My dirty little secret is that I like Windows XP. I know it inside out and it maximizes my productivity while sitting at the computer. And in the end that is what counts. A computer is a tool to get work done. If I get the most work done on a Windows XP computer, then that is what I should use.
It is not security concerns that worry me with Windows XP. The problem is rather the dwindling software support.
Interesting article.. thanks for sharing..Midas wrote: ↑Mon Apr 10, 2023 9:47 am An article that may (or not...) interest readers of the present topic...
My dirty little secret is that I like Windows XP. I know it inside out and it maximizes my productivity while sitting at the computer. And in the end that is what counts. A computer is a tool to get work done. If I get the most work done on a Windows XP computer, then that is what I should use.It is not security concerns that worry me with Windows XP. The problem is rather the dwindling software support.
I wholly believe that, considering the fact that I haven't even had any permanent malware protection other than the default MS Defender -- tweaked to become the least intrusive possible. I was never a Java user and only started to yield to DotNET after it became a system feature. Sensible and informed options allow you a really big mileage: one of my systems (currently being slowly phased out exactly for the same reasons pointed at by the article) runs a copy of Windows 7 last installed in 2015... It is happily chugging along right here alongside the more modern PC in writing this post.dmiranda wrote: ↑Absent an evil maid, most of the potential damage can only come from using integrated browsers, media players, and the multiple frameworks that make life easier (tsk) for the normal user. Cripple those, and you are on the safe.
I'm a big fan of VMs (or, more precisely, bootable virtual disks with OSes installed); I'm also a sworn enemy of the security BS that gets spewed far and wide these days, grounded on the notion that common users can't tell left from right and need to be handheld and restricted for their own sake, but does in fact provides the ultimate disservice of telling them that someone utterly unknown, laboring in a remote location under a whole set of different goals knows better than them...dmiranda wrote: ↑Most content you cannot watch or process you can in a virtual machine, or in a vanilla browser/media player, either directly, or downloading it for slightly delayed enjoyment, without all the adds and crap (spyware, nagware, etc) that "the more secure environment" promoted by modern browsers and media players.
As someone who has had to do without his own faithful almost 20YO Mitsubishi for about 4 months -- which never ever gave me any troubles along more than 260K kilometers -- on account of a messed up routine repair, oh boy, how I feel that...Andrew Lee wrote: ↑I am driving the Windows XP equivalent of cars - a 20yo Toyota Corolla. I am not a luddite.. I do read up on the latest and greatest about EVs and stuff, but just can't find enough incentive to move to a new car. Parts are cheap, maintenance is cheap, and there are few surprises for a PtA-to-PtB car. I don't want to be the guy who loses his EV for 3 months because he's waiting on parts. Anything happens to mine, the turnaround is never more than a day.
Couldn't have said it better. One of the sparse benefits of aging is the perk of long and broad hindsight: I bet you fell for the upgrade trap a couple of times before realizing how much wasted effort it entails. All of it just to get back to baseline, as you wisely wrote. Add to that the woes of infirm hands and blurry vision and it quickly turns into an ordeal. So you quickly jump out of the lab cage and try to build a nest of a system out of the way of current software trends -- one of the main reasons my interest in TPFC has grown over the years instead of dwindling as usual with many other hobbies...Andrew Lee wrote: ↑With software, I just no longer believe the snake oil that the transition is going to be "seamless". It is never going to be seamless. You lose time setting up stuff, lose time doing updates, lose time finding some existing software no longer works, lose time testing new versions of said software, lose time trying to find alternatives if said new versions do not work etc. It's always an investment of at least a couple of weeks before you are back to baseline again, EVERY SINGLE TIME!
So I do not hold out for as long as the author of the article, but I have experienced enough to want to hold out until I feel the inconvenience vastly outweighs the cost. It's never wise to be the first in line to jump into a new version unless you do not mind being a guinea pig!
Welcome to Windows Update Restored. [...] This is a community based project aimed at restoring the old Windows Update websites for Windows 95, NT4, 98, Me, 2000 and XP. We actively update the project & website with new available updates and pages.
5. this build is Portable (installer is planner)Added preliminary code for Windows XP/Vista support, but I still need progwrp.lib from @win32ss , which should be coming soon when he releases Supermium M123.
