My workplace is slowly replacing or upgrading our Windows XP machines to Windows 7 or 8, but our bookkeeper uses an out-of-date version of software that isn’t compatible with any newer OS. Replacing it with a new version would cost several hundred dollars more than my bosses want to spend. I can run it using the XP Mode - but of course that’s still an installation of XP, with all of XP’s security flaws. How risky is it for the information on that computer and the other computers on the network, if the XP virtual machine gets a virus? Can I isolate the virtual machine from the internet, while still having full access on the rest of the computer?
I sometimes run XP to play Cossacks, on a linux host using VirtualBox. Never a problem.
Make sure you install the Oracle Extension Pack for the version of VB, tiny, but downloaded from Oracle. Install the guest additions that come with the version in safe mode. Study the options carefully to add usb etc. to get the best perfomance, and allocate memory and size etc…
You can have any number of virtual machines. Install antivirus stuff for Windows if connected to the internet. Take snapshots at any time. If something goes wrong roll back to a saved snapshot.
If connected any virus would stay in the virtual machine; or as you wish, don’t network the machine to the internet.
To access any folder on your main system you set up shared folders that the machine can see. Or you can swap seamlessly between using the virtual machine and the main system. Including copy and paste.
Where does the bookkeeping data reside? If it’s on a network share, the XP VM will need access to that in order to work on the data; if it’s stored locally, you’ll still need to back it up somehow.
Although you could back up the whole VM, including XP, the accounting software and its data, I would recommend making sure you keep a frequent backup copy of just the accounting data - if something goes horribly wrong, you still retain the option to ditch the XP/VM arrangement and migrate to the new version of the accounting software.
I have no choice now but to use a VM if I need XP. I have an old XP machine but I’m not going to sit through 293,721 updates just to test someone’s software (if the updates still happen at all). And it wouldn’t help if I don’t have something as up to date as the software was intended for. Now that this had reminded me I have to see if I can build a new VM using XP anymore, hopefully it won’t come up.
I agree - in many cases, clinging to a legacy solution works only as a very short term solution.
The longer you run with this, the more difficult and expensive it will probably be to migrate later on.
Very often, the ability to easily migrate your data will only span a couple of software versions - so you may find that when you do upgrade later, you have to pay for supplier assistance/consultancy with the data conversion, or worse, you may have to tediously re-enter balances by hand (and may lose the ability to browse historic data).
Basically, the problem with XP is that MS is not committed to fixing any new vulnerabilities as discovered. 99.9% of vulnerabilities are exploited using the internet, specifically internet browsing.
If you have a virtual machine, and all it does is sit behind a firewall router in your office network, and is only used for a bookkeeping program, then you are fine. I would keep a good copy of it so you can recreate it at any time (offline, copy to a removable USB drive every 6 months or so), and do daily backups of the database. Be sure autorun is disabled (i.e. it doesn’t automatically run programs when a DVD or USB stick are plugged in).
However, if it is isolated like that, the only danger is if something infects the whole network, including all your Windows 7 machines - because how else is something going to get into your network? Be sure everyone is running their antivirus and they are up to date.
The product is 12 years old. There are not any obvious holes left in it. If you must browse the internet with it, use something other than IE (Chrome, Firefox are good) and keep them up to date.
No, but I know what it is, and I’ve experienced Clippy - but again, violent hatred would not seem a reasonable first reaction - hatred takes time to develop - if you hate something at first glance, the problem is usually you, not the thing.
Before we get any further into whether or not it’s reasonable to hate an OS ( ), thank you to everyone who replied with advice. Especially thank you to Superhal and Mangetout for confirming what I already thought, that continuing to use the obsolete software would just be borrowing trouble (with interest). I’ll keep working on my bosses.
How many versions/years behind are you on the accounting software?
Is it a new version of the same thing that you would need to migrate to, or would you need to change horses as well (i.e. if the supplier of the older solution no longer exists)?
We’re currently using version year 2007, the latest released version is 2015, but we’re thinking of going with 2011 because it’s the cheapest version still supported by the company. But that also depends on compatibility with the latest version of our POS software (another $$$ upgrade…), so we’ll see once the software guy gets back to us.
), thank you to everyone who replied with advice. Especially thank you to Superhal and Mangetout for confirming what I already thought, that continuing to use the obsolete software would just be borrowing trouble (with interest). I’ll keep working on my bosses.