- it's just a matter of whether you spend the money to proactively address the situation or spend it cleaning up the mess after it's too late.
Keanini summed it up the pervasive threat of Windows XP: "Hunt down expired versions of XP and terminate it!"
Keanini summed it up the pervasive threat of Windows XP: "Hunt down expired versions of XP and terminate it!"
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Well I suspect that 30% of internet users will give that the same amount of ignoring as they do your posts on here. ie complete.
Until the IT industry realises that people arn't going to do as they are advised for a variety of reasons and alter the way they do things they are stuff.
To be honest I suspect even if MS gave away free upgrades people still wouldn't upgrade. So your stuffed.
Until the IT industry realises that people arn't going to do as they are advised for a variety of reasons and alter the way they do things they are stuff.
To be honest I suspect even if MS gave away free upgrades people still wouldn't upgrade. So your stuffed.
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That's the reality, though.
I'm the "only game in town" when it comes to computer help for a fair number of silver-surfers in the three congregations here. Most of them are using XP because that's what the computer came with, and they have no intention of spending a hefty slice of their pension on upgrading to something different. So XP it remains, and will.
What I have done for them is to make sure that they have decent (free) virus protection, and educated them NEVER to click on links in e-mails from people they don't know, or on strange-sounding links from people they do know.
All have had the usual crop of e-mails from hijacked Hotmail and AOL accounts, and all have let me know that they did what I said and deleted them without clicking on anything. I've only had to to one "disinfection" in the last year or so.
If Hotmail and AOL can screw up to the extent that complete ID and password lists are compromised and the users' address books hijacked for spamming and virusmail, I see continuing to use XP as "undesirable, but not the biggest problem in town."
I'm the "only game in town" when it comes to computer help for a fair number of silver-surfers in the three congregations here. Most of them are using XP because that's what the computer came with, and they have no intention of spending a hefty slice of their pension on upgrading to something different. So XP it remains, and will.
What I have done for them is to make sure that they have decent (free) virus protection, and educated them NEVER to click on links in e-mails from people they don't know, or on strange-sounding links from people they do know.
All have had the usual crop of e-mails from hijacked Hotmail and AOL accounts, and all have let me know that they did what I said and deleted them without clicking on anything. I've only had to to one "disinfection" in the last year or so.
If Hotmail and AOL can screw up to the extent that complete ID and password lists are compromised and the users' address books hijacked for spamming and virusmail, I see continuing to use XP as "undesirable, but not the biggest problem in town."
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The problem is, Keef, that the 'baddies' will eventually find a way to sucker your SS's into catching a cold - and they are very unlikely to know it has happened. Isolation from the internet is the only safe option long term.
I suspect the 'shock/horror' your oldies will feel having to shell out for 7 or 8 (or 9) may well dent M$'s attractiveness to the general public - and industry judging by the reported proliferation of XP there.
I suspect the 'shock/horror' your oldies will feel having to shell out for 7 or 8 (or 9) may well dent M$'s attractiveness to the general public - and industry judging by the reported proliferation of XP there.
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Indeed, BOAC. Most of these delightful people use the internet extensively to keep in touch with children and grandchildren in far places, so "no internet" isn't a viable option.
So far, the stuff that might have caught them unawares has been stopped by anti-virus and their own caution. They've seen the "hijacked" Hotmail and AOL stuff, and in many cases spoken to the hijackees, so they know Keef is telling them the truth about the risks.
XP lacunae are only one of several sets of traps they have to be protected against: the biggest single effort has been to stop them updating anything from those providers who bundle all sorts of crapware into packages (Adobe being the worst but not only offender). Browser hijackers scare the daylights out of them - these are totally non-computer-literate people.
So far, the stuff that might have caught them unawares has been stopped by anti-virus and their own caution. They've seen the "hijacked" Hotmail and AOL stuff, and in many cases spoken to the hijackees, so they know Keef is telling them the truth about the risks.
XP lacunae are only one of several sets of traps they have to be protected against: the biggest single effort has been to stop them updating anything from those providers who bundle all sorts of crapware into packages (Adobe being the worst but not only offender). Browser hijackers scare the daylights out of them - these are totally non-computer-literate people.
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keef I know its a pain but with those sort of users it worth thinking about giving them Linux.
They will only use a set number of apps most of thier stuff is web based.
The other advantage is you can set them all up so you can remote access them at home as well.
At lets face it most of the time your just going to go in and type "sudo yum update" and that's it.
I am actually against people moving away from XP. I just don't think its going to happen for multiple reasons.
They will only use a set number of apps most of thier stuff is web based.
The other advantage is you can set them all up so you can remote access them at home as well.
At lets face it most of the time your just going to go in and type "sudo yum update" and that's it.
I am actually against people moving away from XP. I just don't think its going to happen for multiple reasons.
Last edited by mad_jock; 24th Apr 2014 at 13:07.
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MJ, I installed Linux on a PC here a few years ago. It took me days to get it working properly - after which, yes, it was impressive. I had to learn a whole load of batch file processing stuff that took me back to Windows 3.1 and the late 80s.
Then the graphics card died and was replaced with a different model: it refused to have anything to do with anything. I had to install Windows to get the thing working again.
I'm not going there again, nohow. Not even for a dozen or so lovely people who aren't into computers. I could see several weeks of my life trying to sort a batch of different machines with a load of historical and treasured stuff on them. If anything gets lost, it's my fault.
If they do something silly with their XP installations, it's not my fault: I'm the chap who turns up and fixes it for nothing more than a cup of coffee. An afternoon a year isn't too bad.
Then the graphics card died and was replaced with a different model: it refused to have anything to do with anything. I had to install Windows to get the thing working again.
I'm not going there again, nohow. Not even for a dozen or so lovely people who aren't into computers. I could see several weeks of my life trying to sort a batch of different machines with a load of historical and treasured stuff on them. If anything gets lost, it's my fault.
If they do something silly with their XP installations, it's not my fault: I'm the chap who turns up and fixes it for nothing more than a cup of coffee. An afternoon a year isn't too bad.
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Originally Posted by Keef
It took me days to get it working properly
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please try it again. But I can completely understand why you don't want to go near it. But at least you will have a plan for if it all goes pete tong.
Personally I like fedora but there are more user friendly versions out there.
Just make a live OS usb stick and boot it using that and see if everything works.
I haven't had to go searching for drivers for a good 5 years with any Linux installation. If its an old machine with XP on it I would be very surprise if the hardware required any tinkering of drivers to get it all working.
Personally I like fedora but there are more user friendly versions out there.
Just make a live OS usb stick and boot it using that and see if everything works.
I haven't had to go searching for drivers for a good 5 years with any Linux installation. If its an old machine with XP on it I would be very surprise if the hardware required any tinkering of drivers to get it all working.
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These are old age pensioners. If they could put away a couple of quid a week, they'd have better things to spend it on than Microsoft. Most of the computers they are using are "hand me downs" from grandchildren and the like.
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They were all a pain in the neck to network - I had to mess with long strings of samba stuff, some of which worked and some didn't.
And then the graphics card died. The new card worked "just like that" with Windows, and threw up all sorts of error messages in Linux. That was the end of the Linux experiment for me.
I do keep a Knoppix CD for unscrambling damaged Windows installations. A friend of mine (now retired, but until recently a Professor at London University) had a load of research stuff on his PC; the PC went on the blink, and he found that his regular "offline" backups hadn't been working correctly. Knoppix saved the day. That is a very useful tool!
I tried several versions of "Linux bootable sticks" last year. None would sway me away from Windows 7.
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The biggest problem with linux is that there is just too many ways to do everything. This is great if you like playing, but its not much fun when you just want to use a computer. When you have a problem, you end up scouring the ends of the internet to find a solution.
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Must admit I went for fedora about 8 years ago now and haven't had many issues with it at all.
In fact my aspire one hasn't had any tampering with for years. It just gets a yum update and it always goes through with no problems. In fact it must of had 5 full OS upgrades using that method.
I just followed one of the "prefect fedora desktop" aka
The Perfect Desktop - Fedora 18 XFCE | HowtoForge - Linux Howtos and Tutorials
type things.
Must have done 20 odd machines now without any issues.
Network I will admit I have a old but pretty functional knowledge of all the various *nix config files, so I think I had one intel wifi card 5 years ago that was a pain in the bum. But after 30seconds I fired in a new one of a different make swapped from another laptop and it worked a treat. Put in another repo and got the correct driver and then swapped it back.
To my knowledge none of the machines I have set up have needed any tampering with after setup. They just do what they are intended for and updates go through and they continue to work.
As you say not much point if there is a usable Win 7 installation you can use. It was just a suggestion for the XP users in your flock.
In fact my aspire one hasn't had any tampering with for years. It just gets a yum update and it always goes through with no problems. In fact it must of had 5 full OS upgrades using that method.
I just followed one of the "prefect fedora desktop" aka
The Perfect Desktop - Fedora 18 XFCE | HowtoForge - Linux Howtos and Tutorials
type things.
Must have done 20 odd machines now without any issues.
Network I will admit I have a old but pretty functional knowledge of all the various *nix config files, so I think I had one intel wifi card 5 years ago that was a pain in the bum. But after 30seconds I fired in a new one of a different make swapped from another laptop and it worked a treat. Put in another repo and got the correct driver and then swapped it back.
To my knowledge none of the machines I have set up have needed any tampering with after setup. They just do what they are intended for and updates go through and they continue to work.
As you say not much point if there is a usable Win 7 installation you can use. It was just a suggestion for the XP users in your flock.
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I was in my local Ford dealer's spares department today - Ford are the biggest seller of new cars in Spain with the PRC cars - and was impressed by their software. Give the guy your registration or even your name, up on the computer screen comes all the details of your car, and then devolves into lists, graphics, pictures, instructions. Ordering the moulding I wanted was simplicity itself.
Only thing is, Ford's spares and parts software (certainly in Spain) was written for and runs on....XP.
Only thing is, Ford's spares and parts software (certainly in Spain) was written for and runs on....XP.
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Sure, monthly updates for XP programming flaws have been discontinued.
While there have been dire warnings about XP, has anyone heard of any ACTUAL attacks that weren't caught by antivirus systems, etc.
My XP PCs are not connected to the Internet. I keep them because some important software won't run on Win 7.
seacue
While there have been dire warnings about XP, has anyone heard of any ACTUAL attacks that weren't caught by antivirus systems, etc.
My XP PCs are not connected to the Internet. I keep them because some important software won't run on Win 7.
seacue