Posted on 04/07/2014 8:16:48 PM PDT by smokingfrog
One in every three computers users could be in major trouble Tuesday, and they won't be getting any help.
Microsoft is dropping its support of its operating system Windows XP. This means there will be no security updates to fend off hackers.
The news gets worse. According to a CNN-Money report, 95 percent of all ATM's use Windows XP, which ATM's can be a prime target for hackers.
Banking giant JP Morgan bought a one-year extension of service so Chase Banks could still run Windows XP in their ATM's and still be covered. All of the big banks should be fine.
However, stand-alone ATM's often found at a gas stations, for instance, could be at risk. Microsoft announced the change years ago and still most banks have yet to upgrade their systems.
"Should a breach occur within an XP environment, they simply won't be of any support to the institution," Linda Montgomery, with the Learning Center, said.
Unless it has a bank or credit union's name on it, security experts say be cautious.
(Excerpt) Read more at 8newsnow.com ...
Also, as I don't recall the initial install of MSE being version specific (ie XP v 7),
and as there were always smart young people making XP SPs available for slipstreaming and the like,
I'm guessing that like-minded techies will continue the tradition with MSE updates for XP ?
Easy for you to say. I bought a Dell XP computer for my mother-in-law with Office factory installed. She doesn't have the money to pay for Windows 7 or 8. Microsoft has scared her into thinking her bank accounts will be stolen if she doesn't upgrade.
Exactly. Gates and his slimy minions at MS have honed in their skills to hold the consumer hostage. Same goes for software. Just try to load an Office product (that you have previously already bought) onto a WIN8 platform.
If this isn't as sleazy as it gets, I don't what is.
Browsers have historically been a leading gateway for PC infections, and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer had one of the worst reputations. The latest versions of IE — 10 and 11 — are much more secure than their predecessors, but neither runs on XP. IE 8 was the last version of an MS browser to run on XP. So one of the first steps for hardening an XP system? Don’t use IE as your default browser. (You will, however, need to keep it installed and updated.)
Switch to Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox as your primary connection to the Internet. And if you use Firefox, add in NoScript to block malicious scripts. Another reason to switch: Google Apps doesn’t support IE 8, but the online service will run in XP-compatible Chrome and Firefox.
Do you mind? We are having hysteria here. Either get hysterical with us or get out.
OMG! WE ARE DOOMED!!!
OK, I’ll bite. Why does she need MS Office?
Actually things ran better under Windows 7. Vista was the big problem.
I have one laptop that runs Vista pretty smoothly. It’s SP1 pretty much fixed any issues that would bother me.
Even if it is crash and burn time, I don’t care because I dumped Microsoft for Linux when Vista came out. I figured if Microsoft was going to force me to learn a new interface, it might as well be something less aggravating, more secure, require less maintenance and be more inexpensive in the long run.
Since then I have not worried about copy protection, have not bought an anti-virus package, have not spent hours scanning the hard drive with multiple programs to clean off a host of viruses and malware, have not had ANY issues of any kind, and oh, by the way, Linux is free.
I can run pretty much any kind of generic program I need, except for some Apple-specific programs such as iTunes. In summary, I have no regrets fleeing Microsoft captivity. In fact, it has been a pleasure. The Microsoft world can end without me!
How do you make it through your day without iTunes? /sarc
Thanks, I may try that, so long as I can find one with a parallel port.
You need the parallel port for a hardware key, yes? PP has pretty much gone the way of the dodo in favor of USB. You should be able to buy a card with a PP and maybe a serial port for about $10. Take care to get the right card for the target machine, there are varying peripheral busses. There are USB dongles which provide a Parallel port but they usually do not work with hardware keys. Good luck. I do this real soon now, while the hardware is still available.
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