only an idiot keeps anything private on a computer thats hooked to the net. Everything can be hacked. Untill the programs and systems I use wont work on my old computer I see no reason to switch. That is why you cant still run windows 95 or 98.
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only an idiot keeps anything private on a computer thats hooked to the net. Everything can be hacked. Untill the programs and systems I use wont work on my old computer I see no reason to switch. That is why you cant still run windows 95 or 98.
Ok, here we go:
All machines are running XP Service Pack 2
Specs are pulled from: My Computer-Properties and: C Drive-Properties
Machine 1 is a build I had done close to 8 years ago, doesnt get much use:
Desktop
AMD Athlon @ 1.29 GHz 1.5 GB Ram (On start up I get a screen similar to a BIOS screen that says the processor and 512MB RAM)??
NTFS
32.5GB Used
116GB Free
Machine 2 is the most used:
Laptop
Dell Inspirion 6400
Intel T1350 @ 1.86 GHz 1.99GB RAM
NTFS
13.5GB Used
98.2GB Free
Machine 3 is kept in my shop for work stuff:
Laptop
HP 6400
Intel T2400 @ 1.83GHz 2.00 RAM
NTFS
36.8GB Used
32.2GB Free
Two other options to consider if you want to TRY out Linux w/o buying new H/W.Quote:
Originally Posted by BPTactical
1) DUAL BOOT - If you have enough space on your HD, you can set up a Linux boot partition in addition to Windows (i.e. you have both on one disk). Then at boot time, you select to run either Windows or Linux
2) EXTRA HD - You can either swap out your HD with a new one, and put Linux on the new one to try it out or boot from a USB HD with Linux on it (A bit slower overall due to USB, but functionality is the same).
These options will allow you to "fiddle" with Linux , not have to buy new H/W to try things out, and still allow you to go back and forth to Windows .
Your XP machine will continue to work fine.. The issue you may run into is if you add any new hardware or software to it down the road, a driver may not exist for it. Depending on what you use your computer for you may likely be able to get something for a few hundred bucks. Most people over buy when they get a computer and then use it for nothing but surfing the web which any $200 tablet can do. If all you are doing is Quickbooks or accounting for your business and web surfing you can get away with the most basic bare bones computer out there.
For now.. just keep using what you have until the day comes when you run into a driver issue and are forced to change though I doubt that will even happen, it is more likely that the drive will crash 1st.
The Screen is a motherboard post screen and you can disable it in BIOS if you would like. You will get the best life out of your machine if you go with a light weight distribution of linux. It will feel like a new computer. As with all new things there will be a learning curve to using it, and that is why I would recommend xubuntu or lubuntu. They have big support communities with forums so that you will be able to get quick help if you need or want to change something. Installing it and basic function of either OS is very easy and you will be able to get right back to your normal activities. But installing new programs is a lot different, but in a more secure way. You will use the software center on the machine to search out and install various programs instead of downloading random files off of the internet. That is the biggest difference that I can see causing some problems right off of the bat. But once you get the hang of it, you will see that there are vast libraries of software that is constantly screened for problems that will allow you to find a free solution for your computer.Quote:
Originally Posted by BPTactical
I would recommend a clean install. Older versions of Windows do not like GRUB loader and can cause boot errors if you try a dual boot because the linux boot file (grub) is installed into the Windows boot file and is supposed to point to the windows boot file after you select it, but if there are any problems during install, or the boot loader is not a simple recognized configuration, windows will not boot when selected and it is a bitch to fix. So I would recommend avoiding this problem all together and just doing a fresh install.
You could buy a new HDD for about $50 and install it on that, or you could format your old drive and install over your old data. Either is very easy. Here are the basic steps that you are looking at:
1) Download the OS .iso file of your choice. This machine will need a CD / DVD burner and software to burn the iso file.
2) Burn the disk image onto a new CD or DVD (I would google burning ISO files to make sure you do it right because it needs to be bootable)
3) Insert the disk into the CD drive on the computer you want to change and restart it.
4) It should ask if you want to boot from CD, select "Yes"
Note: if it does not ask to boot from CD, then you will need to select this in BIOS. You do this by restarting the machine and during the post screen for the motherboard hit the Delete key. Then you need to select your CD drive to boot from.
5) Now the OS should boot from your CD rom drive. It will be slow because CDROM is slow, but you just need to follow the steps carefully and select "Format entire volume" and install the OS. Again, you can install side by side for a dual boot, but it is useless in this case because you are trying to mitigate your risk for using an unsupported OS. Dual boot with older windows versions is really a pain and should be avoided unless you have a very specific need for both being installed.
6) The installer should do the rest. Another thing to note is that you will need a password. It will ask for it all the time. Linux systems are platforms built around multiple users and security. They are very secure in comparison to windows. And every time you install anything it will prompt you for your user or "sudo" password.
Egad ... and I thought I was running some crappy old computers :pQuote:
Originally Posted by BPTactical
If at all possible you might want to invest in some new hardware.
I see a lot of people posting that there is nothing to worry about when using unsupported OS, but that is not true. Using an unsupported OS goes way beyond not getting new software, or security patches. They quickly become targets and will have mal-ware, ad-ware and spyware attacks because they are vulnerable and it is only a matter of time before they are just not used. Currently millions of people still use XP, and criminals know this and they have had a while to figure out the best ways to get in and around the systems. It is not like the world will end overnight, that is true; but someone soon will have access to the information on your computer. If you don't have personal or financial information, and plan on never logging into your bank accounts or purchasing anything online from that machine again, then you will be fine and will probably not notice anything. Otherwise I would recommend that you start planning on a new machine, or upgrading your OS.
I see that point, but like I've said I've been running XP machines for the last few years that aren't updated beyond SP1 and have never had any problems with those machines. (note that BP's machines are running SP2 so its already as though those machines have been abandoned by Microsoft since mid 2008 when SP3 came out).Quote:
Originally Posted by Danimal
If you're running an XP machine, you're likely going to be just fine for the next few years (assuming you're running good anti-virus software and not doing stupid things). Don't worry about replacing your OS and start saving toward a new machine because frankly even if you put Windows 7 or 8 or even Linux on those old machines they're still old and even simple "surf/email/Word & Excel" type work will become more difficult.
Hell, machines with the specs of BP's machines aren't even going to run simple Flash or HTML5 programs (like YouTube or simple games) smoothly much longer. As the average machine becomes more powerful, the programs used get more complicated (and sometimes bloated) to take advantage of the faster machines. Simple crap I could do a couple years ago on the Pentium 4 machine I have at home just don't work as well today (even with, or maybe even because of the upgrade to Win7).
We're at a big crossroads that most people haven't noticed ... the days of 32bit machines are numbered and you're really much better off upgrading to 64bit machines (quick, before the 128bit machines hit the market in a few years).
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The problem with an unsupported OS is not viruses or malware, it's exploits. Some antivirus/antimalware vendors can try to run interference to stop some attack vectors, but the vulnerability is still there.
You may not have been compromised as far as you know, but that doesn't mean it hasn't happened. Just read up on the news for what's been going on for the past couple of weeks with the OpenSSL vulnerability known as Heartbleed. You may have been compromised, and it leaves no trace.