Through a long series of events, my home office is equipped with a Windows 8.1 machine, a Windows 7 machine, and two XP machines.
I read this message and am typing the answer on one of the XP machines, which I use most of the time unless forced to program necessity to use one of the others. I wouldn’t pay ten cents to upgrade either of the XP machines to 7, and you have to pay me - considerably - to upgrade either of them to 8.1. I can tolerate 7, but there are numerous interface points that are simply better in XP.
And before the usual posters chime in:
0 Viruses on any of them.
Strange, but when you keep a quality virus program operating, stay off the porno sites, don’t download ANYTHING from the so call file sharing sites, and don’t open e-mails from Mr. BJ Ombongo, viruses are not near the problem they are made out to be. And as far as XP not having all kinds of links to various social media programs - that’s another reason I like it. I have NO need to hot link my tweets to my Instagram file that I want Outlook to manage and make available to my Facebook friends.
It’s amazing how much better computers work when they are used by adults.
0 Viruses on any of them.
I audibly chuckle when people use this as an excuse to keep XP.
Let me explain something to everyone: XP IS NOT SAFE! You're not vulnerable to more viruses, per se. You are vulnerable to EVERYTHING. XP does not support TLS. All versions of SSL are now considered unsafe and should not be used. By virtue of the fact that you're using XP, ANYTHING you think you are doing "securely" online, is not. The SSL cipher suite is dead and completely vulnerable.
XP now has numerous zero-day exploits available for anyone to use on the Internet. This means that if someone wants to get into your XP machine, THEY CAN. They don't need a virus or even for you to do anything. If you're browsing your bank site or trying to shop online, every last bit and byte can be read by a third party. This is not hyperbole, this is truth. I've seen it done at several black hat confabs and in person in my own company.
The only way XP could be considered even remotely safe is if it is completely and totally disconnected from the Internet and used as a terminal of some type or for playing old games. If you are using XP on the Internet, you might as well walk through a mall completely naked with your credit card numbers and SSN written across your entire body. There's nothing you can do to fortify a Windows XP machine. It's 100% unsafe to use on the Internet. Caveat emptor.