To XP or not to XP . . . ?

[ucrdem]

55. Update to end all updates

Now that Win 7 is headed for the XP boneyard in 2020, to be followed by the upgrade to end all upgrades, Windows 10, in 2025, I thought I'd round up a few final links and tips as a requiem for a heavyweight:

1. XP: First off, XP Pro still works like a champ in the 2 PCs I've got it installed on, an e-bay "second chance" 2009 HP tower (now my go-to desktop) and an older behemoth my brother bequeathed a few years ago. XP starts right up, connects to WiFi, updates promptly (monthly Malicious Intruder bulletins), kicks up the usual nags and suggestions, detects new hardware, searches for drivers, runs a browser which also updates promptly, and of course, runs WordPerfect 5.1 in a reasonable facsimile of Windows 95.

Moral: XP runs best on PCs equipped to run it, and installing it on newer devices means crossing two perilous bridges before you even get to the WiFi adapter and printer drivers: 1) defeating UEFI "secure boot" restrictions, which can break newer Windows installations on the same drive, and 2) loading ACHI drivers ("press F6&quot to allow XP to run on newer drives. You can also set your BIOS to emulate IDE, or to not emulate ACHI, but that too will break versions not installed with the same setting.

2. Multi-boot setups: If you're planning a multi-boot with XP, it's advisable to start with a fresh HDD or SSD, partition it into drives, and then install XP in the first partition, followed by 7, 8, and/or 10 in that order, as later versions can detect XP boot loaders, but XP will replace an existing boot sequence with its own. If that happens, the way to rebuild your "boot store" is to open a command prompt and use BCDedit and Bootrec commands, which can be finicky:

More on BCDedit here: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc709667(v=ws.10).aspx
More on Bootrec here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/927392

3. Anti-virus: Install something like Windows Defender on new Win 7 installations and something like Avira on new XP installations, as neither has a built-in anti-virus. Should you catch a bug in the interim, Malwarebytes will help get rid of it:

a) Windows Defender: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/14210/security-essentials-download
b) Avira free anti-virus: https://www.avira.com/
c) Malwarebytes: https://www.malwarebytes.com/mwb-download/

4. Win 10 vs. Win 7: For all intents and purposes, Win 10 is Win 7 with Macintosh filigree, and with a few adjustments, the desktops run the same way. Nevertheless, installing Win 10 means re/installing hundreds of drivers that may or may not be compatible with your system and may not even exist, so I'd recommend a dual-boot arrangement if you have room on your hard drive -- ideally, about 100 Gb, though 25 Gb will do. That way, you can search your old OS for drivers if you discover for example that your SD card doesn't show up in Win 10 Explorer. You can download Win 10 from Microsoft here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10/ (see note 1)

5. New Win 7 systems: There are some great deals on new and refurbished Win 7 Pro devices, like this desktop on Newegg for $120: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA5YV3HJ4037. Amazon and of course e-bay also have deals on Win 7/8 equipment.

6. New Win 10 systems: If you're interested in a device with Win 10 pre-installed, and it's compatible with your other hard/software, you can probably save the trouble of a rollback with a couple of free downloads, namely Classic Shell (start button) and VLC media player (DVD player):

d) Classic Shell: http://www.classicshell.net/downloads/ (currently 4.3.0) (see note 2)
e) VLC free all-media player: https://www.videolan.org/vlc/

Other items to consider are a gadget pack (desktop clock, calendar, etc), an Acrobat PDF reader, and a PDF printer:

f) Desktop Gadget pack: http://8gadgetpack.net/
g) Acrobat Reader XI: https://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/thankyou.jsp?fileID=5519&ftpID=5507
h) Cute PDF writer: http://www.cutepdf.com/Products/CutePDF/writer.asp

Happy summer or what's left of it!
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Notes:

1. The Win 10 setup will ask several times for a key, but as of now, there's no loss of functionality if you don't supply one (click "skip&quot . I suppose that might change, but 10 is a far cry from XP which is ringed about with electronic chastity belts.

2. Exercise caution when downloading as the Classic Shell site was briefly hacked a few weeks ago: make sure your anti-virus is running when downloading, save downloaded files to a folder instead of running them directly, and scan files before launching them (right-click on the file, then click "scan with Defender" or other anti-virus).