I second DJ Motorbike’s suggestion. I ran a really old computer with Puppy Linux for several years. It’ll serve just fine if all you want to do is pay bills, check your bank account and pick up email. The geek factor is a little higher than Window, but it’s free, it’ll run a lot faster than XP and have much, much better security. You don’t even have to install it, you can just run it from the disk. If I were using an old computer with dial up, I’d definitely use Puppy.
I’ve been using Windows since 96. I know noting about Linux, except that they use a penguin as a mascot.
Will it even work with my games & software?
I prefer kittens.
I have a destkop.
http://www.fastfreedialup.com/index.html
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[ul]
[li]I have 1 GB of ram.[/li][li]I do not have WiFi in/on this computer.[/li][li]I wont be surfing the web using dial-up, since it would block/tie up my phone.*[/li][li]I’m reluctant about learning new software at this time as my mind is really foggy, no really.[/li][/ul]
*Really, how many more pictures of naked cats & fuzzy men do I need?
Thank You for your help.
I wouldn’t worry about anti-virus stuff, no self respecting virus would be seen dead in a 11 year old PC:)
If you’re not browsing dodgy web sites, and downloading files, the chances of picking up a virus is slim. Maybe this would be all you need https://www.malwarebytes.org/
I don’t see that ATMs running XP is necessarily a security risk. Firstly, the banks presumably control access to the ATM network very tightly; secondly, they can put firewalls in front of the ATMs that are entirely independent of XP and so don’t share any vulnerabilities; thirdly, presumably they tightly control which services and software are running on the ATMs. If there’s a vulnerability in some browser’s Javascript engine, for example, it’s immaterial because it’s not like anyone’s using the thing to browse the web. The only part of XP that might be exposed is the core network stack, although even then the bank could be using proprietary code. Even if not, most vulnerabilities are in non-core software. The XP TCP/IP stack has been thoroughly battle-tested.
banks will buy extended service for XP. where there’s money there is a product; Microsoft will provide and the banks will pay.
When, not if. This will surely happen. There’s a decent chance such a vulnerability has already been found, and they’re just waiting for the deadline to pass. Why waste your exploit when it will be shortly fixed?
The idea that a system will only be compromised if you’re visiting a “shady” website is not true either. Many modern websites pull in scripts and advertisements from a variety of places. An attacker can use that to exploit the system.
ATMs generally aren’t hooked up to the internet unprotected, nor are they browsing websites that have dynamically loaded content from a variety of places. And, to get the money, you have to physically go to the bank, which is very high risk. The security profile for an ATM is very different than for a home PC.
Like I said, only worry if you connect your Windows XP computer to the internet. If it’s carefully firewalled off and you don’t use the web browser on it, it’s probably reasonably safe.
A further note on banks/ATMs still running XP is that it isn’t the same version of XP you use on your home desktop. It is an embedded version that Microsoft will continue to support for several years. Aside from the other security features mentioned above the installations are often on read-only drives which prohibits anything from being installed. ATMs are safe.
Foggy, the games you play on Windows won’t normally run on a Linux system. If you’re playing the games that come with XP (solitare, Free Cell, etc.) there are versions of these games that are made for (and often come bundled with) Linux. Other software written for Windows likewise will not run on Linux but there is in most cases an equivalent that runs on GNU/Linux.
It may sound daunting but I think you might find it easier to use than you might expect. You might be able to find a Linux club in your area that could help you out, or you may know a nerdy computer guy who could help you out.
Making financial transactions over XP will become an increasingly bad idea as XP ages beyond it end of support.
Microsoft’s updates are not the only defense. You guys are forgetting about the antivirus. And the other tips we’ve given that limit the malware exposure. Plus he’s on dialup, which acts itself as a type of firewall.
I don’t understand the scaremongering. People have used older operating systems for a long, long time. I realize that, unlike other old versions of Windows, XP is still rather popular, so it is more likely than in the past that an exploit will be discovered and used. But it’s still not as likely. Combined with the above, the OP is pretty safe.
Would some flavor of Linux be better? Sure, if it works out of the box. But dialup is one of the hardest things to get working in Linux, due to the modems being dependent on Windows drivers. (They are usually missing key components that are emulated by Windows.) I’ve yet to get even the most user-friendly versions of Linux to use the modems in the older computers I mentioned. And I even found the drivers-albeit limited ones that would only let me connect at 33k. Getting modems working in Linux is so bad that people will actually pay for it.
Exactly what is the make and model of your computer? Do you have an exterior or interior modem?
I don’t mean to twist your arm about Puppy Linux if you really don’t feel comfortable using unfamiliar software, but I do think you ought to at least consider it.
Puppy was specifically designed to be used with older computers with limited resources. It’s free. All you do is download it and burn it to a disk.
When you put a Puppy CD in your drive and boot up, the Puppy OS loads itself entirely into RAM (you have a gig, which is plenty) and runs from there. It won’t touch your hard disk at all, although you’ll be able to save files to it. Since you’ll only be using Puppy for the internet, you won’t have to touch the XP installation at all. You’ll still have XP and can still use your games and other Windows apps simply by rebooting into XP.
Security is excellent. (You’ll still need to use common sense, of course.)
Puppy works just fine with an external serial (not USB) modem, though probably not an eternal modem. These are dirt cheap today. Shucks, ask around and you might find someone who’ll just give one to you.
Here’s the FAQ at the Puppy website. Again, I don’t mean to twist your arm. But it’s free, you won’t need to touch your XP operating system, and i think you’ll be surprised at how much zippier your system will be. You might even have fun with it. Take a look at the FAQ and at least consider Puppy.
If you are looking for another decent free AV with teeth for XP, Panda Cloud Antivirus has been born again hard.
INternal modem. :smack: Honestly, I understand there’s no such thing as an eternal modem.
Yip, and that’s the one thing that can be a problem with any Linux distro. I wound up using Windows 98 to get online back when my Internet was down, as only that computer still had an internal modem with drivers. Trying to get drivers for any other internal modem didn’t work.
A better solution would be to install Sandboxie. it’s about as safe as running Windows programs in Linux. Check out the other XP thread for more information.
I’m chiming in as someone in a similar situation as Foggy, ca. 10 year old XP laptop with 1.6 Ghz processor and 1.5 GB Ram, though I’m connecting to the Internet via a wifi-router and cable modem. This thread, especially DJ Motorbike’s and Son of Fu Manchu’s posts, convinced me to finally give Linux (Puppy Linux, to be precise) at try on this machine.
So I spent yesterday’s afternoon setting up the new system, and it almost worked like a charm. The only hassle I had was with a blocked wifi device due to hardware specifics, but that could be solved by a little googling. The improvement in performance compared to the XP installation (I’m running Puppy from a live CD, XP is still installed, and the XP installation is rather lean with not much software installed) is dramatic. I wouldn’t have thought that this ancient lappy could still do so well. Additional to that, the Puppy Linux install comes with a bunch of usefull software preinstalled which puts a fresh Windows install to shame. In other words, I’m overwhelmed and very glad to have tried that.
Granted, I had some minor Linux experience from a job project some months ago, but all in all I’ve been a Windows guy for over 20 years, but had very little trouble making that change. And the documentation about Puppy Linux Son of Fu Manchu linked to is very good and detailed.
So in short, I can strongly recommend Foggy and others concerned to try it out. It’s easy and risk free, because if you’re using a live CD, you don’t even have to touch your XP install.
diving into Linux is a solution.
you can do the live cd.
making the machine dual boot is also a solution. it takes a bit more fiddling and knowing but not much. XP has to be there and working first. make a hard drive partition (you need adequate free space on the hard drive) using Windows and format it as NTFS. install Linux on the new partition.
use XP for off line use with your desired Windows software. use Linux for online and other fine uses.
Linux does have tons of useful software. It does install with the same ease as Windows. Applications are equivalent to and as easy to use as Windows.
You do need a version of Linux that will work well with your hardware. if your hardware is older then Puppy Linux or nearer period appropriate version of Ubuntu Linux will work; something maybe five years newer than your hardware will likely be fine.
Yeah, but Puppy has its own issues that other Linuxes don’t. There’s no built-in way to do a proper Linux installation. Instead, you have to use Puppy’s own peculiar method of saving data in a special file on your hard drive, and you have to decide ahead of time how big you want that file to be, which can’t be bigger than 4GB, I believe. If you want to save more than that, you have to configure programs to use other mount points instead of just your home folder, like you would on any other Linux (or Windows).
It also uses its own package system, and thus its often harder to find the software you want in the most recent versions. Most of my time setting it up was spent hunting the forums for the software I wanted. And, even then, I had to install some things manually. That’s not too bad if you can find a binary version, but compiling your own is a pain since Puppy doesn’t come with all the stuff to make it easy.
If you can do a proper hard drive install of Puppy (and not just one that simulates the LiveCD), and you can find all the apps you need, I agree it’s pretty good. But that’s not stuff I would recommend a novice.
And, again, dialup modem coverage sucks for Linux in general. And by the time people were expecting ease of use out of Linux, there just wasn’t much call for those modems. The attitude has mostly been that, if you absolutely need a dialup modem, get one that is compatible with Linux.
I want to Thank you all for your answers. I’ve copied this thread to my computer. All I’ve done is cancel my broadband so far. I’m distracted by other things at the moment.
Again, Thanks & take care.