Mark 'expert' Lawrenson Posted 2 March 2014 Share Posted 2 March 2014 Having received the email from Microsoft regarding the end of Windows XP support this coming April, I was wondering will this affect many people on here? No more software updates etc will have a serious effect on the security of my PC so I am told. Looks like a new PC will be required. Anyone else in the same boat? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beliall Posted 2 March 2014 Share Posted 2 March 2014 I crap load of gamers. Would it not be cheaper to get windows 7? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark 'expert' Lawrenson Posted 2 March 2014 Author Share Posted 2 March 2014 I crap load of gamers. Would it not be cheaper to get windows 7? Could well be, my PC is old and I know I need a new one but did not want to have to buy one yet. Windows 7 is supposed to be better than 8? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristianity77 Posted 2 March 2014 Share Posted 2 March 2014 Windows 7 whilst a hell of a lot newer does play quite nicely with older hardware so you might be surprised. What sort of specs do you have? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beliall Posted 2 March 2014 Share Posted 2 March 2014 I have win 7. But severel people I know have 8 on theirs. They often come to me with their pc problems and I hate trying to fix things on win8. No start button for starters. And the totally frustrating screen switching its so wierd. Plus microsoft darent even use it to demo xone games at last years e3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark 'expert' Lawrenson Posted 2 March 2014 Author Share Posted 2 March 2014 Windows 7 whilst a hell of a lot newer does play quite nicely with older hardware so you might be surprised. What sort of specs do you have? To be honest I am a computer novice, I switch it on and it works, but I do worry about security. My PC is embarrassingly about 8 years old, as for spec I am not sure, I know I put in the maximum memory, which I cannot now remember the size of! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
separator Posted 2 March 2014 Share Posted 2 March 2014 You could always install a version of Linux on an old PC, a free operating system. Does pretty much everything Windows does, regularly updated, free to download. You will need a certain level of pc knowhow to install and get it configured but its not that difficult. I run Linux Mint on my laptop, having replaced Windows 7 http://www.linuxmint.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark 'expert' Lawrenson Posted 2 March 2014 Author Share Posted 2 March 2014 I have win 7. But severel people I know have 8 on theirs. They often come to me with their pc problems and I hate trying to fix things on win8. No start button for starters. And the totally frustrating screen switching its so wierd. Plus microsoft darent even use it to demo xone games at last years e3 I looked at a lot of reviews of Win 8, a lot of complaints. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Horse's Mouth Posted 2 March 2014 Share Posted 2 March 2014 Go with 7 unless you like the tablet feel. Linux is a good shout, i switched to that on my old PC because Vista drove me insane Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark 'expert' Lawrenson Posted 2 March 2014 Author Share Posted 2 March 2014 You could always install a version of Linux on an old PC, a free operating system. Does pretty much everything Windows does, regularly updated, free to download. You will need a certain level of pc knowhow to install and get it configured but its not that difficult. I run Linux Mint on my laptop, having replaced Windows 7 http://www.linuxmint.com/ All good till I read PC knowhow! I do most of what I used to do on my PC on my IPad mini now, but still need ithe PC occasionally for the family to use, printing stuff off for school etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark 'expert' Lawrenson Posted 2 March 2014 Author Share Posted 2 March 2014 Go with 7 unless you like the tablet feel. Linux is a good shout, i switched to that on my old PC because Vista drove me insane Cheers, 7 or Linux seem to be the general favourites and looks best to avoid 8. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
separator Posted 2 March 2014 Share Posted 2 March 2014 Cheers, 7 or Linux seem to be the general favourites and looks best to avoid 8. With Linux you download a DVD image (basically the data that you get on a CD or DVD you buy from the shops) then burn it onto a blank DVD. You then install it like you would a Windows disc. It asks a few questions like name and location during setup. Once installed it has a full Office suite, media player and Firefox brower ready to go. Biggest problem with Linux is getting hardware drivers working (particularly Wireless adapters). Saying that I installed Linux Mint on my Samsung laptop and everything worked first time. It uses half the resources that Windows 7 does. If your not confident in installing an operating system then I probably would say look into buying a new pc / tablet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristianity77 Posted 2 March 2014 Share Posted 2 March 2014 Linux is good, but if your not comfortable really in the XP environment then Linux is quite difficult to get the hang of to start off with. Even with your PC as you say being 8 years old, it more than likely meets the requirements for Windows 7. Windows 7 itself you have to understand is well over 4 years old these days. As long as you have at least 1GB of memory and at least a 1Ghz CPU, you will be fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beliall Posted 2 March 2014 Share Posted 2 March 2014 With Linux you download a DVD image (basically the data that you get on a CD or DVD you buy from the shops) then burn it onto a blank DVD. You then install it like you would a Windows disc. It asks a few questions like name and location during setup. Once installed it has a full Office suite, media player and Firefox brower ready to go. Biggest problem with Linux is getting hardware drivers working (particularly Wireless adapters). Saying that I installed Linux Mint on my Samsung laptop and everything worked first time. It uses half the resources that Windows 7 does. If your not confident in installing an operating system then I probably would say look into buying a new pc / tablet thanks you. i have no idea why i didnt think of this. my friends laptop got wiped by his dad and he has no windows disc for it. ill install linux for him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark 'expert' Lawrenson Posted 2 March 2014 Author Share Posted 2 March 2014 With Linux you download a DVD image (basically the data that you get on a CD or DVD you buy from the shops) then burn it onto a blank DVD. You then install it like you would a Windows disc. It asks a few questions like name and location during setup. Once installed it has a full Office suite, media player and Firefox brower ready to go. Biggest problem with Linux is getting hardware drivers working (particularly Wireless adapters). Saying that I installed Linux Mint on my Samsung laptop and everything worked first time. It uses half the resources that Windows 7 does. If your not confident in installing an operating system then I probably would say look into buying a new pc / tablet Not confident at all tbh, probably will end up buying a new PC, have you any experience of Zoostorm ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
separator Posted 2 March 2014 Share Posted 2 March 2014 Not confident at all tbh, probably will end up buying a new PC, have you any experience of Zoostorm ? Never heard of them, I've always bought pc's or laptops from Amazon, Dell or Argos to be honest. Avoid Dell though, gone downhill over the last few years Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark 'expert' Lawrenson Posted 2 March 2014 Author Share Posted 2 March 2014 Linux is good, but if your not comfortable really in the XP environment then Linux is quite difficult to get the hang of to start off with. Even with your PC as you say being 8 years old, it more than likely meets the requirements for Windows 7. Windows 7 itself you have to understand is well over 4 years old these days. As long as you have at least 1GB of memory and at least a 1Ghz CPU, you will be fine. Thanks, I reckon I will end up eventually buying a new PC with windows 7. My current PC is so slow, though I think Norton is responsible or partly for the slowness. And my lack of memory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark 'expert' Lawrenson Posted 2 March 2014 Author Share Posted 2 March 2014 Never heard of them, I've always bought pc's or laptops from Amazon, Dell or Argos to be honest. Avoid Dell though, gone downhill over the last few years I was looking on Amazon and saw a Zoostorm PC with win 7, for a decent price, good reviews. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristianity77 Posted 2 March 2014 Share Posted 2 March 2014 Thanks, I reckon I will end up eventually buying a new PC with windows 7. My current PC is so slow, though I think Norton is responsible or partly for the slowness. And my lack of memory. Fair enough. But what you can also take into consideration is that your PC is probably slow now with XP because they get bogged down over the years if they haven't had a format and reinstall every so often. They can be put back quite easily to the state they were when you bought it, which would then make it as fast as it was before. Also, if your looking for a new machine, Ebuyer is always a good place to start. I've consistently found them to be one of the cheapest places to go. http://www.ebuyer.com/store/Computer/cat/Desktop-PC?limit=30&page=1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DB11 Posted 2 March 2014 Share Posted 2 March 2014 Not confident at all tbh, probably will end up buying a new PC, have you any experience of Zoostorm ? Zoostorm is a good brand. Reliable, generic and good for an average user. "just works" comes to mind Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark 'expert' Lawrenson Posted 2 March 2014 Author Share Posted 2 March 2014 Fair enough. But what you can also take into consideration is that your PC is probably slow now with XP because they get bogged down over the years if they haven't had a format and reinstall every so often. They can be put back quite easily to the state they were when you bought it, which would then make it as fast as it was before. Also, if your looking for a new machine, Ebuyer is always a good place to start. I've consistently found them to be one of the cheapest places to go. http://www.ebuyer.com/store/Computer/cat/Desktop-PC?limit=30&page=1 Thanks for all the advice, my PC has never had a reinstall. I will have a look on ebuyer for a new PC. Zoostorm is a good brand. Reliable, generic and good for an average user. "just works" comes to mind Thanks, that confirms what most of the reviewers put on amazon, I don't use my PC for playing games, and I would definitely fall into the average user category. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
separator Posted 2 March 2014 Share Posted 2 March 2014 Thanks, I reckon I will end up eventually buying a new PC with windows 7. My current PC is so slow, though I think Norton is responsible or partly for the slowness. And my lack of memory. Use a free anti-virus like Avast. Not as bloated as McAfee or Norton so wont slow your system down. Will do the same job and is updated regularly http://www.avast.com/en-gb/index Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark 'expert' Lawrenson Posted 2 March 2014 Author Share Posted 2 March 2014 Use a free anti-virus like Avast. Not as bloated as McAfee or Norton so wont slow your system down. Will do the same job and is updated regularly http://www.avast.com/en-gb/index Bloated is a good word to describe Norton, thanks for the help and advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DB11 Posted 2 March 2014 Share Posted 2 March 2014 My preferred anti virus is AVG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beliall Posted 2 March 2014 Share Posted 2 March 2014 i got macafee with my sky subs so i use that now, used to use avast though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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