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Are you still an XP user?

by Mr Bill
48 replies
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I am still an XP User and I love it. You may have to leave me here.

I went to great lengths to back-grade my old HP DV9000 from 2007 back to XP from Vista and though I had to find drivers all over the world (some countries insisted on XP as an option so the drivers had to be available).

I do own a MacBook Pro for the iOS App I'm trying to build (help required!) but my main machine is a sturdy Desktop with max RAM which I built in 2006 and is still snappy and as fast as I need. Windows open instantly (except photoshop which takes a few seconds) and it really does feel comfortable.

If it's doing everything I need, why upgrade? I'm still able to support members who use Win7 and my old skills as an MCP still apply even today. I think with XP computers became as fast as they need to be. How much faster than instantly can a window open anyway?

The only thing I think I'm missing is the graphics and of course the security of updates as people find new ways to hack us old fogies. I used to love me a good shoot-em-up and this old ASUS board has it's limits (GeForce 7800 GTX) but as long as Serious Sam (any version) still works and I can kill things when I have to I'm happy.

So, are you still on XP? Why? If it's because you love it - welcome to the "Vintage OS Operators Club"
  • Profile picture of the author David Braybrooke
    What about this?
    Windows XP end of support in April: Three more questions answered | ZDNet
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  • Profile picture of the author Patrician
    My main PC is Win 7 but my two backups are XP. I will tell you one thing when they were main, i never had the issues i have now with 7 - *( i have XP media)

    However you know the end must come - it is just like when you just can't go on without upgrading your hardware to accommodate your software and vice versa. You can go a lot of versions in between but eventually you will hit the wall.

    take it from me, cars, software and hardware i am first in line to buy last year's stuff - i save a lot of money that way and i don't mind -- that is until i am 'out of it' and then i wish i used logic instead of emotion in my decisions.

    Some good recent articles about the end of XP support from Microsoft (has been pushed out)

    Windows XP still on the way out, but anti-malware support for its users to continue | PCWorld

    Is Microsoft extending Windows XP malware support because it can't bear to say goodbye?

    Microsoft-extends-security-support-for-Windows-XP
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  • Profile picture of the author KimW
    Every computer I have still runs XP. I have 1 copy of XP Pro I have not registered yet for back up.

    When Vista came I I had more customers than you could count come and pay me to take it off and put XP on for them.
    Vista was worse than ME.

    I have heard 7 is pretty decent. I may get a copy and give it a try.

    I do not know anyone personally that likes 8. Those that told me 8 was tolerable told me 8.1 screwed it up.
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  • Profile picture of the author travlinguy
    I'm running 7. In my experience XP was about the best OS Microsoft ever produced. Of course it took 10 years to get it that way but still... I really like 7. I wonder how long it will be before MSFT decides to abandon support, security, etc. for it and force people to "upgrade?"
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  • Profile picture of the author priyankeshu
    i was resisting long to move to windows 7

    Trust me! its tonnes better than xp in many terms...

    Search feature alone will save u loads of time! and the overall gui is top class!
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  • Profile picture of the author mcb247
    Still using windows xp ... my kids who I bought macs for keep saying to change but I get on with XP great ...
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    • Profile picture of the author Mr Bill
      Originally Posted by priyankeshu View Post

      i was resisting long to move to windows 7

      Trust me! its tonnes better than xp in many terms...

      Search feature alone will save u loads of time! and the overall gui is top class!
      I'm open to being convinced but I'd need a new machine, software...etc and the interruption to my productivity will annoy me daily. I can remember the disaster that Office 2007 was to productivity (cut it in half at least) and If my old "hot rod" OS still performs I remain unconvinced.

      Originally Posted by travlinguy View Post

      I'm running 7. In my experience XP was about the best OS Microsoft ever produced. Of course it took 10 years to get it that way but still... I really like 7. I wonder how long it will be before MSFT decides to abandon support, security, etc. for it and force people to "upgrade?"
      April 2014 for the last update then June 2015 for the last "Security Center Update". I still get updates but I'm not sure what they do and I doubt their essential. Perhaps the anti virus guys will keep protecting us. It's (sadly) too late for IE (IE* being the highest browser update) but FF (grrr) should still be sending constant updates.

      As I right this the vote is 50/50. I'm going to hang on for as long as I can. I love my XP. It's my home and I'm not about to move into a new home just because it's available. I like old cars too.
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  • Profile picture of the author mojoogden
    I love XP. I would go to the end of world to ensure I have it because 8 is terrible! I bought my daughter a laptop for Christmas and it has 8. I can't use it at all!
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    • Profile picture of the author Mr Bill
      Originally Posted by mojoogden View Post

      I love XP. I would go to the end of world to ensure I have it because 8 is terrible! I bought my daughter a laptop for Christmas and it has 8. I can't use it at all!
      Cool. Hi5.
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  • Profile picture of the author subisa852
    I hate to admit this but XP, OS is the best. It is faster and not complicated as Windows 8 which has too many icons and the GUI is out of this world. I don't know but I can't appreciate the 8.
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  • Profile picture of the author Khemosabi
    I too love my XP! HOWEVER, IE8 is killing me! What do you XP supporters recommend? And, if I were to install Chrome or FF, what the heck do I do with IE8? I don't want them both running at the same time!

    Hope that makes sense. I tried Chrome once, but my computer was sooo slow! I think it was because I had both running (IE8 and Chrome).. :confused:

    Any thoughts here? Thanks!!!!

    ~ Theresa
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    • Profile picture of the author Mr Bill
      Originally Posted by subisa852 View Post

      I hate to admit this but XP, OS is the best. It is faster and not complicated as Windows 8 which has too many icons and the GUI is out of this world. I don't know but I can't appreciate the 8.
      Sometimes things are best left alone. When it become irresistible to upgrade to the latest (it better be 3D and include a replicator) I'll do it but I don't see anything yet that attracts me away from my XP "home".

      Originally Posted by Khemosabi View Post

      I too love my XP! HOWEVER, IE8 is killing me! What do you XP supporters recommend? And, if I were to install Chrome or FF, what the heck do I do with IE8? I don't want them both running at the same time!

      Hope that makes sense. I tried Chrome once, but my computer was sooo slow! I think it was because I had both running (IE8 and Chrome).. :confused:

      Any thoughts here? Thanks!!!!

      ~ Theresa
      Theresa, these days most "designers" ignore IE8 (huge mistake) but because we can't change the world single handedly you may as well install Firefox. It won't slow your machine down any more than IE8 and it doesn't matter how many browsers you have installed, only the amount of windows you have open at once (this includes tabs). If you have a slowish machine try to browse in as few windows (or tabs) as you can.

      It sounds like you're machine could at least use maximum RAM. I always install as much RAM as a machine can handle (it's cheap horsepower). Even though XP can only use 3.25GB of RAM installing 4GB won't hurt and will ensure you get maximum performance from your machine. It would also help if you have a fast processor (CPU) but you're usually stuck with what you've got - especially if it's a laptop.
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  • Profile picture of the author Khemosabi
    Thank you!!!!

    My laptop crashed (motherboard took a poo), it had Vista. My PC is XP, but because I use IE8, I can't get FB to run, it just hangs. I couldn't get Dudamobile's site to load, (I wanted to see what it was), and my adsense account doesn't display all of the information!

    Will more RAM fix this? I am seriously so frustrated!

    Thanks again! You have been a huge help!

    ~ Theresa

    P.S. How the heck does one install more RAM??
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    • Profile picture of the author Mr Bill
      Originally Posted by Khemosabi View Post

      Thank you!!!!

      My laptop crashed (motherboard took a poo), it had Vista. My PC is XP, but because I use IE8, I can't get FB to run, it just hangs. I couldn't get Dudamobile's site to load, (I wanted to see what it was), and my adsense account doesn't display all of the information!

      Will more RAM fix this? I am seriously so frustrated!

      Thanks again! You have been a huge help!

      ~ Theresa

      P.S. How the heck does one install more RAM??
      You're welcome. Helping is a joy.

      RAM is installed as a small clip-in chip into your motherboard. Take it to a technician or get someone who knows how to do it to install it. Failing that it's very simple to install (you have to be careful how you handle RAM chips though - static can kill them. You Tube will show you how but sometimes you have to navigate around tightly stretch cables so be careful if you're going to do it alone. First job is to right click you "My Computer" icon and click on "Properties" to see how much RAM you have.

      I doubt that extra RAM will fix your browser issue. Try Firefox and see how you go. You'll probably find that it all works. Sometimes restoring all the defaults in IE8 works. I used to completely remove it, restart the machine and re-install it. That usually fixed any issues that "re-setting to defaults" didn't but I haven't had that sort of problem for years.
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  • Profile picture of the author Khemosabi
    Thanks Bill!

    I'll give FF a try. Hopefully it will help! I'll also try the uninstalling, re-installing IE8.
    When I am trying to use Facebook, my svchost goes monkey sh!t crazy! Eats up 100% of my CPU. I also have that same problem when I start the machine in the morning. I always have to disconnect from the internet and reconnect, then the machine works fine.

    I swear I spend more of my life waiting for this thing to perform than actually getting any work done!

    Thanks again Bill!!

    ~ Theresa
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  • Profile picture of the author Mr Bill
    Sounds like it needs a tuneup. You probably have quite a few things starting up on start up. This is never good. Try removing everything from your start up folder on your start menu. There are other things you can do (msconfig start-up, unnecessary services...etc) but you'll get lost if you're not familiar with those areas.

    Do the start up thing and make sure that nothing is starting up when the machine starts. XP works best when it starts alone and everything settles down (the hourglass stops appearing as a cursor). Then you can start opening one program at a time. This is how I do it and my XP has been super fast for years now so it's possible.

    Start up folder cleanup + Firefox and you should be good to go.
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  • Profile picture of the author Khemosabi
    Me again!

    Um, I am familiar with msconfig, but always nervous about changing anything. I don't know where the "start up" is in my start menu. :confused:

    If I do go to msconfig, then click on start up tab, is it safe to just start unchecking things? EEK!

    Thanks Bill, I so want this pig to work right again!

    ~ Theresa
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  • Profile picture of the author Mr Bill
    Yes it's safe but only in the sense that you can re-check them again if something doesn't work. If you uncheck something that is needed (like your mouse driver or anti virus) you'll know about it. Do a search on google for "editing start up" or something similar.

    My best advice is to only un-check things that you know you don't need to have running. If the name doesn't mean anything to you - leave it alone. Programs tend to get all self important and insit that you have them running all the time in case you need them so fast that reaching for their icons on the start menu is going to take too long - in other words...never.

    Look again for your start up folder. It's in the "All Programs" section.
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    • Profile picture of the author Mr Bill
      Worst ever? I'd vote for Win3.11 hehe
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  • Profile picture of the author Khemosabi
    Thanks Bill!
    I'm laughing! l found my start up folder, the only thing in it is my Egenius!

    I will mess with this and hopefully get it back to how it was! Thank you so much for your help!

    And yes, I will keep using XP! Windows 7 is better than Vista, but I am with everyone else about 8... BBOOOOOOOO.

    ~ Theresa
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  • Profile picture of the author MikeLugar
    I would say at least half the small businesses I service still use XP
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    • Profile picture of the author DJL
      I have a couple of older machines running XP, as I still support some VB apps (10 to 12 years old) for which parts of the development environment are not available for newer versions of Windows.

      When I have a choice, I prefer to work in Windows 7, as it seems overall more stable and supports more RAM.

      My only experience of Windows 8.1 has been on a friend's new laptop, and I took an immediate dislike to its convoluted new user interface. Perhaps Windows 9 (or whatever they decide to call it) may be the next "Upgrade" I will assay.
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      • Profile picture of the author Brandon Tanner
        My main PC is Windows 7, but I also keep an XP box around for testing purposes. I've tried Windows 8, but hated it for several reasons, so I'll probably stick with W7 for as long as I can.

        Seems like Microsoft gets about every other OS "right", so hopefully they'll abandon the "one OS for every device" BS for the next major version of Windows. I think a much better solution for them going forward, would be to offer 2 separate OS versions... a "traditional" version for desktops (with a "Windows 7" style interface), and a "touch" version for mobile devices (with a "Windows 8 / Metro" style interface).

        @ Theresa - try CCleaner (the "free" version is sufficient). And if you haven't defragged your hard drive in a while, it would probably be a good idea to do that as well.
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  • Profile picture of the author Khemosabi
    BILL!!! You are a superhero! I'm not sure why I waited all this time to try Fire Fox, but seriously!... My old boy is running like a mad man right now! THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!!!!!!!
    I did do some serious cleaning on it, which also helped. I got into some files and found a bunch of things that shouldn't be there!

    @ Brandon... thank you! I just defragged the other day, and I do use CCleaner on a regular basis. I had no idea that IE8 was such a pig! Next thing is adding more RAM!

    You guys are great! Thanks so much for all the help! (And finally convincing me to try a new browser!) :p

    ~ Theresa
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    • Profile picture of the author Brandon Tanner
      Originally Posted by Khemosabi View Post

      I'm not sure why I waited all this time to try Fire Fox, but seriously!... My old boy is running like a mad man right now!
      Yeah... Firefox is far less of a resource hog than IE, and a much better browser overall, IMO. Chrome is a great browser too, so that's another one you might want to check out. To be fair though, each new version of IE sucks a little less than the previous version, so maybe by the time IE 15 rolls around, Microsoft will have created a decent browser.
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      • Profile picture of the author Khemosabi
        Originally Posted by Brandon Tanner View Post

        Yeah... Firefox is far less of a resource hog than IE, and a much better browser overall, IMO. Chrome is a great browser too, so that's another one you might want to check out. To be fair though, each new version of IE sucks a little less than the previous version, so maybe by the time IE 15 rolls around, Microsoft will have created a decent browser.
        Ugh, I tried Chrome on the XP So far, I am ONE HAPPY GIRL! It's been so sweet actually getting work done today!
        Thanks again!!!
        ~ Theresa
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  • Profile picture of the author YemTv
    I'm Window 7 user, but love XP too...
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  • Profile picture of the author OnlineMarket
    My main PC is Windows 8
    My main laptop is Windows 7
    My back up PC is Windows XP
    My back up laptop is Windows Vista

    I tend to use my computer more than my laptop.
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  • Profile picture of the author mandy135
    My office computer is XP, but my personal computer is windows 7. They all have their own advantages.
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  • Profile picture of the author Brady Partridge
    XP (Pro) is the best OS ever!

    The worst is Windows 8 -- or maybe Windows ME.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mikaedi
    As my laptop is fairly new I already had windows 8.1 pre-installed Aaaaa not good at all, one of the bug bears of W8 is the lack of a start menu! not user friendly at all.
    Luckily I found a site that allows you to install the old start menu, so now all good.
    Though I use W8 like others that have posted..I prefer XP as well, but support is due to end.

    And further for some reason IE is sooo slow, I now use Fire Fox, so much faster than IE
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  • Profile picture of the author KimW
    Personally I love Chrome. Didn't at first but I like it much more than Firefox.
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  • Profile picture of the author bertyounger
    I run XP and all of the other versions on eight different machines and when the computer gets too old, ten or more years old, I re-purpose it using Ubuntu.
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    • Profile picture of the author bodyrock
      My old desktop PC has an XP, and my (relatively) new laptop has win7. I rarely use my old PC now (mainly to transfer files which I don't have on my laptop), so I may call myself a win7 user.

      However, it would have been better if the author of this topic had given a third poll option - "I use both of them", for those like me who use both systems.

      And if I have to compare the two systems, I like the win7 more, but the XP is also great. Still haven't tried the eight version, but from what I hear (and read) - it's not so good.
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  • Profile picture of the author unclejesse
    Wow it has been awhile since I have heard about Xp. The OS was amazing, but I am pretty into 7 now.
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  • Profile picture of the author multiplecloud
    I still. Do not need to bother with new version by formatting OS :=)
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  • Profile picture of the author st0nec0ld
    Sooner or later we need to adapt to changes. From XP to Windows 7 to Windows 8, that won't be surprising. I'm just glad I was able to use Windows XP, it was one of the best actually..
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  • Profile picture of the author Divyaya
    Althought My new laptop run the Windows 7, my old one is XP ,sometimes I will use it to play game.
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  • Profile picture of the author Hplglobal
    Currently i am using windows 7 at my office and XP at my home. The main thing that does not allow me to change is the old technology i am using and that is Pentium D with only 40 gb hard which is not sufficient for windows 7 to install on it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rigpa
    Still running XP and XP x64 - and I won't stop!
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  • Profile picture of the author hankqny
    I run XP on a virtual machine in Windows 7 for one old program that doesn't work quite right on Windows 7.
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  • Profile picture of the author nawrin nigar
    I am using Windows 7 in recent & in my laptop running xp. But sometimes its seems difficult for me .
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  • Profile picture of the author altonroot
    Win Xp is still my favorite OS. I have not found any lighter OS than XP. But I have to move on because when you run an XP PC on network where other PCs having Windows 7 or 8 of iOS, many issues occur.
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  • Profile picture of the author dailycoinsnet
    I have one older computer that has Windows XP installed. It doesn't have access to internet though.
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  • Profile picture of the author workoutstuff1
    It would be interesting to see if there is a major move from Windows to something else if Microsoft ever truly ends XP support. So far, Microsoft keeps threatening to stop supporting it, but then they keep moving up the end support date.

    For the laptop that I have with XP I don't do a lot with it, but I do use it to watch tutorial videos, and then use another one to actually practice what the video shows. It has made it A LOT easier for me, although I still think that I will need to invest in a smart tablet eventually, but that is still out of my budget right now. The laptops were gifts from friends who were upgrading to Macs.
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  • Profile picture of the author roadrunners
    win 7 .. Thinking for win8
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  • Profile picture of the author HeySal
    Are you SERIOUS? XP is going defunct? Shyte. Doulbe shyte. I am not a tech - never was. I don't WANT to have to mess with learning a whole new OS. Consider me ticked to the nth degree over this one. I am comfortable with my XP - and don't yack at me about "moving past my comfort zone" -- I have done that in every aspect of my life and I don't need the same yahoo pooping on my happy zone, too. If I am going to be forced to ditch XP (is windows and MS the same company?) and have to go through a learning curve again, I'm going to go get Linux. Sometimes a divorce is the best solution. They take my XP and I'm gone.
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