Windows XP in 2019

[Jon Jon]

My uncle got an old laptop from 2005 for free, but I don't think it would be able to run Windows 10 well at all.

 

It has a Windows XP license and he really is only using it for random social media and nonsense.

 

Is it really that terrible to use in 2019, security risks and all?

 

Tempted to maybe use lubuntu on it as well.

 

Thanks!

[KING OF THE DIRTY DANS]

The US Military still uses XP, so a uncle is fine.

I personally would get him a VPN or Antivirus

If not, put LINUX MINT on there, since its basically Diet Windows

[just that pc guy]

6 minutes ago, Jon Jon said:

My uncle got an old laptop from 2005 for free, but I don't think it would be able to run Windows 10 well at all.

 

It has a Windows XP license and he really is only using it for random social media and nonsense.

 

Is it really that terrible to use in 2019, security risks and all?

 

Tempted to maybe use lubuntu on it as well.

 

Thanks!

windows xp is epic, get some malwarebytes on it or some norton and ur all good, then you can play minesweeper safely.

[Delicieuxz]

Well, he's probably been running it for many years already without any security updates, and it's doing fine right now, right?

 

The likelihood of contracting a virus primarily depends on a person's online habits, and the danger of non-business systems running without security updates is hugely overblown on tech forums because there are a lot of IT people who regarding keeping PCs updates updating PC as their reason in life - like a person who sells neck ties focusing their every conversation around neck ties and how the right one makes all the difference to a person's successes in life.

 

That said, if you have important things on your PC that you must not lose, then you want to be sure that those things are backed up - whether or not you have an updated OS.

 

I'd install some anti-virus software (AVG, Malwarebytes, Avast) and also run Spybot to check whether the system has a tacking scripts on it.

 

Do you have backups of the drivers for the laptop so you can reinstall them if something happens to the OS?

[Mira Yurizaki]

13 minutes ago, Jon Jon said:

My uncle got an old laptop from 2005 for free, but I don't think it would be able to run Windows 10 well at all.

 

It has a Windows XP license and he really is only using it for random social media and nonsense.

 

Is it really that terrible to use in 2019, security risks and all?

 

Tempted to maybe use lubuntu on it as well.

 

Thanks!

The best you can do with XP security is install a malware scanner that will support it and have him not use an administrative level account. Even then, there could be holes in the OS that could be exploited and won't get patched.

 

I would say install Lubuntu and set it up so it's close enough to the usability of Windows XP.

[flibberdipper]

Common sense and halfway decent AV make XP fine for current-day use, really. Though the lack of actually-current web browsers could become a problem.

[Acedia]

Simply browsing websites with XP can get you infected. You don't even need to download anything.

Bin it.

[dfsdfgfkjsefoiqzemnd]

With the right registry tweak you can still get security patches for XP right now.  However support for that one will end with next month's Patch Tuesday, so from then on running XP will be risky indeed.

 

https://betanews.com/2014/05/26/how-to-continue-getting-free-security-updates-for-windows-xp-until-2019/

 

I'd just put Linux on it TBH. 

[Maria Khan]

Still people are using windows xp. Microsoft also has declared officially that they are not supporting it anymore. Buy still sites are providing the download links and update. Windows XP ISO 32-bit ISO.