Posted on 07/12/2010 7:58:50 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Tomorrow is D-day for Windows XP SP2 users. Granted, Windows XP SP2 will still work, but tomorrow is the last Patch Tuesday for the venerable OS which means it will become more unstable and less secure as time goes on. Simply applying SP3 will suffice to continue running a supported platform, but here are five reasons to consider switching off of Windows XP entirely.
1. Hardware Support. Windows XP is archaic, and it is designed to run on outdated hardware. As new technologies are introduced, it is unlikely that Windows XP will be compatible or able to take advantage of them. Windows 7 provides support for multitouch displays, and also has greatly improved memory and power management features.
2. Improved Drivers Installation. Windows 7 has a superior system for automatically detecting and installing drivers. Windows XP sort of has this capability, but more often than not the search for drivers yields nothing and requests that you insert a driver disc from the vendor. Install a new piece of hardware in Windows 7, and most of the time it will automatically be added along with the correct driver without any additional user interaction.
3.Security. Windows XP lacks many of the crucial security controls that have been introduced in Windows Vista and Windows 7. Looking at the vulnerabilities that have been discovered since the launch of Windows 7, the Windows 7 operating system is frequently unaffected, or when it is affected by the same flaw as Windows XP, the result of an exploit is minor while the Windows XP system will be completely owned by the attacker.
(Excerpt) Read more at pcworld.com ...
Some of us who used them in the past learned that Apple's attitude toward their customers was not one bit different than MS's. Recent IPhone events bear that out.
So, faced with two concerns, each as much a bastard as the other, people went with the larger installed base and lower priced open source architecture.
Public relations are not helped when, on many threads, someone who has a Windows question sooner or later gets a snarky and unhelpful "Get a Mac" ad from one of the True Believers...Not sayings yours was, as it was a reasonable question, but you have probably seen these all the time.
This serves to marginalize Mac users, fairly or not.
There is also a political issue: Al Gore is on Apple's BOD. But that's OK. We all financially support HIM already. Whether we want to or not.
Right-clink on the shortcut that lauches your program. Select “Properties”. Select the “Compatability” tab. Click “Run this program in compatibility mode for:” and select the appropriate option.
Note that you can run apps in compatibility mode all the way back to Win95 - about 16 YEARS of backward compatibility.
Thanks. I’ll try it when I get home.
I love being a bottom feeder for technology as I write this on my $300 five year old eMachine desktop. A dinosaur that still works for me.
I only replace stuff when it goes out or becomes non-functional because of updates (like sadly my Zen MP3 that can no longer play Netlibrary ebooks because of licensing lock out). Still using a three plus year old Tracfone as my cell phone for about $8-$9/month. You can burn through money pretty quickly chasing the shiny new technology.
Get back with me about ereaders when they crack $100. I would like to use them to download public domain documents and read them (lots of great stuff out there) just like free public domain audiobooks/lectures etc.
If you have MS’s Automatic Updates running you should have gotten it already. If you have AU disabled or it isn’t working correctly you can manually download and install XP SP3 here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=68c48dad-bc34-40be-8d85-6bb4f56f5110&displaylang=en
It may require you to install some other components including the software piece that verifies that you have a genuine version of Win XP.
Installation takes ~45 minutes.
Not to mention that most technical tasks required to actually DESIGN a computer cannot be done on OSX. I see lots of PADS and Solidworks used to design computers and other consumer electronics, and those software tools (and others, like EasyPC, Alibre, etc) simply do not run on OSX.
So you can buy that hipster, $1000+ laptop with a tiny 14” and run Win7 to do your work, or you can buy a $500 laptop with a big 17” screen and Win7 pre-loaded and get your work done...;)
Yes, that's true and it's quite convenient. The only thing I'd add is a cautionary tale about printers (and other peripherals). When we migrated to 7 after upgrading our hardware, we had a couple of printers that really weren't that old become obsolete because the manufacturer - XEROX (bastards) - elected to not release updated driver. There was a work around, that really didn't work all that well. So, we had to replace the printers.
If upgrading to 7, it's best to do your homework to make sure your manufactures support 7, especially with the peripherals that are more than a couple years old.
One, most OEMs ship computers with a bunch of crapware trial versions, etc., installed. Two, for many people, their current hardware is enough.
No need. This is more of a new and improved Vista - with a lot of new features, and working much better. But for once they built on something they already had. I think it’s going to be good.
This window displays the version and edition of Windows you're running. Each version of Windows comes in different editions with different features. This window also displays a service pack number if your version of Windows has been upgraded with a service pack.
Microsoft needs to get a Time Machine like backup program for Windows. I did a fresh install of 10.6 on a new hard drive, and after it was over it asked me to plug-in my Time Machine hard drive. I picked a date to restore from, said I want data and user profiles, but not programs (figured I’d start clean on that front since I’d done a lot of experimenting), and waited. Everything was back perfectly, including everybody’s logins and their data.
1. Software compatibility - My shop employs over 600+ titles of software. All of them run on Windoze, virtually none on Mac. Note: This is slowing our transition to Win7 since the certification process for those 600+ titles is arduous!
2. Network management - Macs talk on a standard TCP/IP network but Network Admins need to be able to control them. That’s a problem because Macs don’t interact with Active Directory, SMS/SCCM, and most other network management tools.
3. Patch Management - similarly, most larger shops manage software updates through systems like HP Openview or MS’s SMS/SCCM. Unfortunately they don’t work with Macs.
Right-click My Computer, click Properties, right there under System.
Kernel Version 6.1.7600.16539 Security 256 bits Product Name Windows 7 Professional Build Lab 7600.win7_gdr.100226-1909
bttt
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I hope you are not one of those wussies who actually buys CPU’s from Fry’s or Newegg instead of mining his own silicon, like I do. :-)
Thanks to all of you.
I’m not worried at all about the old Dell running XP. My secret is that it does not connect to the internet.
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