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posted by LaminatorX on Wednesday March 05 2014, @07:30AM   Printer-friendly
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 ngarrang on Thursday March 06 2014, @05:55PM

    by ngarrang (896) on Thursday March 06 2014, @05:55PM (#12080) Journal

    As the computer expert at work, I get asked a lot of questions by the users regarding their home machines. I have learned that the OP's question needs more questions in response.

    The first thing I ask the user is for WHAT they use their home PC. I help them to answer my question with prompts:
    1. e-mail?
    2. web browsing places like facebook?
    3. the occasional text document or spreadsheet?
    4. what kind of games?

    If the answer to #4 is "no" or "games through my web browser like..." then my answer to them is to consider Linux. I have a Linux box in my office where I demonstrate using Firefox and Chrome, LibreOffice. I bring up sites like YouTube and game sites that use Flash or Java. I show them how Zorin Linux has a very Windows-like interface and is relatively easy to install. I am not a Linux expert. I point them this way because:

    1. I don't believe in tossing out functional computers just because they are old.
    2. I explain that Linux is actively supported and updated.
    3. Once you sit down with it for a week doing just the normal things, you forget you are running Linux.

    If the answer to #4 is "yes" and the games are locally installed with no Linux version, then they are kinda stuck. I recommend never using IE ever again, make sure they have our SOPHOS installed (corp license allows employees to run it at home) because it is AV and firewall that being kept up to date. It is start.