Time to Close the Windows?

[gun sane]

XP users have been getting a lot of nag popups warning that their OS is going the way of the dodo bird.  Microsoft is now leading us into the squeeze chute for Windows 8.1, which I am told is a marvel for computers with touch screens.  Others say it's about as friendly as Vista and shingles.  Should we listen to the doomsday geeks and upgrade or keep on crunching with XP without tech support?  What's out there that promises better days?

[Metalhead]

I upgraded from XP to 7 a few years back. Really I liked 7 better. Just recently within the last year built a 8.1 machine and while it takes a little getting used to it's not nearly as horrible for a desktop PC as vanilla 8 was. It's not bad at all.

[TMF]

I miss XP.  I was forced out of it over a year ago.

[Metalhead]

I guess I should also throw in the caveat that I do not do any work on 8.1. Just normal usage like games/net surfing.

[Ugly]

Inmo XP was the best they've had. I have transitioned to Mac though and dont miss windows one bit.

[peejman]

I wouldn't continue with XP due to the perceived/real vulnerability.  Upgrade to Win7.  It's got some nice features that may or may not be any better than XP, but its been fine so far.  You should be able to find an OEM install disk for under $100, that's what I did.  Same as above, I've heard that Win8 is great if you've got a touch screen, but not so great otherwise. 

[BryanP]

8.1 works fine, especially if you install one of the third party start menu utilities like Classic Shell.  http://www.classicshell.net/

[tnhandgun57]

Upgrade to 7!

[Garufa]

Go Windows 7.  I imagine it will be around a looong time. 

[2.ooohhh]

Win. 7sp3 on both my work machines and as a 2nd OS on my desktop at home. Big upgrade from XP especially on my machines with lots of ram.

[enfield]

I upgraded to 7 on two of my XP machines.  It's fine so far, for Winders.  Still like Linux better.

[tnguy]

You could consider Linux :)

[mikegideon]

We are in the process of moving all our XP machines to Windows 7. In most cases, the on board video in our older HP machines don't have enough video RAM to run Win 7 without slowing way down. Just an FYI if you upgrade, and your machine slows to a crawl.

 

Windows 8? Hell no.

[monkeylizard]

Windows 7 is scheduled for end-of-life in January 2020.

[RC3]

depending how old your system is, you might be better off getting a new pc unless you can upgrade it relatively cheap. As far as windows goes, 7 will be almost an exact copy of XP and windows 8 will take some use to. The machines at work are windows 7, my personal pc is 8.1 and my auxiliary runs 7. I have a laptop still on vista. They all work fine, but 8.1 will be the most alien to you.

[mikegideon]

Windows 7 is scheduled for end-of-life in January 2020.

 

We skipped Vista. Windows 8 is looking like one of those.

[monkeylizard]

I use 7 at home and work. I like it better than XP. I'm not a fan of the Metro interface on 8.x, but admittedly I've only had a cursory go at it. I just need something that will load games and a browser for 99% of my home use.

[gun sane]

My laptop is W7 and my only complaints has to do with the machine itself, not the software.  I've got XP on my desktop, so I'll probably just look at a W7 upgrade to make them similar.  The wife has an Ipad and loves it.....I can't stand the darned thing.

Edited April 3, 2014 by gun sane

[Guest TankerHC]

I bought one of the touch screen Dell 17s 2 weeks ago. Have been using win 8 for headed on a year and a half. The touch screen was returned. It really serves no purpose. I do like win 8. It takes some configuration to get it the way you want it but that's the thing, there are a million configuration options. You can see today's complaints are basically the same as Win 2.x, 3.x, 95, 97, etc. It's a new OS and people are not used to it or are not technically capable of using it. The start button issue is a perfect example. The day 8 launched there were 10 different start buttons available for download free. Some gave more functionality than the win 7 start button. The 8 opening screen could be disabled until you needed it with the start button software. It's now built into 8.1. All the complaints from launch to now hold no merit since the configuration options are there to make it how you want it. The only thing I would caution against is that 8 driver's do not work on all hardware made for 7 or earlier so after install you may find that some hardware does not work on older computers, especially desktop hardware. 8 isn't like 7 with the backbone based off a previous OS, the Kernel is completely new. I would say before upgrading insurance there are 8 driver's for all of the hardware in your computer. Also if you don't have a separate recovery partition make sure you have recovery and backup discs because once you upgrade from 7 to 8 there is no going back.

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk 2

[Guest TankerHC]

Should also mention that you can go to the Microsoft website and run a scan to see if your computer is 8 capable. That scan will tell you how many devices were found and out of that number if any will not work. I'm at an appointment on my phone or would post the link.

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk 2

[Raoul]

You could consider Linux :)

Wish I could. Unfortunately I use a specific piece of software to make a living, and it just doesn't port well.

XP was probably MS's finest offering. I've been using 7 for a long time and it's perfectly serviceable, except for the damn updates that always trash something.

I'm thinking about going to Mac next go around, Gawd I even hate to say that out loud....

[midtennchip]

I moved to Mac TODAY. Just had a horrible experience with Windows 8.0 and the now "rouge" (if you listen to the Microsoft folks) 8.1 Preview. I am not a technical guy, but the 8.0 machine never worked and the move to 8.1 Preview (months ago) has proven to be the biggest mistake ever on a computer. The prospect of having to pay over $300 just to get the laptop back to 8.0 (which is the only option Microsoft gave me) was not worth it. I hate Apple, but I have now converted. Not going back.

[vontar]

If you upgrade, I suggest windows 7 unless you want touch screen.

I still don't like 8.

 

XP will continue to work on the internet for a while, as does windows 98 and heaven forbid if you find windows 95 out there.

I bet someone on here could even get windows 3.1 on the web to some degree although it would totally suck at this point with at best netscape 2.0 or IE 2.0

[tnguy]

Win3.1 is certainly web capable with a TCP stack but I think finding drivers for the hardware would be the big trick. It might run OK within a virtual machine. I know some people who will only use VMs for web access and will periodically roll-back the disk to avoid any chance of viruses.getting on the physical box OS.

Edited April 4, 2014 by tnguy

[NashvilleStage]

I'm still running XP Pro. The 2005 Dell laptop that I use is still hanging on. I dread the day I have to upgrade, so I'll probably wait until this machine is beyond repair.