Windows XP Update: More Tools To Keep You Safe

Windows XP has been without support since April this year. While its market share is declining (~24% in August), many users can’t afford to upgrade their computer and are stuck with a vulnerable operating system. If you are not yet ready to migrate to Linux, here are two more ways to keep Windows XP safe, especially after a reinstallation.

Update Windows XP With Unofficial Service Pack 4

The unofficial SP4 (USP4), which we introduced recently, has been developed since September 2013. USP4 is a cumulative update rollup for Windows XP x86, containing all post-SP3 updates distributed via Windows Update. It can be applied to a running system (SP1 and up) or it can be added to an installation medium.

Currently in Beta 3, a first release candidate is expected shortly. Future versions of USP4 are expected to contain further security enhancements, including registry updates to fix potential vulnerabilities.

While we caution inexperienced readers planning to download and install unofficial service packs, we feel that this particular product may be safer than not updating Windows XP at all. Please download from the original source only!

Restore Windows XP With RollBack XP

RollBack XP can create full copies of your system and undo changes whenever you want. It’s like creating a Windows System Restore Point, only better. Snapshots can be taken within seconds while the system is running. Restores are instant, only requiring you to reboot once. You can even restore from an unbootable Windows XP. Best of all, this tool is free for Windows XP users.

Set Your Baseline

After installation, RollBack XP establishes a baseline snapshot. Access the Baseline Manager under Tools & Settings or by clicking CTRL + L to update your baseline after installing service packs or other important updates.

Take Snapshots & Lock Important Ones

To take a new snapshot, open the respective menu item, click New, enter a name and description, decide whether or not you want to lock this snapshot, and click Next. The procedure only takes a few seconds. Click Finish when completed.

The free version allows you to store up to 10 snapshots simultaneously. Selected snapshots can be locked, so they won’t get deleted once you exhaust your allowance or allocated disk space.

Explore Snapshots & Recover Files

RollBack XP provides an easy way to look into snapshots and recover files. Navigate to the Instant Recovery menu item, select Explore Snapshot, pick a snapshot, and clickExplore. Your snapshot will be mounted as a virtual drive. Select Open Virtual Drive(s)and look for a new drive under Devices with Removable Storage; this is your system snapshot.

When you right-click a file on the virtual drive, you will see the menu option toRestore from snapshot. Unfortunately, this option didn’t seem to function. Instead, just copy and paste the file or folder.

To recover specific files, select the respective option under Instant Recovery. Here you can search by file name, file type, or file location. Searching for a file name did not return any results in our trial, but finding folders or file types worked just fine.

Roll Back To An Earlier Snapshot

When you decide to roll back your system to an earlier snapshot, you can exclude files from being rolled back. Alternatively, you can create a snapshot prior to rolling back and explore saved data using the file recovery wizard. The wizard will launch automatically after a successful rollback or you can access the Recover Files option via the Instant Recovery menu. Of course you can also back up your data to an external drive, something you should do either way.

Note that when you reset to your baseline, you will lose everything, including snapshots. Rolling back to the baseline, however, will preserve snapshots and enable you to recover files.

Schedule Snapshots & Rollback Events

You can set the tool’s Task Scheduler to create or restore snapshots at a desired interval or time point. This feature is ingenious because rolling back to a snapshot on a schedule (for example on every restart) effectively deep freezes your system. In other words, should you ever break something or pick up malware, a simple reboot will take care of it.

What If Windows No Longer Boots?

RollBack XP is more than a simple Windows tool. It launches before Windows boots and thus can be accessed even when Windows fails to start up. Click the Homebutton on your keyboard to launch RollBack XP’s sub-console, which will allow you to restore any previously made snapshot or recover data.

Feeling Safe?

The tools above can help you secure and restore your system, but they won’t protect you from being hacked and having sensible data stolen! If you are forced to stick to Windows XP, however, make an effort to use software that offers updates for Windows XP, including anti malware and antivirus tools, keep that software updated, and generally bulletproof your machine.

Keeping Windows XP secure is a Sisyphean undertaking; you can only lose. We recommend that you upgrade your computer as soon as possible. Meanwhile, what do you do to keep Windows XP running smoothly?

editing registry on windows xp to be continue update to 2019 by creating a POS machine

Microsoft have not supports Windows XP for the end user from the day 8/4. However, if you are using winxp 32 bit, you do some steps to edit registry about 30 seconds to add time support update to 5 years.

• The First, Open Registry Editor (Regedit) and find to address HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\WPA.
• to create a new key and named is PosReady.
• The frame rights of the new key , to create a new DWORD and assign is 1
• Windows XP of you will be understood as a POS machine, so that it will continue to received the update of Microsoft to 2019

Upgrade From Windows XP To A Modern OS In 7 Simple Steps

If you’re still using Windows XP on your computer, stop it — right now. Windows XP has become so ancient and outdated that even Microsoft is pulling its extended support for it in a little over a month. In order to stay safe and get the most out of your computer, it’s important to upgrade to a newer operating system. If you’re unsure how to do this, just follow these steps.

Why Should You Upgrade From Windows XP?

Pick An Operating System

I would recommend Windows 8.1 to everyone upgrading from Windows XP as it’s the most supported Windows operating system, which gives you the latest features and security fixes. There are also plenty of behind-the-scenes improvements to Windows 8.1 over Windows 7, including some fixes that claim to improve performance on systems that use AMD Bulldozer-based processors.

However, it’s understandable if you don’t like the Modern interface (the tiles on the Start screen), so if you’d like to stick to something that looks more like Windows XP, then Windows 7 is your better bet. Honestly, if you’re still on Windows XP right now, then you’ll most likely feel at home the most with Windows 7.

If you don’t depend on Windows software and you’d like a free alternative, Linux is something to consider. If you don’t know much about Linux, it’s a good idea to check out how Linux differs from Windows for everyday tasks.

Download It

Once you’ve decided on the operating system that you want to use, you need to get it. It’s easy to download a copy of Windows 8.1. After you purchase a copy, Microsoft will allow you to download it in the form of either an installer or an ISO image file.

Either way works, really — the setup file is easier, but the ISO file will allow you to be more flexible. For example, you can download it on one computer, burn it, and use it on another computer or multiple other computers (provided you have bought licenses for all of them).

Getting a Windows 7 edition is more difficult because Microsoft no longer sells the operating system directly. Legal licenses are still obtainable via online retailers such as Amazon, NewEgg, and TigerDirect.

These will only be OEM versions, which means that each license can only be used once. The disc that comes with it can be used repeatedly, but you’re supposed to buy a new license each time you install. You’ll also have to wait for it in the mail — there’s no getting the license ahead of time and finding an installation ISO.

All Linux distributions have easy-to-reach download pages which let you retrieve the needed ISO image file.

Burn To Disc Or USB

If you have an ISO image of an operating system, you can burn it to a disc or write it onto a USB flash drive. We have a few articles on how to accomplish this, such as this guide for writing a Windows install image to USB, and this guide for writing a Linux image to USB.

Back Up Your Data!

Before you do any actual changes to your system, make absolutely sure that yourdata is backed up! It doesn’t matter how you do it, as long as you have a copy of everything you’ll possibly want to have in a different location that you can restore from.

While there is a seemingly infinite amount of options available for backups (including the manual way), I recommend using CrashPlan, an easy and complete cross-platform backup solution. You can get a one year license for 10GB of CrashPlan storage through the MakeUseOf Rewards program.

Install The New Operating System

Once everything is backed up, you can go ahead and perform the upgrade. Remember that on Windows you have the option to do a clean install, meaning that the upgrade will not just replace the operating system, but it’ll also wipe out all of your data to give you a clean start.

While it may not be as convenient to do, it’s a good idea if you want to get the optimal performance out of your system. A system installed via a clean install usually performs noticeably faster than a system that has been upgraded in-place.

Restore Your Data

When the operating system has been upgraded, you can start restoring all of your data from wherever you put your backups. This is usually done with the same method as you performed the backup. So if you used CrashPlan to back up, use it to restore.

Learn Your Way Around

Finally, now that you have everything restored, take some time to learn about the differences between Windows XP and your new system. The difference when using Windows 7 shouldn’t be drastic; the difference when using Windows 8 may be a little bit more due to the Modern interface.

You’ll be a lot happier with the operating system you’ve chosen to use if you actually know how to use it well. Some great places to check out are our Windows 8 Guideand Windows 7 Guide.

Conclusion

Do you know someone still using Windows XP or have you sworn by it yourself?

I can only repeat how important it is that people stop using Windows XP. Sharing this article with your friends who are still using the operating system will benefit everyone. Anyone not willing to budge, however, should at least bulletproof Windows XP from external threats.

Source: Makeuseof

Windows XP: What’s Happening To It Now?

Windows XP may be dead, but it’s not yet gone. Over 27% of computers connected to the Internet still run Windows XP. Here’s exactly what “end of support” means and what will happen to all those Windows XP systems now.

It’ll Continue to Run and Activate

Your computer clearly didn’t turn into a pumpkin at midnight on April 8, 2014. In fact, all those Windows XP computers will keep on chugging along just like they always would. The only noticeable difference you’ll see is a monthly pop-up message that will appear once per month. Even this message can be hidden, and it will only appear on home computers, not centrally managed business computers.

Microsoft will also continue to activate new installations of Windows XP. If you install a copy of Windows XP on a computer, you’ll have to go through the same activation process that checks with Microsoft to ensure you’re using “genuine” software and not a pirated version of Windows. Microsoft has announced they’ll continue to run the activation servers and everything will activate normally.

No Patches Mean More and More Holes

On April 8, Microsoft has stopped creating new security patches for Windows XP. Windows Update will continue to function and you’ll be able to install all the old security patches on new Windows XP systems, but Microsoft will stop working on new security patches. When someone finds a nasty hole in Internet Explorer that allows a web page to compromise you just by visiting it, Microsoft won’t patch it. Microsoft is throwing up their arms, saying they’re done with Windows XP, and moving on.

Windows XP systems will become increasingly vulnerable over time as more holes are discovered and not patched. Smart attackers have likely been holding back attacks until after April 8, waiting to exploit new flaws. If they exploited them earlier, Microsoft would fix them — but, if they exploit them now, they’ll be able to use those attacks against Windows XP systems forever.

XP is similar to Windows Vista, 7, and 8 in many ways, so attackers may even be able to look at Microsoft’s own security patches for modern versions of Windows and reverse-engineer attacks, finding new holes in Windows XP.

Microsoft has extended the support time frame for Windows XP several times — of course, they felt pressure to do so because of how long Windows Vista took to make and how poorly it was received — but they’re drawing a line in the sand and won’t extend it any longer.

Expensive Support For Organizations

Microsoft is still providing some support for Windows XP, but it will cost you. The “custom support” program costs about $200 per PC for the first year and more every year afterwards. Microsoft will fix problems rated “critical” and release patches for these users, while flaws rated “important” will only be patched if these users pay extra. Problems rated “moderate” and “low” aren’t patched at all.

This program is designed for large organizations who are still stuck on XP and can’t yet upgrade. They’re willing to pay big for the support and Microsoft will let them. If you’re a typical home user, these are absolutely not intended for you — you’d be better off buying a new PC than paying hundreds of dollars to Microsoft every year for a few scraps, anyway.

The high prices, harsh limitations, and increasing fees are designed to push organizations towards updating. Microsoft is done supporting Windows XP for free, but they’ll let slow-moving corporations and governments pay an engineering staff to work on it if they really want to. The UK government has paid millions of pounds for this support — they should have moved to upgrade from Windows XP sooner.

Phasing Out Software Support

New software will eventually stop supporting Windows XP. This is already happening — Microsoft’s own Office 2013 doesn’t run on Windows XP, while some already-released PC games don’t support Windows XP.

Windows XP is so widely used that most software will continue to support it unless there’s a good reason not to. Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Opera will all continue to support Windows XP with the latest versions of their browsers for now, while Microsoft will stop patching Internet Explorer.

Microsoft is obviously in more of a rush to bury Windows XP than anyone else, but their behavior sends a strong signal to other companies that Windows XP is on its way out. Most programs no longer support Windows 98 — Windows XP will one day have the same fate.

Realistically, we’re more likely to see more companies stop “officially supporting” Windows XP. Their programs may work on Windows XP because it’s so similar to modern versions of Windows, but they may not check how well it works or spend time fixing Windows XP-specific bugs.

Where This Leaves You

With the end-of-support date coming up, your Windows XP system will gradually become less secure. Yes, you can and absolutely should use an antivirus program — even Microsoft’s own free Microsoft Security Essentials antivirus will continue supporting Windows XP into 2015 — but an antivirus program is only part of a good security strategy. You should also ensure you’re using up-to-date, patched software- – and Windows XP just can’t be up-to-date, patched software anymore.

If you’re using Windows XP, be sure you’re using as much supported software as possible. Dump Internet Explorer for a secure browser like Chrome, Firefox, or Opera. Stop using Office 2003 and XP and at least use Office 2007 or 2010. You definitely shouldn’t be using Outlook Express either — if you love Outlook, be sure you’re using Outlook 2007 or later.

Keep all your software updated, especially browser plugins like Adobe Flash and Adobe’s PDF Reader. Uninstall Java if you don’t absolutely need it — if you don’t know whether you need it, you probably don’t.

Follow our guide to bullet-proofing that Windows XP system to ensure you’re as secure as possible.

Whatever your reason for still using Windows XP, it’s time to upgrade. If you don’t want to spend a dime, you can always try a Linux distribution like Ubuntu — it’s free and will be supported with security patches for years to come.

Source:makeuseof

How To Upgrade To Windows 8 From Windows 7 , XP And Vista

After the 1.24 Billion Hours of Public Testing in 190 Countries, Microsoft’s New Operating System Windows 8 is Officially Launched. So now it’s time to Upgrade to the Next Generation Operating System Windows 8.For Using Windows 8 you can do Clean Installation of Windows 8 or Upgrade from Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7 to Windows 8 .

There are Two ways of Upgrading to Windows 8 from from Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7 : 

1 – Electronics Software Download : In this Method we can Upgrade to Windows 8 without using Installation DVD. We can Direct Download Windows 8 Setup from Microsoft’s Website.

2 - Windows 8 Installation DVD : In this Method we upgrade to Windows 8 by using the Windows 8 Installation DVD.

Windows 8 System Requirements : 

• 1 GHz or faster processor 

• 1 GB RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit) 

• 16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit) 

• DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 10 or higher driver.

 Supported OS and Retainable Items :

• Windows 7 : Maintains Windows settings, personal files, and apps. 

• Windows Vista : Maintains the Windows settings and personal files. 

• Windows XP SP3 : Maintains just personal files.

Note - Before Upgrading to Windows 8 Save your all Important Data to an External Storage Device.

Method 1 - Electronics Software Download 

1 - Go to the Microsoft Website and Find the Details for Upgrading to Windows 8 at Special Price of just $39.99 .

2 - After Clicking on Download Pro for $39.99 a Pop of Windows8- UpgradeAssistant will Appear. Save and Run Windows8-UpgradeAssistant.exe . 

3 – Now Windows8-UpgradeAssistant will run a compatibility check to Inform you about compatible items, and incompatible items on your Computer for Windows 8. You can check full detail by Clicking on See compatibility details.

4 - After Checking System compatibility it will ask to choose what data you want to keep or import .If you are using Windows 7, then you could choose Windows Settings, Personal Files and Apps. But You can also Choose Nothing to Keep.

6 - You can also get Windows 8 Installation DVD by Paying extra $14.99 . Click on Checkout and Make the Payment through Credit Card or Paypal and fill Necessary Details.

7 - After Successfully completing your order You will get the billing Receipt and Windows 8 product Key through email.

8 - Now Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant will start downloading Windows 8 to your Computer. It will take some time to download the 2 GB file, depends on your Internet Speed.

10 - Now it will inform you about the things need attention before you can continue the Installation. First Uninstall incompatible items for Windows 8 and then click on Restart to continue the Installation. 

11 - Now you will get last change to make any changes in settings, If you are satisfied with your settings, then Just Click on Install and your Computer will Start Upgrading to Next Generation Operating System Windows 8.

12 - Done !

Method 2 - Windows 8 Installation DVD 

1 - First Insert the Windows 8 Installation Dvd into DVR Drive or Blu-ray reader and run the setup.exe file. 

2 - Windows 8 Setup will Start Preparing.

3 - Select Go to Online to install updates now and Click on Next.

4 - Enter the Product Key and Click on Next.

5 - Read and Accept the License Terams and Click on Accept. 

6 – Select Setting which you want to keep during the upgrade process and Click on Next.

7 - Now Microsoft will check that your system is ready for upgrade or not and inform you if any item is incompatible with Windows 8 .

8 - Uninstall the incompatible items and then Click on Install to Start Upgrade.

9 - Now installation process will Start, Wait for the installation process to finish. During installation process system will reboot several times.

Note - Please do not perform any other tasks and wait until the Windows 8 setup is completed. 

10 - Now Personalization Process begins, you can Personalize your computer in Same way we did during Clean Installation of Windows 8 . 

That’s It ! The upgrade has been performed, and your files, settings, and apps have been migrated according to your settings.

Is It a Bad Thing That Task Manager Says That You Are Peaking Your RAM?

Should you be worried if you find that your computer uses up almost all the RAM it has? Does such full usage show that it doesn’t have enough?

High memory usage isn’t always bad

You can usually tell when the high memory usage on your computer is the bad kind by looking at the hard disk indicator. If it is always lit and your computer is rather slow as well, it is a clear sign that you are running out of RAM for essential functions and your computer is trying to use your hard disk to compensate. If your computer isn’t actually slow, its high RAM usage habits shouldn’t worry you.

Disk caching

If you were to try a computer out with Windows XP and Windows 7 by turn, you’d find that Task Manager on Windows 7 usually shows far more RAM usage than Windows XP in similar configuration.

This doesn’t mean that Windows XP is a more efficient OS. It only means that while Windows 7 is designed for today’s new computers that have plenty of RAM, XP was designed for a time when RAM was expensive and in short supply in computers. If you were to try Windows 3.1, you would find that it only took up perhaps 8MB of RAM. These usage patterns only go to show that those operating systems were designed for basic performance on very rudimentary machines. They weren’t very efficient.

Since RAM is cheap and plentiful today, Windows 7 is designed to use whatever you have to spare to speed things along. This Windows performance feature is called Super Fetch. In an attempt to make your experience smoother, Super Fetch tries to predict what information you need even before you have asked for it. Linux has it, too. Older operating systems like Windows XP didn’t do this. They were less efficient.

Browsers

Many programs have their own software caches these days. If you open a page or two on Chrome or Firefox, you could see that it easily takes up 100MB of your RAM. This doesn’t show that the webpage has that much data. It only means that your browser tries to store every page you visit in its cache so that pressing the Back or Forward buttons takes you to older pages quickly.

Unused RAM can be a bad thing

When Task Manager in Windows shows that you constantly have gigabytes of RAM to spare, it doesn’t mean that the RAM is all very ready to soup up your program launches in a way that it couldn’t if your RAM was always full. If you have lots of empty RAM all the time, it only means that you’ve bought more than you could ever use.

If your RAM is always peaked, it doesn’t slow your program launches. When a program needs your RAM, that’s a priority function and your OS will quickly clear RAM up for it. If your computer doesn’t seem exceedingly slow, you needn’t worry about how much RAM you use.

Source:pcunleashed.com

How to Set Up an Ad Hoc Network on Windows Platforms

Anyone who has ever had a frustrating time finding an Internet connection has probably come across the option to create an ad hoc network. What does this mean? Ad hoc networks create a temporary wireless connection between computers or devices so that files or Internet connection can be shared. They are an excellent option when a router and established wireless network are unavailable. If your normal wireless network is experiencing problems, creating a temporary ad hoc network is a good solution until your regular connection is restored. It is also possible to connect the computers without an external wireless connection. This option would be used to share files between the machines.

1. From the Start menu, select “Connect to” and then “Set up a connection or network.” You can also access this menu from the Control Panel.

2. Choose “Set up a wireless ad hoc (computer-to-computer) network.” If you would like to control the number of users or the network’s security, you can require networked computers to have a password in order to access the ad hoc network.

3. Connect other devices to the ad hoc network. On the remaining computers or devices connecting to the ad hoc network, click on “View available wireless connections” from the network options.

4. Select the recently created ad hoc network from the list of available networks. Click the “Connect” option. It will appear in the same list as other wireless networks. If necessary, enter the password or other security information.

If prompted to enter a network key, type the same key as was used on the first computer.

At this stage, the connection should be complete and you should see it indicated on your taskbar.

Note: Ad hoc networks are automatically deleted when the person who set up the network disconnects or after everyone using the network disconnects.

Source:pcunleashed.com