End of XP support and online banking

KxMx

Some people are willing to take the risks when support for XP ends, and some are not.
Must admit online banking has swayed me into updating, my current desktop is 6 years old anyway and connects via a USB dongle. Quite happy it's time to get a shiny new machine with built in wifi!

pacontracting

Windows XP will continue to run the software you know and love. It won't be patched anymore and potentially, Microsoft, and then other companies, will stop releasing new software for this platform.

Web browsers will be the hardest hit with MS Explorer not supporting the latest html standards. That's not to say Google Chrome and Firefox etc will stop supporting this platform but it's very likely.

My advice would be, that if you haven't moved yet, start thinking about it. This may mean you have to migrate your data to a new application e.g. new version of Quicken.

Steps I would take are:

1/ Check if your computer can run Windows 7.

a) If it can, you could upgrade to Windows 7.
b) If not, you could buy a new computer and get the O/S as part of the build.

Next, you'd need to see what applications are available for your chosen platform and move your data across.

Alternatively - you could stay where you are but will eventually see support slowly eroding away as you won't be able to access certain websites etc e.g. banks won't support online banking on the platform.

Myself - I primarily run Macs but if you are comfortable with Windows XP, then Windows 7 is the closest equivalent.

buglawton

Windows 7 will overload old hardware with little RAM so not worth installing. Windows 8 is meant to be more lightweight and run on more slender hardware. However it outright won't support old hardware due to lack of drivers etc. The real issue with the demise of Windows XP is we are supposed to junk old but working hardware.

henm2

Lighter OSs like LXLE, Xubuntu, Solydx , Linux Mint XFCE are ideal for older hardware.
http://linuxlibrary.org/linux-mint-16-xfce-desktop-review/

Gromitt

henm2 wrote: »

No OS is totally 100% secure. However as I said Linux based OSs are far more secure than Windows ones.

Unfortunately, for people like myself, Linux is useless as the software I require simply doesn't exist on Linux, so which OS is the most secure is a moot point.

If you have XP and have no desire for Win7 or above, another idea may be to setup a virtual machine, install XP on that and then only use that VM for online banking (so the chances of infection are slim). You could even ignore all changes, so the VM is the same exact image every time you do banking.

Eventually however, I'd still expect bank to slowly regard WinXP as unsupported.

KxMx

buglawton wrote: »

Windows 7 will overload old hardware with little RAM so not worth installing. Windows 8 is meant to be more lightweight and run on more slender hardware. However it outright won't support old hardware due to lack of drivers etc. The real issue with the demise of Windows XP is we are supposed to junk old but working hardware.

That's the nature of technology though, it never stands still and newer models are coming out all the time.
XP is well over 10 years old now in tech terms it's a dinosaur.
There are many ways to recycle computer parts nowadays.
There comes a time when however well something works, the newer version is more attractive.

buglawton

At this moment you cannot buy a new cheap computer with a sensible operating system, with Windows 8 we are back at Windows Vista type Groundhog Day.

DragonQ

buglawton wrote: »

At this moment you cannot buy a new cheap computer with a sensible operating system, with Windows 8 we are back at Windows Vista type Groundhog Day.

Except you can easily disable the Metro interface with free applications which leaves you with a sturdier, slicker Windows 7.

roxy28

henm2 wrote: »

Lighter OSs like LXLE, Xubuntu, Solydx , Linux Mint XFCE are ideal for older hardware.
http://linuxlibrary.org/linux-mint-16-xfce-desktop-review/

Do banks recognise linux as a valid OS and not put up reasons not pay out if online fraud on the banking site is classed as your fault for using linux?

Archi_Bald

I have not seen any T&Cs for current or savings accounts that talk about Operating Systems.