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OK all you XP diehards...

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All that how-to is doing is taking the VHD image from Windows 7's XP Mode feature and loading it on VirtualBox.

That's okay if your interested. The difference is that you don't need to go to VMware (or whereever) to get it done if that's what you crave.
 
By the way, if anyone's using MSE (Security Essentials) and has updated to the latest 4.5.2 and can't stand the red box notifying you that your XP system isn't protected, just un-install MSE and (a) use another antivirus package or (b) download MSE 4.4.304 and install it. The engine remains the same and the same database is used. You get protection until July, 2015. Oh--and since MS isn't supposed to be sending out updates, just turn automatic Windows Update off--you can continue to download new virus definitions. Amazingly, 4.4.304 is still available from MS--it's the version you get if you opt for "manual installation". It's also lots of other places on the web.

You get your green back.
 
At least for me, MSE 4.5.x did not get included in the automatic updates, because Microsoft does not classify it as a "high priority" update. I had to go to their web site and download it from their list of optional updates.

If you're using regular XP I'd obviously stick with MSE 4.4.x, but if you're using an XP-based operating system which has not yet reached its end of support (such as Server 2003, XP Embedded, Embedded Standard 2009, or Embedded POSReady 2009), MSE 4.5.x will not give you any hassle and will correctly show the green icon in the system tray.
 
What upset me was that I couldn't simply use the Control Panel facility to back the MSE 4.5.2 update out. MS says they'll keep the database maintained until July 2015, so at least that's something...
 
Packs a sads on XP Home so I'm option a) on this laptop.
 

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Quite possibly. Tried it as root and still the same dialogue box. Might be a registry hack to get around it though. Haven't bothered to look too deeply into it.

All my XP machines have been given me by family members or work mates who've updated their machines. XP Home is on the majority of them and some were set up by default to boot as root. First thing to change was to add a user profile.

Panda cloud seems to be doing the trick though. Just working away in the background.
 
I've always felt that the community's obligatory and de rigueur dissing of Micro$oft was largely unjustified, but I'm beginning to see the light; what with Vista, Win8 and now this XP/MSE EOL fiasco they really do seem determined to alienate even the most loyal among their users and drive them to seek alternatives...
 
I've always felt that the community's obligatory and de rigueur dissing of Micro$oft was largely unjustified, but I'm beginning to see the light; what with Vista, Win8 and now this XP/MSE EOL fiasco they really do seem determined to alienate even the most loyal among their users and drive them to seek alternatives...
Mike this is not directed at you. I'm just borrowing your words to make a point.

Sometimes I think that too many people just jump on the bandwagon (for whatever reason) and ignore their own experiences. So I'm gonna inject mine.

My main computer (a desktop) and my secondary computer (a notebook) have both been runing Vista Home Premium for five years. That's what they came with, new. I have had no problems with either and I have no complaints with either's performance, capabilities, reliability or endurance. My desktop run 364 days per year, uninterrupted. It gets one day off for good behavior. :) Both do exactly what I want, every time i use them, and having said that I don't feel like I need to say any more.
 
Vista got it's bad rep from the hardware that was out at the time not running well with Vista and it's backup feature which took a serious hit on the CPU and disk i/o. So folks who were happy with the performance of XP thought Vista was a hog, but later and faster hardware with Vista was fine as is. The older hardware if you disabled the snapshot feature and probably disabled the UAC and it runs fairly well. Better hardware of course better experience though. We did a video benchmark on it vs XP and XP was faster by a small amount despite Vista having the newer native direct-x.

I understand the dislike for dropping an operating system but with credit to Microsoft it's probably a pain in the ass to patch old code and maintain a 13 year old OS. At some point they need to drop it and also to make sales they need to drop it. Double edged sword.
 
Vista was a different kind of fiasco. Initially it had bad compatibility problems, but once enough vendors got their drivers or software updated it became a non-issue. Windows 8 on the other hand, is just Microsoft whizzing in to customers faces.
 
When NT 3.1 came out, I was able to look at some of the system base code in the NT DDK. I was impressed with the thoroughness and care with which the code I could see was written. Fast-forward to NT 2000. It started to look like it had been nibbled by termites. By XP, it was a puzzle. Comments not relative or downright misleading were left unedited. You had to be one of the "if you lived here, you would know where you are" type of code. It was very clear that maintenance tasks had been turned over to junior staff. Sadly, this happens to a lot of code and the code that was once the Great American Novel has turned to Looney Toons.

Must be a law there somewhere.
 
I understand the dislike for dropping an operating system but with credit to Microsoft it's probably a pain in the ass to patch old code and maintain a 13 year old OS. At some point they need to drop it and also to make sales they need to drop it. Double edged sword.
They didn't drop support completely. The IRS is going to pay MS over $10 Million to keep supporting it for them, this year. :) It costs the IRS (read US!) about $200 per machine.
 
They didn't drop support completely. The IRS is going to pay MS over $10 Million to keep supporting it for them, this year. :) It costs the IRS (read US!) about $200 per machine.

No official cost of the IRS's extended XP support has been released. People were just guessing based on Microsoft's initial fee of $200 per PC, which has since been reduced to $25 per PC:

http://www.tekrevue.com/windows-xp-extended-support-costs/

The UK and Netherlands are also paying Microsoft for extended XP support.
 
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