Still running Windows XP? Take heed...

[Bambino]

http://bgr.com/2013/12/03/windows-xp-viruses-zero-day/

[Anonymous]

I still have a XP system drive I use in my laptop, some diagnostic software I use wont even install on Windows 7.

I do keep XP up to date, it only goes online to update, I wont use it for emails or banking but come the big day I will disable it's network connections.

Windows 7 is the true follow on from XP, it's a shame Microsoft make the brilliant 7 so hard to get hold of now & keep pushing people to the awful Windows 8.

[Anonymous]

I had Windows 7 on my old laptop but it went bust, sent to be repaired but there was nothing they could do, so got a new laptop with Windows 8 on it, finding is hard to use and to get used to..

[Anonymous]

That site comes across as Microsoft advertising.

The fact is that alot of people and businesses can't afford to move away from Windows XP which would involve buying in a completely new computer, or in the case of some businesses thousands of computers.

There is then also the issue of legacy systems and software that won't run on a newer operating system.

Ensuring that Antivirus software is up to date and a firewall of some sort is installed should protect a large proportion of the Windows XP users who won't be able to move away from the OS before the end of its support. Its then a case of education: Don't click on links in emails you're not expecting; Don't open attachments in emails you're not expecting; Be careful what websites you're visiting, etc

There is also then the fact that Windows 8 sucks...

[Anonymous]

Windows 8 users are meant be getting another big fix in the new year to Windows 8.2

[sheepdog]

BGR is a joke when it comes to reporting any tech news and should be viewed as 'opinion'. Its very anti-Blackberry and any rumour is reported in the negative. Very pro-Apple as well and if you want to see how low it gets, just read the Jonathan Geller piece on the "Kardasian iphone" . The comments section is probably the best bit about bgr (rather the trolling that goes on in there!).

Back to XP. I've got a perfectly sound XP laptop running for 6 years and its just falling apart literally. I only need to change it because it can't deal with HD video from my camcorder and I'm not overly concerned with the scaremongering. That and its increasingly expensive to find 2.5" ide drives. If it gets corrupted via malware, fine I've got disk images and backups or I'll just put linux on it and run it as a media streamer. 

Now all I need to do is start planning my next pc build that will last me the next decade....

[Anonymous]

I hate Windows 8 - I've gone back to my old laptop (with it's little issues) so I can use Windows 7 rather than carry on with 8.  I'm going to get a Mac when my laptop finally dies!

[aldaweb]

Tracey, there are some programs you can install on Windows 8 to restore Windows 7 like functionality such as Classic Shell. I tried a few before the 8.1 update on my old Tablet PC and they certainly made Windows 8 easier to transition to.

A good program to use if anyone is on XP still, or later for that matter is SandboxIE which will let you use any browser sandboxed, or other programs such as email clients too, and is a good defence against cryptolocker type viruses as the virus and encrypted files would only exist inside the sandbox which can be deleted.

[Anonymous]

Thanks aldaweb.  I couldn't believe how user unfriendly it was!

[bluescreener]

Virtual Box. Runs nicely on W 8.1 or OSX

I use this to run XP and Windows 2000 for some old software that requires a particular version of IE and Java. It's only used on internal networks though!