The ONLY thing ever 'secure' about any M$ OS is/was the income that company makes from it. Aside of that, there are still literally millions of PCs running XP right this minute, in 2020 - and those include huge numbers in gov't offices, banks & other financial firms, militaries and my personal favourite (as previously mentioned) ATMs. I just laugh when I see all the snobs who are just too good for an older OS that is still fine to use (minus the stupidities of sites that are 99% likely to be infecting things) and I am using XP this very minute in a VM which I can easily reset to a virgin state in a few clicks. I also run (and prefer) Win2k. These both run better & faster as a guest OS than they do natively; My only 'protection' is that of the host OS being Linux. As for folks who think that the newer (lobotomized, spying, commercial) OSes are somehow better or 'more secure' - great & good for you folks, glad to know that that you are happy !! (You can have my helping of that stuff & I'll stick with something more tasty.) BTW: Posting this is motivated by the too-many M$ fanboys who pollute non-M$ forums & threads with uselessly unhelpful non-info aimed at 'protecting' their own emotional investment in their chosen environment, as if anyone using other stuff might actually care, really. My answer to that concept: Use whatever you think best - live and let live, because you will NEVER convince folks who aren't interested to 'go your way' - just like I will not even TRY to convince anyone to use such archaic OSes in a VM as I do. That is for them to choose if they wish to. Best Wishes to All.
Hi. I use my XP Pro SP2/SP3 for over 15 years now without any security software. Is dont use any Anti-Virus or Personal Firewall tools, as they are mostly useless and bloated. They slow down the computer and some of them even sell your data (like Avast Free does). Use a standard hardware NAT-Router with Firewall. I havent got any malware, viruses, trojans or whatsoever to this day. XP ist still going strong. I even support some companies that still rely on XP... All you need to do is this: Use your PC only with User-Rights. Dont login to your Admin Useraccount. Use SuRun for programs that need admin rights (website: kay-bruns dot de, programname "surun"). Disable all unneeded XP Services. Especially the "server" services. Here is a simple tool for this. Programname: "Shutdown Windows' Servers" from dingens dot org. Both tools are Open Source and still get updated. Also use Sandboxie, and Virtual Machines like VMWare Workstation or Virtualbox, wherever possible. If you download anything from untrusted sources, check the file with VirusTotal. If in doubt, run it only in a Virtual Machine. I personally use a VM with Windows 7 and a few free virus scanners to check bigger files, like ISOs or "unoffical software" that i loaded from Torrent You can use the "shared folders" function in your VM for this. Internet Software like Browsers, Download Managers, Mail, Chat clients etc. should only run inside a Sandbox or VM. I use Fajo XP for easy Folder Rights Management. Use Open Source Software whenever it is possible. So you dont have any backdoors. There is enough Open Source Software for Windows. Sandboxie will be open source soon and Virtualbox is also open. To further harden, customize and tweak your system, there is "xpy" (open source xp-antispy alternative, look on sourceforge dot net) and "Registry System Wizard" (winfaq dot de). Make System Images (not a simple Backup) of your System regularly. Use Tools like Clonezilla, DriveImage XML, Acronis True Image or Norton Ghost for this. There are also some other sec tools, that i havent tried yet. Such as "Runas" and "DropMyRights" for Rights Management. "OSArmor" (novirusthanks dot org) and Microsofts EMET (5.1 was the latest for XP). You can also "freeze" your system. So whenever you mess up your system or get hacked, you can just restart XP and its gone. User-friendly Tools for this are Microsofts free "SteadyState" or "Faronics Deep Freeze". You can also use Mandatory User Profiles for this. Its a builtin feature of Windows XP Pro. Hope this helps keeping your XP system secure after end of support. I will probably stay on xp until my thinkpads die.. PS: i am not allowed to post real Weblinks in this forum. PPS: use the hosts-file for further security in web. there are some free hosts file managers like "HostsFileEditor" or "HostsMan". Even MS had a freeware tool named "Windows Hosts File Manager". The more elegant solution would be using a "PiHole", which automatically updates its hosts-files.
Its kind of funny that some people crap on MS without understanding that the stuff they are crapping on is a big part of why an unsupported OS is dangerous. Exploits do not require user mistakes or user interactions.
Yep. Solid proof of what I said above. Just more fear porn. Folks like myself have gone many, many years with no such difficulties with our 'unsupported' OSes - how will you now explain that away ??
The worst exploit I have ever personally seen was on an ISP webmail page. Simply checking your email on your ISP's home page would have directly infected your system. As for an explanation, sames goes for my seat belt even though I have never been in an accident. Nothing may happen to your system, but it wont be because it can't happen. I have a retro XP gaming build myself, it does not connect to the internet. BTW, just to make sure that we are on the same page, in your own words describe what an exploit is. I think a lot of people mistake malware for the attack vector.
OK, since you insist... I have served many clients - offices - businesses & residentially over a period of decades & only just recently switched my last XP using client's office over to Linux for ALL their PCs. His small office (and his home PC as well as 2 notebook PCs, that are all still on XP SP2) have never once gotten hit with an exploit in about 15 (?) years with XP SP2; and right here at home we still have 2 installations of that same OS & those have never seen an exploit get through. YES - we do have some security measures including a paid & updated AV, as did that office & when some exploit infested site may have shown up, it was dealt with correctly & instantly. That having been said, there have been other foolish folks whom I refused to work with: Gamers & folks addicted to s*x sites because they were their own worst enemies when it came to PC usages. Several years ago I took on a client who was expanding his business, starting with a Sony branded desktop PC that baffled him because it had become rather slow...as he called it. He had 2 very popular mainstream anti-malware protections installed, and when I took that box in for service it had 480+ separate & distinct infections - but still ran...somehow. After separating his data from it - sanitizing it laboriously & building him several new boxes, he also ran the same, un-patched, non-updated OS version for years afterwards without problems or data losses - I only stopped working for him when he moved too far away & know he took all that stuff with him, still in fine shape. I am not suggesting any foolishness here - and again & again I repeat that folks need to make the choices which they are comfortable with - and that includes if they actually PREFER to drink the mainstream koolaid - its all good - this is not about convincing anyone to choose differently EXCEPT perhaps that they may be open minded enough to choose Linux instead of windoze - but I don't push it, just suggest it. What I am saying, summed up, is this: Despite the simple fact that the wild-wild-web (WWW) has more of such 'threats' now than ever before - most of them are squarely aimed at either maliciously making the victims pay for any sort of relief - and/or mostly aimed at the newer windoze OSes because the sickos making the stuff have egocentric needs, and the older OSes are mostly beneath those sorts of sickos just because bragging that they infected 1000 XP users has WAY less street cred than infecting many thousands of newer boxes that cannot even be fixed afterwards anymore, as admitted by the maker of those OSes. I am neither a newbie nor foolish - and what I've shared here is all true. If having an older OS that is un-patched AND not updated AND no longer 'supported' officially anymore is resulting in so many casualties, then how is it that uncountable numbers of folks too poor for the newer stuff are still chugging along daily with these terribly unsafe things ?? Perhaps worse even still - banks, schools, factories - all manner of places still use this poor, tired old OS endlessly - and it has refused to 'die' despite all the official words tossed about...
yes i agree but i didn't particularly like it because Windows for me is simply a masterpiece in terms of operating system we will hardly see another imro