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posted by
LaminatorX
on Wednesday March 05 2014, @07:30AM
from the unplugging-the-network-cable dept.
from the unplugging-the-network-cable dept.
Appalbarry writes:
"Microsoft is about to abandon Windows XP to the wolves. Fair enough it's ancient. However, there are still going to be a lot of XP boxes out there, and a fair number of them are unlikely to ever get upgraded until the hardware dies.
My question is: what's available to help make this old OS stay reasonably secure and safe for the people who can't or won't abandon it?
Over the years I've been through Central Point Antivirus, Norton, McAfee, AVG, stuff like Zone Alarm, and of course the various Microsoft anti-malware offerings. But since moving over to Linux I really haven't kept up on the wild and wonderful world of Windows security tools.
Suggestions?"
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(Score: -1) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 06 2014, @11:29AM
There's nothing wrong with hardware if it is currently running XP.
All it needs is some modern, SUPPORTED software.
Hell, I still have a Pentium 2 perking (running Linux, of course).
To the OP: Solutions will depend on the use case.
1) For 99.9 percent of boxes running XP, simply install Linux beside the existing OS (aka dual boot). The typical Linux distro ships with more useful apps than M$ ever considered bundling without extra cost. Many folks find that all of their needs are met by the default install of a Linux distro; if not there is the package manager that is included.
After you have verified that all needs have been have been met, use GPartEd (on your bootable install media) to reclaim the drive space occupied by the obsolete OS.
Note that residents of Munich should have already picked up one of the thousands of Ubuntu disks handed out gratis by their city fathers.
Other Windoze users around the world would do well to get Zorin OS. If the box is truly ancient and anemic, there is Zorin OS Lite which runs LXDE (Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment).
Like Linux Mint, Zorin ships with proprietary drivers, Flash, Java, yada, yada, yada.
Unlike Mint, Zorin ships with WINE. WINE is a compatibility layer that allows tens of thousands of apps that were written for Windoze to run under Linux.
2) If a client (contractor) or employer (traditional employee) requires you to run a "Windoze-only" app where there is no non-Windoze app as a substitute/option, see WINE (above).
If WineHQ doesn't have at least a bronze rating for that app and/or it doesn't Just Work(tm) under WINE, install VirtualBox (a FOSS virtual machine) and install Windoze in that.
Be sure to make a snapshot of your virtual Windoze install immediately after getting it how you want it so that it is easy to replace when it gets pwned or self-destructs.
3) Some part of your hardware is "Windoze-only".
Have you actually tried Linux this decade? Linux has the BEST hardware support of ANY operating system. (Linux supports new gear better than old proprietary OSes and supports old gear better than new proprietary OSes.)
Some people are simply shocked when they connect their devices to a box running Linux and those obscure gizmos Just Work(tm).
This is sometimes after having put in effort to get those working under a proprietary OS and failing.
--------
Now, as far as Windoze and the anti-virus nonsense, don't forget that there's user-supplied data that M$ has decided to allow into Ring0: macro viruses, font viruses, image viruses.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
If it wasn't for M$'s poor designs and their 4th-rate support, there would be no need for an anti-virus app on any computer.
As for those saying "Train the user", that's another way of saying "Blame the user".
Just get Linux.
-- gewg_
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 11 2014, @11:39PM
It's 2014 and Microsoft Windows PCs can still be owned by a JPEG [theregister.co.uk]
Best Linux distros to replace Windows XP? [itworld.com]
-- gewg_
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 15 2014, @06:14AM
Let Zorin OS pick up where Windows XP left off [techrepublic.com]
-- gewg_
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 25 2014, @07:50AM
It's 2014 and you can pwn a PC by opening a .RTF in Word, Outlook [theregister.co.uk]
-- gewg_