To XP or not to XP . . . ?

[ucrdem]

50. UPDATE - A couple of notes on XP, MSE, WP, and Windows 9:

As long as this thread is still pinned (thanks Steve!) I thought I'd update a few items:

1) Win XP: Still starts, stll works, and still gets one or two auto-updates from MS, like security updates for IE 8 and malicious software removal tool August update.


2) MSE (Microsoft Security Essentials) for XP: Still works, but MS is definitely not issuing updates, at least for free, so regular ol' XP users will probably need to find some other anti-virus. One suggestion might be Spybot Search and Destroy 2, free home version, found here: http://www.safer-networking.org/mirrors/


3) WP: Running WordPerfect 5.1 was my raison d'être for putting XP on my Windows 8 desktop, but it turned out not to be that important, as WP X7, which came out last April, can preview WP 5.1 files in File Explorer. I think it's the first Windows app I've owned that can. Files don't even need special suffixes (but they do need some suffix, or the contents won't be visible). It's not as fast as browsing directories in WP 5.1, and previews can't be opened via keyboard commands, or at least I can't, but it does the job and lots more. Free 30-day trial here: http://www.wordperfect.com/ca/product/office-suite/


4) Windows 9: If Windows 8/8.1 is still problematic, take heart, as Windows 9, codenamed Threshold, is purportedly scheduled to be released at the end of September: http://www.cnet.com/news/windows-9-unveiling-set-for-september-30-report-says/


Last but not least, MS Word 13 (latest version) might seem strange and buggy at first, but if you can get past the online business -- it wants you to save files online, and some versions require a live connection every time you start the damn thing -- and it agrees with your operating system, it's not bad, and rarely locks up or crashes. It can also make and edit PDFs, and convert PDFs to Word docs, though it doesn't do this fast or well, particularly long docs. But all in all it's very handy and looks a little nicer than Word 2007, which runs just fine in Windows 8 in case you still have it and don't want to spring for the latest MS Office.