XP Forever?

[Chuck(G)]

A real-world test of trying to infect XP (with proper anti-virus/anti-malware software in use) by visiting a long list of known-insecure web sites:

The last time I can recall getting infected by malware was not out of a browser, but installing a downloaded driver that I hadn't scanned. It was nasty, as it was one of those adware-infectors that installed a service that kept downloading different adware. It was like playing whack-a-mole until I figured out what was happening. Even that meant that I lost maybe an hour of time cleaning things up. The guy in the video has a couple of good points--back up your registry and create a restore point--and periodically check the Task Manager for suspicious processes.

Lesson--driver download sites should be used with caution.

 

[vwestlife]

Lesson--driver download sites should be used with caution.

Even so-called "legitimate" driver sites like DriverGuide pack their custom "installers" full of adware and junkware. There is a way to avoid it, but you have to be very careful, as they like to trick you:

 

[SomeGuy]

Why aren't addware/crapware distributors like that cought and publicly hung? They should be.

How about a search engine that block sites like that? Google won't because they are too busy with their own BSware.

BTW, nice video, but that "no malware found" at the end... yea, I wouldn't be so sure.

 

[Chuck(G)]

HP Pavillions often came with a "media keyboard' much like that one (some also had a volume control knob--a nifty idea). I wonder if drivers for that would work with your Compaq keyboard?

 

[larryniven]

Microsoft should really consider building a stripped-down version of Windows, something like a tiny core linux. XP is the closest.

 

[T-R-A]

Microsoft should really consider building a stripped-down version of Windows...

Actually they did (of WinXP, anyway) but few people knew of it:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Fundamentals_for_Legacy_PCs

Of course you could really strip it down by using nLite....

 

[Scali]

They stripped down Windows in 8, 8.1 and 10 to make it work on tablets and smartphones. If you've never run a Windows newer than 7, you may be surprised just how much faster the new ones work, and how efficiently they use your hardware.

'Stripping down' doesn't really do much though, aside from saving some disk space. You can just turn off any services you don't want/need, and they won't use any CPU/memory.
For legacy machines I turn off automatic Windows Updates, since the background scanning is really heavy on those machines. I also turn off realtime virus scanning for best performance.

 

[Agent Orange]

Worth mentioning. Last week or so when I was fooling around with Zorin OS-9, I attempted to load Zorin on my PIII tweener and it it borked my XP install (will boot in safe mode). Maybe I'll just park XP for while and install W98SE just to get back in touch.

 

[stangman517]

. And even if you do get in - so what? I'll just reinstall and start over. .

Recently I installed my "Legal" copy I bought when it was first released and then during the installation it would let me validate the install; said something to the affect of installed too many licenses. Any ideas about how to get around this? I found a registry hack but it didn't work; sorry can't remember which hack it was.

Thanks

 

[Stone]

There's always that corporate pro version that'll install forever on any number of machines. I even have a version of it that's already been slipstreamed with SP2 on the install CD.

 

[Agent Orange]

Stone's right. The version that I have came from a major university as XP Professional Enterprise. It never needs to be 'validated'. You can find them on the net once in a while. About a month back or so I found XP Pro 64-bit w/keys.

 

[Plasma]

Recently I installed my "Legal" copy I bought when it was first released and then during the installation it would let me validate the install; said something to the affect of installed too many licenses. Any ideas about how to get around this? I found a registry hack but it didn't work; sorry can't remember which hack it was.

Thanks

Choose phone activation and call Microsoft.

 

[Stone]

Choose phone activation and call Microsoft.

I did that about 7 months ago and it only took five minutes or less! I had moved a hard drive to another machine.

 

[SpidersWeb]

Already mentioned, but I too have a not-quite-original CD of XP Enterprise with SP3 and a single key I use. Just saves all the stuffing about with finding the key, and finding the disk to match the key, then dealing with activation etc. Plus most of my original disks are SP1, so there is a ton of updates to be done afterwards, just a huge time waste for me.

I don't think they'd be too fussed because I have legitimate unused keys all over the place, not making use of any Enterprise features, not making use of Microsoft support and it's a discontinued product that was originally released over a decade ago.

 

[Moondog]

I started a new job a couple of months ago, and learned there were robotic arms on the premises still running Windows 98. There are also several pieces of equipment that only work properly the XP versions of their software. The best solution was to put them on their own vlans with no connection to the internet.

 

[yuhong]

Well, I agree, that's pretty low. You can get XP to run on a 486/133 for sure if you install it first on at least a Pentium machine's HD.

You can't for sure, that is because of the requirement for the CMPXCHG8B instruction.

 

[Agent Orange]

You can't for sure, that is because of the requirement for the CMPXCHG8B instruction.

Have you tried it? There are blogs dedicated to the feat. I would never say never. Somewhere up the road I might give it go.

 

[Agent Orange]

You can't for sure, that is because of the requirement for the CMPXCHG8B instruction.

Check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDmXBKZXqf0

 

[gslick]

Check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDmXBKZXqf0

I wouldn't say that running on system with a Pentium OverDrive processor is really the same thing as running on a system with an 80486.

 

[Chuck(G)]

Silly question.

Why would anyone want to do this? W2K on a 486 is slow enough.