what happens when microsoft ends support for XP?

[spacer]

I use windows XP professional on a lenova thinkpad T60. When windows stops it support for windows XP in April of 2014 will that hinder my using the web? What other problems may occur? thanx

[emeraldgirl08]

Good question. I imagine it really depends on how you use your T60. If you use it to web browse and do some light document work then maybe with an effective antivirus, malware scanner, and careful browsing habits (not downloading RAR files from dubious websites, etc) you might be able to hang on to XP longer. IIRC some users do not even install any antivirus program on their current laptops. If you decide to hang on to XP perhaps making an image (some type of cloning software) of your hard drive might be a good idea just in case you need to restore at some point. If you do decide to move onward then I am fairly certain that the T60 will run W7 just fine. Good luck

[rkawakami]

It won't "hinder" your access to the web but it may make your system more vulnerable to malware. Microsoft will cease to provide system updates and hotfixes. This means that whatever security holes exist at that time will not be plugged. Also any operational bugs that exist within Windows will not be fixed. As emeraldgirl08 suggests, running a good antivirus / firewall / scanner while maintaining good, safe surfing habits and having some means to restore your system to a known good state will probably be enough to get you by.

ref: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/ ... pport.aspx

[ajkula66]

On a different note, a 32-bit version of W7 will run beautifully on a T60...

[precip9]

Install EMET: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2458544

There is no excuse for members of this forum not to. Ignorance is rife, but unacceptable in a Thinkpader.

[Majestic]

Not to mention once Microsoft stops supporting it, antivirus support will eventually wane as well.

[julia]

On a different note, a 32-bit version of W7 will run beautifully on a T60...

I was just told the .PST files for Outlook are not transferable to Outlook W7 and above. I have hundreds of critical emails that constitute verbal promises on film projects. Do I have to print them out to protect them or can anyone tell me how to convert them... or what to do? I can use systems back up and the cloud for critical docs but not for the emails. I don't use my gmail account.

I wanted to stay with XP for awhile. Is Kaspersky worth the investment, and will it protect me? I now have Webroot which works well but seems too simplistic. What do you recommend?

I'm running XP 2002 Service Pack 3 on an X220 with 3.41 GB of RAM and a 398 GB intel hard drive.

Thanks so much. I'm glad to see Bill's forum back where it belongs!

Julia

[RealBlackStuff]

My suggestion would be to install Mozilla's Thunderbird email program.
For a HOW-TO, see this: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Import_.pst_files
Make sure to read the Windows section.

[julia]

Thanks. I read the How-To and think I'd rather perform brain surgery on myself. Today Tech Support at Microsoft told me the .PST files will convert to Outlook on W7. But how can I trust these XP murderers? Maybe I'll just switch to Thunderbird and keep my Outlook as an off-line archive.

Is there anyone here in the Boston area who could work on my computer? Any recommendations? Thanks!

[BillMorrow]

Not to mention once Microsoft stops supporting it, antivirus support will eventually wane as well.

maybe not so much..
if you use ESET as I do they will support ESET on XP until the grass no longer grows and the wind no longer blows..
or something close enough..
here is a link:
http://kb.eset.com/esetkb/index?page=co ... d=SOLN3507
which explains ESET's support policy..

@ Julia..
hello.. its been a while..
I hope all is well with you..

[jronald]

On a slightly tweaked T60, Im pretty impressed with Vista Business. Granted I shut off a bunch of crap Vista does, that is not needed. It is easily as fast as the XP install I had on it, and I was able to install it from the Recovery CD/DVD set.

As far as the email goes, and correct me if Im wrong.
Its not that W7 does not use the .pst files anymore, its the OFFICE product you use with it. Both my wife's machine and mine are running 7 with a full install of Office 2003 or 2007 (I dont remember). I moved files off of multiple machines onto our 2 machines with no issues at all. These machines were running XP. In the nutshell, not the OS, its the OFFICE you choose.


Ron

[jdrou]

As far as the email goes, and correct me if Im wrong.
Its not that W7 does not use the .pst files anymore, its the OFFICE product you use with it. Both my wife's machine and mine are running 7 with a full install of Office 2003 or 2007 (I dont remember). I moved files off of multiple machines onto our 2 machines with no issues at all. These machines were running XP. In the nutshell, not the OS, its the OFFICE you choose.

I believe that's correct although it's possible if you are running a really old version of Office it might have issues with Windows 7. Even in that case though you could get a newer version of Office. Supposedly even Outlook 2013 can still open PST files from Outlook 97-2002.

[julia]

Thanks, to all. Your advice is very helpful. @ Bill, it's good to be back. I'm sure I'll be around with many questions during Microsoft's ultimate betrayal. How can they do this to us! <rant not a question>

[jronald]

Office Professional 2003 is what Im running on both machines. Asked my wife; we both hated 2007 and went back to 03.

Ron

[jdrou]

Microsoft's ultimate betrayal.

Doesn't 'betrayal' imply they were loyal at some point?

[julia]

LOL Do you think "XP murderers" is more appropriate

[Sydspapa]

I had XP Pro on my T60 and really liked it but have since moved to W7 and feel it is way better. I have an HP Pavilion 17.3 with W8.1 and it is taking some getting used to for me but I am old and set in my ways.

[thinkpac]

In addition to having an antivirus program and EMET, I would recommend installing some sort of program that lets you run your browsers and other internet programs in a sandbox or some kind of virtualized environment so that if malware gets through, it's trapped in the sandbox and can't actually touch your hard drive. Programs such as Sandboxie or Shadow Defender come to mind. Also, even if malware is trapped in the sandbox, it can still execute in memory, so I would also recommend an anti-keylogging/screen-capture/webcam/microphone/clipboard program such as Zemana Antilogger or Spyshelter.

[farmall]

Deep Freeze by Faronics is an old standby for locking down school and business PCs, but it also is fine for reverting your machine to a clean state each reboot. It's around fifty bucks but eliminates need for other programs such as AV which devour RAM.

No changes including malware survive the reboot. If you need to add or delete software you can thaw to do so. You can designate places to save files.

I'd run Thunderbird Portable on the thawed area. It's superior to Outlook because you can backup by copying the program folder if you want it on more than one PC.

http://www.horizondatasys.com/en/produc ... oductId=18 is free but I've not used it so I cannot vouch for its abilities.