I’m going to get a new laptop but may not be able to in the next two weeks.
Is it possible to scrub my existing laptop of all key info and just use it for safe browsing/email purposes going forward?
I currently use it for Quicken including credit card activity downloads, I have used it to access bank and credit card accounts and I have used it to buy things via credit card.
Sure, just delete all cookies. But XP won’t instantly become a security liability at midnight on April 9.
Just don’t get it wet…
Seriously though, I’m confident that this XPocalypse scenario is greatly overblown. Windows XP has been patched so many timse over its lifespan, there’s unlikely to be as many undiscovered security holes as there are in newer, softer targets such as Win 8/8.2. I haven’t even installed any updates in over a year (my Windows Updater broke for some reason, though MSIE does keep itself up to date) and haven’t had any problems at all.
Make and use a limited “user” account for day-to-day use, leave the administrator account for admin only. Use Firefox with adblock plus. Turn on the windows firewall. Keep your antivirus bang up to date. Be very careful about what you click on. Uninstall old programs, if you know what you’re doing uninstall windows features you don’t use and stop unwanted services. Good to go!
This is just dumb.
Do you think MS employs thousands of programmers to code patches just for shits and giggles?
Is your idea of computer security “I haven’t had any problems at all”?
Spammers and botnets love your attitude.
A week after 9-4 MS will publish patches for Vista, most of those will reveal vulnerabilitys that also work in XP. Because there are so many XP systems left, the incentive to use those weaknesses is quite big. We will see an increase in spam and DDOS attacks because so many people believe they will be fine.
For web browsing install linux. Use XP only on airgapped machines.
I’m betting all the virus writers are getting bored with Windows and are targetting Android and iOS now.
I plan to wipe my drive and do a fresh XP install this weekend. Then I’ll do a drive backup (Image copy).
If my anti virus or malwarebytes detects a serious infection that can’t easily be cleaned. Then I can easily restore the drive with my image copy.
No, they abuse clueless users who don’t use Ad-blockers, who don’t keep their virus scanner up to date, and who’ll happily click any click or install any software their computer asks them to. 98% of all viruses & malware come from those vectors.
Employ safe browsing habits, and you’re reasonably safe. Use a good AV program to cover the remaining 2%. It really is that simple.
Not sure if you are aware, that you will still be able to install WinXP in let’s say 2 years and update it to the last patch made available.
…you mean that Windows XP Internet Explorer version 8? Well, Dude, sorry to tell you, but IE 8 is so out-of date it’s not even funny. The up-to-date version of IE is Version 11, which will not run on XP.
Your “updater” broke, but you have NO problems … but MSIE keeps itself up to date? … and how is it doing this, when the “updater” is broke?
If you are using WinXP and there is nothing really wrong in still using WinXP, however when you use the internet, you have to use Mozilla Firefox or Chrome or anything else but IE8.
Depends whether Microsoft shuts off Win Update for XP systems. I also worry whether they’ll shut off Win XP license validation (required for new installs).
I wish they’d issue a final Service Pack. People could download and run without Win update. It would be a win win for Microsoft and the rest of the world.
You can still update Windows 95
No, I was referring to Windows 8 itself. (That is their latest O/S, right? I’m rather far behind the times, if you couldn’t tell…) I never, ever, ever use IE8 except in those situations where I’m forced to use it (such as following some pakistani’s tech-support checklist) and then I scrupulously avoid ever encountering those situations again, if possible.
Don’t know what’s up with my updater, the “manual update” option never works – but MSIE does manage to automatically download current definitions and program upgrades on schedule. Who knows, maybe the NSA has taken over my computer…or most likely, it’s just a random Microsoft glitch. In any case, haven’t had any virus or malware problems at all, for years running now.
OK, seems like there is something lost in translation. What do you mean with MSIE?
Usually this refers to Microsoft Internet Explorer.
Most likely you are referring to MSE (Microsoft Security Essentials)?
Yeah, it’s MSE – apparently I’ve been calling it wrong all this time. :smack:
Check out Sandboxie. It runs your browser (or any program) in a special “sandbox” environment which cannot make changes to the real system. Anything the browser writes goes into the sandbox and is deleted when you close the browser. If the browser downloaded a virus, the virus would only be able to write files into the sandbox and not affect the actual system. The disadvantage is the cookies/cache may be deleted when you exit, so you’ll need to re-login to sites each time you start the browser.
Sandboxie is useful even if you’re on a later version of windows. It will make it much harder to download a virus.
Sandboxie will help a lot, and I should have recommended it in the other XP thread.
But note that it doesn’t prevent downloading of viruses. It just prevents it from having access to your computer. If you then empty the sandbox, the virus is deleted. You should, of course, empty the sandbox on a regular basis.
The way to get around the cookie problem is to log in to any site before using Sandboxie. This is enough on most sites, but some make the cookies expire over time. For those, you will have to rely on autofill to log in quickly.
If the OP wants a quick, already prepared solution, he can also consider using a Linux LiveCD for any web browsing. That’ll be enough for a couple weeks, and has the advantage of allowing him to completely remove his harddrive if he wants. The only problem is that I’m not sure which one to recommend: I’ll leave that to other Dopers.
Simple as that?
So I could keep right on using it safely as long as I deleted all cookies every time I logged out… or set up the Sandboxie thingy?
Using the former approach I would guess that some malware could lurk and discover new cookies the minute I acquired one right?
Or depending on how much memory there is — one has to allocate an amount of RAM to VB — install VirtualBox free, and in VB run whatever operating system one wants all the time for browsing or normal use. What runs in VirtualBox, stays in VirtualBox.
Personally I would choose OpenSuse as a Linux distro, and choose KDE as environment, being traditional; but then I don’t use any other.
I will third the recommendation of Sandboxie. It lets the browser do any unsafe thing it wants; cookies, toolbars, downloads of whatever kind. But all the stuff downloads to a Sandboxie folder, not your standard Windows or Program Files or Documents and Settings. Your browser (and malware) thinks it has access to the full hard drive, but it doesn’t. When you empty the Sandbox you revert the browser and all files back to the state they were at when you started.