Laptop with XP?

smos585

My sister bought recently a Desktop with Win7/64, but has decided that she can't get on with win 7. She's one of those people that once they have decided nothing will change their mind.

Asked me to find preferrably a laptop with XP - the thought of trawling through manufacturers' websites to see what might be avaiable with XP drivers (buy XP separately), fills me with horror.

Don't really like the idea of second hand laptops, as unless you know the provenance, they can be a lottery, and expensive to repair.

Ideas and suggestions please - please don't tell me why she shouldn't go back to XP, as I've tried all the arguments already.

Thank you

closed

just tell her none are available, or swap hers for your inspiron

the W7 gui is similar to xp, can't imagine what the problem is. Stopping a couple of windows services make it look even more similar.

Jivesinger

smos585 wrote: »

Ideas and suggestions please - please don't tell me why she shouldn't go back to XP, as I've tried all the arguments already.

Ah sorry I but I'm going to do exactly that...have you told her that XP is pretty risky from a security point of view?
http://www.edbott.com/weblog/2013/01/windows-xp-is-past-its-security-expiration-date/

Also Microsoft will stop supporting it (and presumably stop issuing patches when people find ways to hack it) in 2014; just over a year away.

NiftyDigits

smos585 wrote: »

My sister bought recently a Desktop with Win7/64, but has decided that she can't get on with win 7. She's one of those people that once they have decided nothing will change their mind.

Asked me to find preferrably a laptop with XP - the thought of trawling through manufacturers' websites to see what might be avaiable with XP drivers (buy XP separately), fills me with horror.

Don't really like the idea of second hand laptops, as unless you know the provenance, they can be a lottery, and expensive to repair.

Ideas and suggestions please - please don't tell me why she shouldn't go back to XP, as I've tried all the arguments already.

Thank you

Second hand is the way.

But you'll probably have to downgrade to XP and then reinstall Windows 7 a year later.

An example here for just over £200.

securityguy

smos585 wrote: »

My sister bought recently a Desktop with Win7/64, but has decided that she can't get on with win 7. She's one of those people that once they have decided nothing will change their mind.

So is she planning to use only XP for the rest of her life? That's going to be an entertaining grunge computing project in twenty years' time.

Joking aside, the best way to do this, if she really insists, would be to run Virtualbox, VMware or some other virtualisation product under Windows 7/8, and then run XP in a virtual machine. That way, the XP instance is at least sat behind the 7/8 firewall, which de-risks this substantially. It also means you don't have any problems with drivers, as the XP machine will see an idealised computer irrespective of the hardware it's really running on.

Jivesinger

securityguy wrote: »

Joking aside, the best way to do this, if she really insists, would be to run Virtualbox, VMware or some other virtualisation product under Windows 7/8, and then run XP in a virtual machine. That way, the XP instance is at least sat behind the 7/8 firewall, which de-risks this substantially. It also means you don't have any problems with drivers, as the XP machine will see an idealised computer irrespective of the hardware it's really running on.

:T
That's a good idea, and if you buy the right version of Windows 7, there's a Windows XP virtual machine built-in and already licensed for you, without having to get VMWare or whatever.

agrinnall

Tell her if she wants to stick with XP then you refuse to have anything to do with it - she'll have to find the laptop and work out how to support it herself. It sounds like she's relying on you for advice and support, but that doesn't mean you have to provide it whatever she wants to do.

securityguy

Jivesinger wrote: »

:T
That's a good idea, and if you buy the right version of Windows 7, there's a Windows XP virtual machine built-in and already licensed for you, without having to get VMWare or whatever.

That's true.

But if the sister is genuinely going to try "stop the world, I want to get off" and run XP long term, then a VMware or Virtualbox (which is free) image is more likely to be portable onto other platforms. The XP virtualisation in Windows 7 isn't present in Windows 8, so that immediately imposes a limitation on how long this solution could be kept running. Running Windows 3.1 and DOS 6.22 is supported for both VMware and Virtualbox today, under today's host operating systems. So it's likely that XP under VMware will be shiftable to then-current hardware for at least another twenty years.

googler

Jivesinger wrote: »

Ah sorry I but I'm going to do exactly that...have you told her that XP is pretty risky from a security point of view?

I've been running two machines with XP for years, most of that time with no virus scanner. Nothing adverse has happened.

The only time I've had a virus was when one of the machines was running Vista. I wiped the HDD, installed XP and it's been fine since.

smos585

Thanks guys for taking the trouble to respond. I know my question is difficult, hence the reason for posting. However I really would appreciate some suggestions in response to what lappies might be available for possible downgrade to XP - I have found one a Lenovo G550.

As an aside, If older users are having probs moving up to 7 - 8 will be a stretch too far for many.

So any knowledge/suggestion as to which lappiues with 7 can be downgraded would be helpful. Thanks

Edit
Googler: didn't see your reply when I wrote the above _ I have suggested upgrading to 7 Pro and running XP Mode, she's thinking about it, may need to show her - also have suggested a dual boot on her new desktop as the GA board (1155) does have XP drivers.

closed

what exactly does she dislike?

you can disable themes, dwm, add xp skins to make it look and act like xp