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XP Computers - should they stay or should they go

I use an XP machine to run Breakaway Live for my Internet station. It is not connected to the Internet, so it is safe to continue using. I will keep using it until it dies (or until I die, whichever comes first). :)

R
 
I have been positively *hoarding* computers with XP off of eBay, and they are such great, fast, clean machines. I plan to keep right on with XP even when the current systems die by replenishing systems 'n parts from this stockpile. None of the Windows OS's since XP process audio as reliably and glitchlessly as XP, so I'm still a huge fan.

They're still safe to connect to the Internet as long as you don't visit any infected sites or install infected software. I foresee keeping these around for quite a while.
 
ssivers said:
I found a hack to allow XP machines to download updates. Check it out at this link:

http://www.zdnet.com/registry-hack-enables-continued-updates-for-windows-xp-7000029851/

I tried the windows update site with one of my XP computers before I installed the hack, and there were no updates available. After I made the change, there were several available.
Click to expand...

The registry hack works, but you have to manually disregard updates that are for WEPOS versions of XP, so it's kind of a minor pain. That said, I have no plans to retire any XP machines. We use a good anti-virus software and the XP machines are for work, not for casual Internet surfing. Our bookkeeping computer actually had a glitch that prevented updates past service pack 3. It has not received an update in 5 years, but it's been the most stable of all of our machines. The only time we use the internet is to send email (we use a mail client for that, not webmail) or to pay taxes or check bank balances. Be sure to use a modern browser that keeps up with security fixes. Take your IE8 links off of the PC. With a modern browser and anti-virus software, all of those basic business activities are controlled and safe, so we just never have a problem. I have no worries about continued use of XP.

One other thought: As users dump XP and the numbers of machines drops, in a couple of years, nobody will bother writing code to attack them because there won't be enough of them left to make hacking the OS fun or profitable. I have two Win98SE machines doing simple tasks, still. One is a security camera server. It never gave any trouble, so we still use it. At this point, I'm pretty sure it'll never get hacked.
 
I have an XP computer that I'll continue to use for awhile. My main concern is that the XP OS will soon stop being supported by the Anti-Virus software.
At that time, I'll continue to use the computer without a network connection.
 
I would imagine that there has to be a good anti-virus package out there that continues to support XP.

And if you had that on a computer running XP and performed the due diligence of not clicking on unknown mail attachments, etc., I think there is a good probability that said computer would continue to perform flawlessly. There haven't been any major updates to the OS itself (just minor ones) for some time and if you can avoid the means of exploiting any remaining holes by hackers there should be little to worry about.

One thing I did was prevent IE from launching by renaming the executable (I have been using Firefox for years anyway) because my own research indicates that the most likely exploit by hackers will be to the older versions of IE that are left in place because newer releases will require Win 7 or 8. If the exploit can't "find" IE, that ends that.

I don't do a lot of engineering (although I did have my share of time doubling as the CE for a few class A FMs back in the 1980s) but I do know that a lot of the software used in programming runs better on XP, and heaven knows that with the state of the business nowadays no owners are going to want to upgrade hardware, OS and software just to stay on the air ...

I look forward to reading the thoughts of you fine people on this, as it is a subject that won't be going away (as much as Microsoft wishes it would).
 
Running our FM on an XP box with StationPlaylist...No plans to change anytime soon. The Optiplex 745 has a lot of life left in it, and still runs nice and quick. I wouldn't use XP anymore for web surfing but for the on air machine, which I purposely crippled every browser on, its fine.
 
I think, IF your are running a static system such as automation that has no net access and you want to keep XP around; Go for it! Personally I like to have security updates for anything that can hit the outside world as a best practice. But given the age of the OS and the lack of drivers for any new cards, mother boards ect.. I think inside after a few years the more modern speeds of gear will bring along any XP hold outs.
Times change and so must IT.
 
I have three PC's in the house, two on W7 and one that serves as a media server and runs XP. It runs XP because its audio card does not have a W7 driver and never will. I could replace the audio card with a newer version and install W7 on it but since it isn't connected to the Internet there is no reason. I filter everything I play through one of the primary W7 machines so the chances of introducing a virus is minimal. Should it occur, I have a static backup of the drive and can download a new OS, complete with all the media software I need, in a matter of about 20 minutes and be back on the air.

It is possible to set up one of the primary machines to wirelessly transmit AV data to the stereo & flat screen but it is more complicated than the trusty tennis show interface (flash stick) and I don't want to be called every time the wifey wants to fire up a movie.
 
Running iMediatouch on XP just fine. As of now, there is no plan to upgrade. I believe that XP is fine, provided the operator is competent and uses it with the appropriate caution. I will say, however, that W7 properly optimized runs very well. Our "SportsBox" on W7 was up for 7 months without a glitch.
 
If it's not connected to the Internet, using XP is perfectly safe. Our cluster runs all of our AudioVault machines on XP. Much better than a Windows 7 machine if you only have 2 GB of RAM.
 
Small Market Guy said:
If it's not connected to the Internet, using XP is perfectly safe. Our cluster runs all of our AudioVault machines on XP. Much better than a Windows 7 machine if you only have 2 GB of RAM.
Click to expand...

It's perfectly safe if connected to the Internet, as long as you know what you're doing. The biggest thing is to never be logged in as "administrator", when online. That eliminates almost every single flaw that could be exploited on XP.
 
K.M. Richards said:
I would imagine that there has to be a good anti-virus package out there that continues to support XP....
Click to expand...

There are a number of security companies online that claim they can keep XP perfectly safe and will continue to support XP indefinately. I saw an ad on TV for "PCmatic" that specifically mentioned this feature in the ad. I'm sure that there are many others, too. We run a bunch of, Internet connected, XP machines at work with up-to-date AV software and have had no problems. Of course, we also don't surf to the types of sites where viruses hang out, either. We also log into these machines as users rather than administrators most of the time.
 
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