Win XP has had over 10 years to plug the security issues and still has
problems. Just think how many that a newer system may have.
I gave up on worring about security issues years ago. I run a virus checker
and sometimes other programs to check on the computer. I have an external
hard drive and make up a backup of the computer every couple of months.
Also the pictures and documents are backed up on CDs or DVDs. I usually have
2 or 3 computers around incase one of them craps out. Just get one off ebay
for around $ 100 to $ 150 and keep both of them with about the same things
on them.
I've run T-Bird since it came out. No issues except I don't like the
tabbed mail so actually dug up an OLD version (2.0) to use. This version
can run on pretty much any windows machine from an old 98 box to windows
10. No issues at all and setting it up is easy really.
Not in the last few years. I did have one Linux version that couldn't
find its own mail. I pointed KMail at the directories. It read the
stored messages with no problem so I stayed with KMail and KNode for news.
The more recent releases have been trouble free.
None. We have several XP build machines that can't be upgraded for
various reasons. The company has decided to restrict their access to the
internet just to be sure.
This isn't an anti-Microsoft rant but IE8 was a dog. The Javascript
engine was very slow and with more sites depending heavily on client
side Javascript it's a real loser.
When I'm using dialup and speed really shows, IE8 loads uncached sites
faster than Firefox 42. Also Firefox won't display enhanced NWS
weather radar and doesn't suggest which plug-in is missing. I fiddled
with Adobe and some Mozilla-suggested Flash alternatives a bit, then
went back to IE8.
-jsw
Firefox 42 is a beta developer's version that won't be released to the
general public until next month. 41.0.2 shows the NWS site fine on my 7
laptop. You can always tell the pioneers by the arrows in their backs.
How a site loads and performs can vary. We have one J2EE/Struts2 product
that depends on client side Javascript. Operations that can take 30
seconds or longer on IE8 perform fine on IE9.
formatting link
We dropped support for IE8 and advised our clients to use Chrome if
their machines couldn't run IE9.
With the trend towards HTML5 and heavy client side Javascript, along
with the deprecation of Flash, Java applets, ActiveX, and other security
nightmares enjoy IE8 while you can.
Depends on how you use it. We have an XP computer at work for the past
five years with no AV on it. Never had a problem. It sends an email a
couple of times a day, no other internet access is needed or used.
Don't be afraid of Windows 7. It's actually very good and stable. I regret
updating to Windows 10 recently though.
I switched from a client side email program to Gmail several years ago.
Webmail is far more convenient and reliable than backing up the email fails
myself. I can also check it anywhere, and since most of us use smartphones
now it just makes way more sense.
I've had no problems with 7. Microsoft is really starting to annoy me
though. I uninstalled all the Windows 10 related patches, his them, and
so forth and the damn Windows 10 ad is back. I uninstalled KB whatever
again.
Supposedly they're going to get even more persistent in the future.
Yeah. At least it's pushed me off dead center to start learning
Freecad. Once I hit some level of proficiency, I'm dumping windows
entirely. The only app I have left that isn't native to Linux anyway
is a Corel graphics package.
To the original poster, I run tbird on W7. Works great.
Pete Keillor
| When I'm using dialup and speed really shows, IE8 loads uncached sites
| faster than Firefox 42. Also Firefox won't display enhanced NWS
| weather radar and doesn't suggest which plug-in is missing. I fiddled
| with Adobe and some Mozilla-suggested Flash alternatives a bit, then
| went back to IE8.
| -jsw
|
The landing page I get doesn't need anything, but
if I click on the map it goes to a page set to loop.
On that page is Flash. There's a blurb saying that
Java is required for looping, but that's commented
out, so I'm guessing it was replaced with Flash. I
don't have Flash installed so I can't test that. I
just get a gray panel saying, "a plugin is required...".
It sounds like there may be a problem with your
Flash install.
If it's working for you in IE8 that means you must
have script and ActiveX enabled. That's *very*
risky. I haven't allowed any version of IE online
for many years and wouldn't. It's not only a security
mess. It's also been the major target for many years,
so there are a lot of known exploits, involving script-
based attacks in IE.
does if you click on the map. I get the 'Do you want to allow Flash to
run. blurb. Given that it's a government site they'll probably be using
Flash after everyone else has moved on.
I agree. IE8 comes up short so often that I abandoned it on my one XP
machine. I run Firefox on that one, and it runs fine.
That machine is a Dell netbook with 32 GB of SSD and no hard drive. I
use it travelling and I store no files on it. When I come home from
using it, I wipe the SSD clean and reload the entire OS and the few
applications I use on it. I spent many hours a few years ago stripping
down XP to the essentials, and I can reload everything from an
external hard drive in five minutes (an image file), or from a CD in
about 10 minutes.
| A CD??
|
| I had to strip out MS Office, OpenOffice and the .pdf reader to fit a
| bootable Acronis restore image of XP onto a single-sided DVD.
|
I also have CD disk images. (BootIt.
I've never used Acronis.) I only
have 5 GB for my C drive altogether,
in normal use. I keep data on data
partitions. XP alone is about 1 GB, so
a typical disk imaging program can create
an image file of about 500 MB. That means
one can add about 500 MB of software
and still get it onto a CD.
A lot of software is getting very bloated
these days, and Microsoft led the way with
MS Office. But if one avoids bloat there's
plenty of room in 500 MB.
With Win7, though, I'd agree. That's a mess
and would take some work to squeeze onto a
single DVD.
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