General Chat

If you think about it, XP is over ten years old which in computer/technology terms makes it somewhat neanderthal

If buying a new machine you may want to look for one with Windows 7 rather than 8 as the operating system as it will be less of a shock to the system and possibly an easier learning curve

is it the same with most laptops etc these days that unless you pay top wack, you only get"starter" versions of say microsoft office excel.?etc


online,I bought a tosh' c66od with Windows 7 on......loads of disc space but with lots of "try now buy later" stuff on........

Bob

Many laptops come with trial versions of software such as Office, anti-virus etc. This is because they are standalone products in their own right so companies have them bundled with the machine in the hope that you will go on to buy them.
The good news is that there are plenty of free software packages that do exactly the same job and are just as good.
When buying a machine don't be fooled by the salesman's patter into buying the complete products because you really do not need them. If anyone wants to know some good packages (security, Office-type software, graphics programmes etc) give me a shout.
As far as Windows 7 is concerned, steer away from 7 Home Basic which omits many of the features that make it worth having in the first place. Instead, go for 7 Home Premium. Alternatively, you could opt for a Windows 8 machine but the operating system and interface is very different.
Hope this helps.

There is nothing whatsoever in IE9 that stops it running on XP except code within IE9. The reason for this block is that at the time Microsoft were trying - and failing - to get people to adopt VISTA. In the end they gave up and released Windows7.

IE8 and IE9 are woefully short in support of the features of HTML5 aka Web2 and IE10 is no champion either as Microsoft cannot decided between supporting open standards and their own stuff.

XP is perfectly usable now and will be for at least another 2 years provided it has enough memory ( 2 GB with the 32 bit version ) reasonable CPU eg dual core pentium and enough disk space.

However IE8 is a DEAD DUCK and Xp users should consider moving to any of Opera / Chrome / Firefox. The big advantage of Chrome on older machines is that the code is very efficient and bugs few and quickly fixed. Firefox is a memory hog though it is slowly getting better. Firefox offers several variations on IE themes for those who want a modern engine and traditional look.

As a guide I u/g an old laptop recently. SATA HD from 60 GB to 250 GB - £ 5 eBay; CPU dual core 1.6 to dual core 2.3 - £ 20 total cost £ 25. It already had 2 GB RAM. Sure it is not a gamers machine but totally usable with built in blue tooth and wifi.

ps: Windows8 is out and upgrades cheap (for now). However the new OS is just plain awful on traditional notebooks and laptops. It is excellent on tablets.

It is unlikely that Microsoft will stop essential security hotfixes for XP - they are still releasing these for Win2000! The corporate world moves very slowly and much of it is still using IE6 on corporate / government intranets for instance. Even NT4 is far from fully retired.

Microsoft have a free security program called Microsoft Security Essentials. Although the interface is very simple it is actually the best value home user AV package. It runs fine on XP.

I've just done my six monthly chore of changing the times on my website and webcam. During the six monthly period the operators invariably fool around with the sites so I have to learn all over again how to change the times.

"Nothing halts the march of progress" for which read "You'll never get rid of dickheads who can't leave well alone". ;-)

Silly question time ......

So if I decide to go for Chrome or Firefox - when I install will it delete IE8 or do I have to manually do anything?

Sorry but I did say I wasn't technically minded

:)

Barbara you can leave IE8 on your PC if you wish. You just make Chrome or FF - whichever you choose - your default choice. I have Chrome on my PC tho 99% of time I use IE. Chrome is there 'just in case'. Hope this helps

Thanks Ronald.

Wish me luck as I'm about to update ........ I think me and the hamster will need a large glass of something medicinal afterwards.... :)