Replacement for Windows XP

[Cate Fox]

My (old) laptop runs on XP and support for this will cease next month. Can anyone recommend a replacement that isnt going to be huge on memory requirements and easy to install? I'm not sure the laptop could cope with Windows 7...

 

[spionfox]

Most flavours of a Linux based OS would be fine.

You can download a version that you can try from CD before installing to see if you will be happy with it. Ubuntu or Mint would be my recommendation.

 

[Cate Fox]

Cheers Spion - if I go with that and get on ok, how do I then remove XP?? :icon_bigg

 

[spionfox]

Linux will give you the option to remove all other OS and only have Linux if that is what you want. The CD install is incredibly user friendly

 

[Macky]

Why would you want to remove XP? The fact that Microsoft won't be offering support for it really won't make any difference to you at all

 

[Cate Fox]

No? I was just concerned that the updates would be stopping and I don't want to end up with something insecure...

 

[bocadillo]

No? I was just concerned that the updates would be stopping and I don't want to end up with something insecure...

You support City. How can anything be more insecure than that?

 

[Cate Fox]

You support City. How can anything be more insecure than that?

:icon_lol:

 

[Macky]

I was just concerned that the updates would be stopping and I don't want to end up with something insecure...

You don't need to remove XP altogether. If you download some Minty goodness and burn it onto a CD, you'll be able to install it alongside XP. Whenever you start up the laptop you'll be able to choose whether to boot into XP or into Mint. Choosing Mint will have your laptop running faster and better than it will ever have done in its entire existence.

 

[Joe_Fox]

How much RAM does your laptop have? I've got an old Dell Latitude with a meagre 1 gig of memory and that runs Windows 7 just fine. If you have less, which somehow I doubt, I'd stick with XP or upgrade to Windows 7.

 

[Jeff]

I bought a five year old computer on eBay on Saturday. It was running Windows 8.1 well enough. I installed Mint instead though, which was a dead easy process. The idiot who sold me the computer thought he could just install Windows 8 on it from the DVD that came with a new computer.

Anyone want to buy a genuine Windows 8 DVD (license not included)?

 

[M17TT C]

Stick with XP - if it's not broke then no need to fix it.

Stopping support is more of an issue for businesses and home users will be fine, especially if it is just an everyday browser/word processor.

 

[Cate Fox]

Thanks all for the advice - the minty goodness Macky mentions might be worth a shot

 

[Cate Fox]

Right, the barstewards have also discontinued Microsoft security essentials for Xp. I have downloaded avast! and avira, which seem to have decent reviews (and are free). Any preference as to which I should go with???

 

[Macky]

Right, the barstewards have also discontinued Microsoft security essentials for Xp. I have downloaded avast! and avira, which seem to have decent reviews (and are free). Any preference as to which I should go with???

AVG :icon_wink
All three are good though, just be sure to not install more than one antivirus. Ever.

 

[Cate Fox]

Cheers Mackster! I'll download it now and delete the software for the others :icon_wink

 

[spionfox]

AVG :icon_wink

+1

 

[Mawsley]

AVG :icon_wink

Why, out of interest?

 

[Macky]

Why, out of interest?

Purely from personal preference. It's free, it does an excellent job without crippling your PC and without nagging you to upgrade to their chargeable version.

 

[Mawsley]

Purely from personal preference. It's free, it does an excellent job without crippling your PC and without nagging you to upgrade to their chargeable version.

I've always used Avast for the free aspect and the lack of noticeable footprint. It must do a decent job as I've never noticed it but I'll take AVG into consideration when the kids get theirs.