The End of Windows XP--Now What?

It's simple to close the full screen apps on Windows 8 once you have the knack. Point the mouse cursor at each corner of the screen in turn, then trace a Fibonacci spiral until you hit the exact centre of your desktop. (To a tolerance of 5 pixels.) Now describe a pentagram and whisper the 433rd Secret Name of Ba'al into the attached microphone.

Ok. This makes me appreciate my nook a lot. I think that when I do go back to a laptop I'll end up going to windows 7 and not 8. Seven seems to be the easiest way to go when it comes to recent windows software.

thothguard51 said:

Office 2003 works great on my windows 7 Dell laptop and my HP desktop running windows 8.1. No problems with either...

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Friendly Frog said:

My Word and Excel 2000 work perfectly on our windows 7. If that works, 2003 shouldn't be much of a problem.

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Taran said:

I'm also running Office 2003 on Windows 7 with absolutely no problems, and was using MS Word 2001--unlimited installs, remember those days?--before I found my copy MS Office 2003 at the dump (really).

I'll echo earlier suggestions: switch to Ubuntu or duel boot with it. I did that to my sister's ancient laptop and it works great.

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Cool. Is there a way to instal 2003 Word and Excel on Windows 7 and also have 2010 Word and Excel alongside it? That would be awesome!

I have two home computers, a Dell (from 2008 or so) and an old Asus Netbook. Both of them run Windows XP. I have no intention to upgrade either machine. I will spend the upgrade fee for a tablet or AppleTV.

For my desktop, I will convert to Ubuntu (have been fiddling with Lubuntu but will switch to the big bro, dual boot with XP.) It will be my home workhorse machine.

I'll let the Netbook run XP (even though Lubuntu is also installed). Software that needs to be run in Windows (like the goddamn iTune) will be moved there. I will not use the Netbook to perform financial transactions. I use Firefox with NoScript and have told my firewall (Outpost) to block Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player from accessing the internet. I think I'll be fine.

I'm not computer savvy but I do have Windows XP on my old computer, so old that it can't handle an upgrade, the OS is too old. But I have Malwarebytes installed. My brother-in-law told me, you have that, you s/b fine. Just keep using the thing so that's what I'm doing.

I did find this online *here*, it was posted last Monday:

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Premium, announced today (Monday), has introduced heuristics-based detection designed to identify malicious software based on its behaviour instead of on virus signatures. This could be attractive to Windows XP users who plan to use the operating system after Microsoft withdraws support on April 8.
The company says XP users make up 20 percent of Malwarebytes’ user-base, and that "Premium will support XP users for life".

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I don't know how much more the Premium version costs. I might look into that.

As for Windows 8, this tile stuff. . . I find it quite irritating. Sometimes I'm moving the cursor and something else opens, it flips from desktop to whatever the hell. Sometimes something opens and I can't figure out how to close it.

But even though I am not computer savvy, I can do what I need to do.

Most of the time.

A lot of people's complaints with Win8 were resolved in the 8.1 update.

The only problems I've ever had were actually with third-party software companies that can't get their crap together enough to stay compatible with the latest OS. Other than that, I've had no issues.

I can understand the "if it ain't broke..." mentality, but at the same time, why would you want to be a decade behind everyone else? Besides, when your computer finally does die and you have to buy a new one, you're going to be forced to a new OS anyway. *shrug* I just don't understand people that stubbornly "hold out" on new tech.

I also don't see the point in running something that's no longer supported, and that software companies don't tailor their programs for. Also, keeping a good third-party AV program is nice and all, but what happens when that company no longer supports that version, or comes out with a new one that's not compatible with an OS 3 or 4 generations old? I just really don't see the point.

Nobody likes change....but it's part of life in the modern world, lol.

MatthewDBrammer said:

A lot of people's complaints with Win8 were resolved in the 8.1 update.

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I hope so! And that's usually the pattern (Vista was awful to begin with, but was patched up.)

But the worst Microsoft experience I ever had was when I had a week with my mum's new Win 8 Vaio laptop trying to fix the damn thing. All the Metro apps were broken, including, hilariously, System Settings, so I couldn't even get in there to repair what had gone wrong. It had to go back to the shop.

For me, even if it was fixed completely so that it did what it was supposed to do, the changes on a non-touchscreen machine weren't enough to make me think switching from 7 was worth doing. There's so little obviously wrong with 7, and it's a much smoother segue from XP or Vista. In 8 things are flying at you out of hotspots the whole time and there's this artificial app/desktop dichotomy that didn't make sense to me for a laptop or desktop machine.

I do think the initial 8 release was unnecessary and kinda botched, but yea, the 8.1 update resolves a lot of software and stability issues, as well as a lot of workflow issues (like the hidden Start button everyone was complaining about, including me). *shrug* I'm fairly tech-savvy though, so I guess it was a lot smoother transition for me than some people.

MatthewDBrammer said:

I do think the initial 8 release was unnecessary and kinda botched, but yea, the 8.1 update resolves a lot of software and stability issues, as well as a lot of workflow issues (like the hidden Start button everyone was complaining about, including me). *shrug* I'm fairly tech-savvy though, so I guess it was a lot smoother transition for me than some people.

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Good to hear it - makes me feel better about upgrading if I need to!

Everything takes time to get used to, is all. People usually have more of a heart attack when they initially get into something new than is really warranted. Lol.

It's odd for me to give this kind of advice when it comes to tech, considering I'm that person who goes to the same restaurant all the time and orders the exact same thing because I hate trying new things. I guess we're all stuck in our ways in some aspects.

ave said:

Oh yes, this is so annoying. Digging deep in the system settings I found a way to disable it, but I was getting so angry. If you open a program, say the app store, there's no close button, so it just sort of sits there in memory all the time. Then when ever you drag across your trackpad from the left edge it flips between all those open apps. I can't tell you how many times I was scrolling around a webpage and it just flipped on to a full screen calculator, or whatever else I couldn't close. This probably happened once every ten minutes.

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YEAH! That, exactly! And, anything that requires 'digging deep in the system' is not an option I wish to explore.

Torgo said:

It's simple to close the full screen apps on Windows 8 once you have the knack. Point the mouse cursor at each corner of the screen in turn, then trace a Fibonacci spiral until you hit the exact centre of your desktop. (To a tolerance of 5 pixels.) Now describe a pentagram and whisper the 433rd Secret Name of Ba'al into the attached microphone.

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Well, if all the Secret Names of Ba'al are four letters long, I've certainly worked my way up there, although I can't say I've hit the 433rd. Usually the same half-dozen, in brisk rotation.

I had to wipe my system and pitch XP pro for W7. There's a world of difference now--it was totally jammed up, sick and infected.

tir--glad I did.

Whatever people say about Windows 7 vs Windows 8...

All of our software problems stem from Windows 7.

Windows 8 has been much more well-behaved.

Torgo said:

It's simple to close the full screen apps on Windows 8 once you have the knack. Point the mouse cursor at each corner of the screen in turn, then trace a Fibonacci spiral until you hit the exact centre of your desktop. (To a tolerance of 5 pixels.) Now describe a pentagram and whisper the 433rd Secret Name of Ba'al into the attached microphone.

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Pentagram. I keep forgetting the pentagram.

Torgo said:

It's simple to close the full screen apps on Windows 8 once you have the knack. Point the mouse cursor at each corner of the screen in turn, then trace a Fibonacci spiral until you hit the exact centre of your desktop. (To a tolerance of 5 pixels.) Now describe a pentagram and whisper the 433rd Secret Name of Ba'al into the attached microphone.

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It's like a star-shaped thingie with five pointy things on it.

Kaiser-Kun said:

It's like a star-shaped thingie with five pointy things on it.

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HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA!

You! Take him to the airlock and blast him into space.

And now all of a sudden, today I'm surfing with my Windows 7 machine and somehow the background got changed to this awful Pepto-Bismol-like color.

Kaiser-Kun said:

It's like a star-shaped thingie with five pointy things on it.

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"But that's not important now..."

Horrible, isn't it? Whichever alien race chose this deserves to exterminated.

Kylabelle said:

Can someone offer a brief overview of what is wrong with Windows 8? I've heard it's problematic but have never really worked with a Windows machine. I'm about to have to set one up, though, that has Windows 8 installed, so I'd like to know what I might be running into.

By the way, Linux is pretty easy to use, I find, if you have the option to use that.

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There is nothing wrong with Windows 8 except the learning curve. And that can be remedied by reading documentation on it or watching the YouTube tutorials. What gets people hung up is its best with a touchscreen and trying to understand what it does without one causes a lot of confusion. My son and I both have had Win8 for over a year now, without touchscreens and haven't had any problems. I liked the interface so much, I went and got a Win8 phone.

Shadow_Ferret said:

There is nothing wrong with Windows 8 except the learning curve. And that can be remedied by reading documentation on it or watching the YouTube tutorials.

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Speaking of torture ... what is this, some kind of April Fool's joke???

I would simply not support Microsoft. If everyone allows themselves to be dependent on them, and it becomes habit that company always tries to take advantage of it by making them have to buy from them constantly. Luckily, I have Linux. Far less viruses too.

Shadow_Ferret said:

There is nothing wrong with Windows 8 except the learning curve. And that can be remedied by reading documentation on it or watching the YouTube tutorials. What gets people hung up is its best with a touchscreen and trying to understand what it does without one causes a lot of confusion. My son and I both have had Win8 for over a year now, without touchscreens and haven't had any problems. I liked the interface so much, I went and got a Win8 phone.

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This^^^. Well, minus the Windows phone. I'm pretty well stuck on Android; I've got a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and love it. I've been with Samsung since the S2.

Also, some of the reasoning I've seen behind avoiding Microsoft is just as bad as some of the reasoning I've seen behind avoiding any other "big, evil company" that "forces you to be dependent on them". If it works, it works...I don't have any problem being supposedly "roped into" something that works just fine for me. Lol.

Yeah, well, the only real issue I have with my Win8 phone is the lack of apps. I thought I wouldn't miss the variety I had available with Android or iPhone, but I do. Although the interface for Office is flawless and giving me the ability to write and edit anywhere more than makes up for lack of apps.

maxitoutwriter said:

I would simply not support Microsoft. If everyone allows themselves to be dependent on them, and it becomes habit that company always tries to take advantage of it by making them have to buy from them constantly. Luckily, I have Linux. Far less viruses too.

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Every company wants you to be dependent on them. That's the whole point behind brand loyalty marketing. If not MS, then Apple. And I can't remember the last time I had a virus.