XP Fear justified?

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I have a five year old laptop that runs xp.
Currently I use mse esentials with malwarebytes and cc cleaner.
What can I use to replace mse essentials or should I not worry?
 
Its ok if you have a router and only visit a few web pages.

otherwise I'd look into using some form of linux for internet
 
I'm a high level Windows engineer at a major IT services firm.

The answer is, it depends.

If you know how to be careful on the internet (never open email from unknown people, never open attachments/links that appear to redirect, even from friends; don't go surfing to sites of questionable repute, etc.) then you probably won't have a problem. The really big holes in XP were found and patched a long time ago. Future exploits are likely to be based on the USER doing something/allowing something they shouldn't, to run on their system.

Keep your AV up to date and make sure it's a good one. From the free options, I would stick with AVG or Avast. Having Malwarebytes also running is a good idea. There's a lot of AV reviews on the internet, read one of the AV comparison tests to see how yours faired.

With all that said... if you aren't aware of how redirects work and how easy it is to allow a malicious script.... or find yourself off the beaten path on a regular basis because you just follow a trail of links and click click click... then it might be time for a switch.

Many XP systems will run Windows 7 well enough for typical surfing, email, and office apps. A decent processor and 1 GB of RAM and a dash of patience is all 7 needs. Had 7 on a Dell Latitude D400, Pentium M 1.3, 1 GB RAM. For WEB and EMAIL -- it was fine.

For many people, if they upgrade from XP to 7, they note the system is a bit slower overall but smoother. Less system freezes. Slow and steady sometimes beats the race, as it has been said.
 
Yeah XP - I didn't know what best to do so today I bought 2 new laptops (one for me and one for my son).
wow! what a different experience using the windows 8 thing.
And the screen resolution is like its on steroids.

Lenovo 59 RF059. From the little netbook I was using, it's like a leap to big for my age.
Oh and there was like about 50 windows updates from start already. What a pain getting set up from what I was used to. And another pain trying to figure windows 8... plus son had to restore his to factory already as during his windows updates, something got hosed. Soon he will attempt to get it going again... he had to walk away before he blew up.

Oh... should I use the McAfee LiveSafe Internet Security (already in the task bar) or dump it and go Microsoft Security Essentials?
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: Errtt
Yeah XP - I didn't know what best to do so today I bought 2 new laptops (one for me and one for my son).
wow! what a different experience using the windows 8 thing.
And the screen resolution is like its on steroids.

Lenovo 59 RF059. From the little netbook I was using, it's like a leap to big for my age.
Oh and there was like about 50 windows updates from start already. What a pain getting set up from what I was used to. And another pain trying to figure windows 8... plus son had to restore his to factory already as during his windows updates, something got hosed. Soon he will attempt to get it going again... he had to walk away before he blew up.

Oh... should I use the McAfee LiveSafe Internet Security (already in the task bar) or dump it and go Microsoft Security Essentials?


Both are junk, LOL! You'll want to swap them out for either something paid like ESET or Kaspersky or something free like Bitdefender, Avast, Avira....etc.
 
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
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Both are junk, LOL! You'll want to swap them out for either something paid like ESET or Kaspersky or something free like Bitdefender, Avast, Avira....etc.


Thanks a bunch - I canned McAfee, downloaded and installed Avast.
 
No prob
cheers3.gif
 
I'be been canning Avast & AVG lately.

WinXP security---remove Flash, remove Java.

Use Chrome to browse the net with no add-ons. Make sure you use the custom HOSTS file at MVPS.

Really, XP's security going forward is whether or not you use it to browse the 'net, and how much.
 
make sure your day to day user is not with administrator rights...
use an updated browser: firefox/chrome.
use adblock.

save/backup your work/pictures/movies/important stuff on something external.
 
I see people getting infected with modern Windows + anti-virus software. As others wrote above, if you just follow the web candy clicking without thought you almost inevitably end up in trouble, and cleaning up can be a huge effort.

On the other hand, if you're savvy about the web and browsing, you can probably run Firefox and Noscript on a clean updated Windows XP setup (with no java, and behind a firewall) until the cows come home without getting any malware infections.

Search sites like Ixquick can also help if you use their proxy to preview unknown sites.
And I agree with below:

Originally Posted By: bxd20
... Future exploits are likely to be based on the USER doing something/allowing something they shouldn't, to run on their system. ...
 
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