Important note for PC users...

[brewmaster15]

Hi all,
Computers being one of my hobbies, I thought I would bring this up for those of you that are windows users and still using Windows XP as an operating system. Microsoft is discontinuing support for this Operating System on April 8 2014. What that means is any of you using the system after that risk having your systems compromised by various threats and risk incompatibility with new equipment and Software.

Amazingly 11% of systems out there are still using XP.

http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_os.asp

These tend to be older computers..If you are one of these XP users you may want to try and see if Win 7 will work on your system.. You can go to Microsofts website and run compatibility tests.

If you can't upgrade , and still want to use the computer system.. I would suggest using Linux... theres a whole other world out there with operating systems in the Linux universe.... take a close look at "mint" "ubuntu" "Fedora" These all come with various desktop schemes ...LXDE and XFCE are well suited to older systems. You will most likely be running a computer using a 32 bit system, be sure to down load the appropriate one, 64 bit Operating Systems won't work on a 32 bit system unless they say it....but most 32 bit operating systems will work on a 64 bit computer.

You can use Linuxquestions.org as a jump off point for info..they even have a beginners guide... http://linuxquestions.tradepub.com/free/w_mach01/

and if you visit Distrowatch.com you can download various Linux systems free...or buy for a few bucks the system on disk or USB flash.

In any case, You have less than 2 months to deal with your XP machines.

Hth,
al

[brewmaster15]

One additional note... most of your sofware on XP will be incompatible on Linux,things like Microsoft word and excel... but theres open source software versions that are free... libre office or open office instead of Microsoft
GIMP instead of Photoshop
dozens of media players
pretty much everything you can do with windows is there in linux.

there are a few windows programs that will work on linux when you use a program like "wine" to facilitate it.

hth,
al

[terps]

And if you decide to buy a new desktop, get one with Windows 7 Pro. Don't buy a PC with Windows 8. Windows 8 is awful. Most people and reviewers hate it. One review I read said that if you really, truly hate someone, then give them an upgrade copy of Windows 8. :D Windows 7 Pro will allow you to run many of your older XP programs that are not compatible with the Windows 7 Home version. You should be able to check on the Microsoft site to see if your old XP software is compatible. Also Intel will have a refresh on it's latest Haswell chips later this year, but it might not be worth the wait. You might want to wait until 2015 when they release their new Broadwell chips. They will use a different motherboard that will probably not be compatible with the latest CPUs. So if you buy a Haswell CPU PC this year, you won't be able to upgrade the CPU to a Broadwell CPU without upgrading the motherboard.

[Madaboutdiscus]

I got a new laptop at work and my boss refused to buy one with 8 on it. He said it's a terrible program and he won't have it. For those that don't know though XP and Vista are no longer going to be supported by Windows so if you have these versions you must upgrade or you're at a HIGH security risk because they aren't going to support the firewalls and such anymore. They gave us until the end of March. My work laptop has XP. My home has Vista lol. Have to upgrade all over the place.

-Victoria

[treemanone2003]

Well, for those that do or don't know about me, I am a total computer nazi. Like many other things in my life, it has the same button for on and off. If it helps, it's a Dell and has home premium on it. Does this sound like it falls into the compatibility group or will she too fall victim to the H&K or Taurus ?

[jsalas623]

Windows XP is being discontinued which pretty much means no more support no more security updates and etc. so say somebody finds a security flaw in Windows XP. Microsoft will not be sending out a "patch" to fix the flaw due to XP not being supported. I work in I.T and I agree 8 is garbage :)

[brewmaster15]

Well, for those that do or don't know about me, I am a total computer nazi. Like many other things in my life, it has the same button for on and off. If it helps, it's a Dell and has home premium on it. Does this sound like it falls into the compatibility group or will she too fall victim to the H&K or Taurus ?

George,
You can find out the Os info like this..
Ws:

Click Start, and then click Run.
In the Open box, type winver.exe, and then click OK. The version number is displayed in the About Windows box.

if that doesn't work...
http://www.ehow.com/how_2105267_use-system-information-windows-xp.html

hth,
al

[treemanone2003]

George,
You can find out the Os info like this..
Ws:

Click Start, and then click Run.
In the Open box, type winver.exe, and then click OK. The version number is displayed in the About Windows box.

if that doesn't work...
http://www.ehow.com/how_2105267_use-system-information-windows-xp.html

hth,
al

Thank you Al. I will attempt that after I return from the dog walking adventure this morn. Since it's a whopping 36° on this side of the state today all the little dogs will be out making for a treacherous trek thru the neighborhood lol.

[SMB2]

Or you can see this as a chance to come over to the dark side....APPLE!

[brewmaster15]

Or you can see this as a chance to come over to the dark side....APPLE!

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:bandana:
-al

[Madaboutdiscus]

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:bandana:
-al

+1 lol

-Victoria

[brady]

Al, my friend . What language are you speaking? I didn't understand one word. Speak English, lad. LOL
Anyway we are going to take the simple way out. Going from a pc to a laptop with win 7.
Jay

[OC Discus]

I became an early adopter of win 8. Win 7 might become hard to get on a new computer, or expensive. About a year after upgrading from a vista to a win 7 system, I loved win 7- It is the new XP. Then, a few months later, I needed a new laptop for web browsing and another for my office. Loving the iPhone and Ipad, I thought a MacBook would be very similar for a web browsing machine. Boy was I wrong. The mac book is like windows in reverse- everything is backward and counter intuitive. The ipad was developed by a totally different group of people at apple. I returned the MacBook air after 1 night, having been a windows guy since 3.1.

Next, got a laptop with Windows 8. Windows 8 is more like using an ipad than a mac book, believe it or not. The whole concept of using apps that is so simple on the ipad is a goal of windows 8- and it does it about half as good as ipad. But the MacBook air is not even close in the app world- It is best for its hardware, period.

I currently have two notebooks running win 8 and one running win 7. Win 7 is by far the best os, IMHO, yet. Win 8 is a crossover for app users to lure them away from ipad and iPhone. Honestly, I got tired of ipad because it was just awkward to hold it all the time. After comparing the MacBook air and the Asus Zenbook ultraportable with win 8, I chose the win 8 unit. My primary work pc runs win 7, but my primary fun pc runs win 8 and has a touch screen. The learning curve is huge moving to win 8. Even after running it for a year, switching between win 7 and 8 gets confusing sometimes.

One advantage of win 8 is you can defrag the system in less than 5 minutes, compared to a couple of hours on win 7. Also, checking the disc for errors takes about 5 min on windows 8.

JFYI

[brewmaster15]

I became an early adopter of win 8. Win 7 might become hard to get on a new computer, or expensive. About a year after upgrading from a vista to a win 7 system, I loved win 7- It is the new XP. Then, a few months later, I needed a new laptop for web browsing and another for my office. Loving the iPhone and Ipad, I thought a MacBook would be very similar for a web browsing machine. Boy was I wrong. The mac book is like windows in reverse- everything is backward and counter intuitive. The ipad was developed by a totally different group of people at apple. I returned the MacBook air after 1 night, having been a windows guy since 3.1.

Next, got a laptop with Windows 8. Windows 8 is more like using an ipad than a mac book, believe it or not. The whole concept of using apps that is so simple on the ipad is a goal of windows 8- and it does it about half as good as ipad. But the MacBook air is not even close in the app world- It is best for its hardware, period.

I currently have two notebooks running win 8 and one running win 7. Win 7 is by far the best os, IMHO, yet. Win 8 is a crossover for app users to lure them away from ipad and iPhone. Honestly, I got tired of ipad because it was just awkward to hold it all the time. After comparing the MacBook air and the Asus Zenbook ultraportable with win 8, I chose the win 8 unit. My primary work pc runs win 7, but my primary fun pc runs win 8 and has a touch screen. The learning curve is huge moving to win 8. Even after running it for a year, switching between win 7 and 8 gets confusing sometimes.

One advantage of win 8 is you can defrag the system in less than 5 minutes, compared to a couple of hours on win 7. Also, checking the disc for errors takes about 5 min on windows 8.

JFYI

Try Linux! :) You can run it without installing to see if you like it... I keep a couple of copies on USB flash drives for when I travel..pop it in a pc and instant OS...no chance of spying eyes. and if you like it, its easy to install right next to windows so you get a boot option for either windows or linux....or you can do as I did on my of Pcs... ditch windows all together and run linux native. No bloatware, less virus issues, less compromised data, less of all the bad things in a computer and more of the good. Not that I am biased at all against windows LOL.:p
-al

[OC Discus]

I confess, I've never tried Linux. Will have to do that some time. I have used open office and have it installed on my Asus Ultraportable. Good option for the price.

[terps]

If you're thinking about buying a new windows PC, the Haswell refresh CPUs should be available in April/May. They won't be that much faster, but I'd still wait for them. You might also want to buy an SDD(solid state drive) and install that in your new PC. Just clone the OS onto your SDD and make it your boot up drive. Then add all your programs to the SDD and store your data onto your hard drive. There are plenty of videos on youtube that will show you exactly how to do it. SDDs are getting a lot cheaper, but they are still expensive compared to HDs. But that speed advantage when loading programs will save you a lot of time and just might be worth it if you do lots of photo and video editing. Boot up times are significantly faster too.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaK93wHTVtY

[Ryan]

Spend $5 on Start8 or Pokki and Windows 8 will perform and look just like Windows 7. These are programs that add the Start menu back to your computer and allow it to boot right to your desktop so that it functions like Windows 7.

Otherwise I don't find Windows 8 to be any worse than Windows 7. Most new computers now come with 8 or 8.1 preinstalled and downgrading is tedious and may void your warranty. Try one of these programs (I use Pokki) and you'll see that it's really not that different.

[brewmaster15]

Spend $5 on Start8 or Pokki and Windows 8 will perform and look just like Windows 7. These are programs that add the Start menu back to your computer and allow it to boot right to your desktop so that it functions like Windows 7.

Otherwise I don't find Windows 8 to be any worse than Windows 7. Most new computers now come with 8 or 8.1 preinstalled and downgrading is tedious and may void your warranty. Try one of these programs (I use Pokki) and you'll see that it's really not that different.

Good tip Ryan!
-al