[NLRS] Still running XP AND You had an auto update?

[Zack Widup]

My old computer died a couple weeks ago. Motherboard failure. It was
about time to get another one, anyway. My old machine ran Win XP and
the new one came with Win 7 Pro 32-bit.

I've been using Windows 7 at work for several years so I'm pretty
familiar with it. I knew I was going to have trouble getting some of
the programs that ran on Win XP to run on Win 7. Actually, I was told
that I was going to have a lot better luck if I kept the 32 bit
version.

Only one program wouldn't run at all. I was able to get an updated
version that would work on Win 7. In the case of several others, they
would run fine if I ran them as an administrator but would crash if I
tried to run them not as an administrator. And one had a really weird
problem. It would not access data files if they were in a folder that
had one or more spaces in its name. So I shortened the name of the
data folder to have no spaces and it works OK.

Getting HDSDR and SDR# running was a bit of a challenge but I managed
to get those going so my SDR radios work.

I have not used Internet Explorer for many years. My favorite is
Mozilla Firefox. I just downloaded and installed the update for
Firefox version 29. It has some significant changes from earlier
versions of Firefox. I like it! I think it is the best version of
Firefox so far.

So that's my story.

73, Zack W9SZ


On 5/1/14, Doug Reed <n0nas at amsat.org> wrote:
>
>
> So far I'm resisting updating to Win7 or Win 8. I'll probably switch
> all the way to Linux first, but I am still using Win XP SP3 on a
> number of computers. And a friend is still using it on over 40 remote
> computers. But they are fairly safe since they are never used for
> browsing.
>
> A report issued about 2 months ago said that 95% of the usual threat
> vectors is solved by changing your standard user login to be a Limited
> User rather than an Administrator. This fix is supposed to fix 100% of
> the threats to IE8. I've done this and my only problem is needing to
> reboot and login as Admin if I want to install something. And
> remembering the new Admin password.  :-(
>
> Other recommendations have been to install Firefox or Chrome as your
> main browsers and NEVER use IE8 if possible. Other recommendations
> have been to uninstall the JAVA compiler if you don't need it,
> especially any old versions that might have been installed. Java
> Script is built into your browsers and is so heavily relied on for web
> sites that it is almost impossible to browse with Java script
> disabled. But I do run both NoScript and RequestPolicy in my browsers.
> It is cumbersome and annoying, but does eliminate pop-ups on just
> about every web site I use.
>
> It has been recommended to remove Flash if you don't use it and
> especially to remove Adobe Reader and use something else since too
> many Adobe products have security holes or excess features that are
> not required. I haven't managed to get rid of Flash, but I do keep it
> updated. I did stop using Adobe Reader two years ago. I was using
> Foxit Reader until they recently started installing extra junk. I now
> am using the free and open source SumatraPDF reader instead. There are
> many others. I use PDFcreator to print documents and web pages to PDF
> format.
>
> There have been many exploits against MS Word and Office products and
> it has been suggested that it might be safer to start using Libre
> Office instead, assuming it will work for your needs. Else keep your
> MS Office support programs as up to date as possible. It sounds like
> the exploits are even present in support programs like MS document
> viewers and converter programs because they tend to use the same code
> base in each of them.
>
> Another security podcast said that just because the last official
> update was two weeks ago, that doesn't make Win XP automatically a bad
> OS since MS never patched every problem and only patched once a month
> anyway. So after you start using Limited User accounts, you can start
> switching from MS programs and utilities to alternate vendors and
> programs. Just because MS stopped updating their programs doesn't mean
> that Adobe, Mozilla, Google and others have stopped updating their
> software for Win XP....
>
> The main Internet threat I'm worried about getting is still the Crypto
> Locker malware that encrypts all your hard drives. I usually have 6-8
> TB of data online at any time and I'd hate to loose it. I'm seriously
> considering changing to a different computer for my browsing, one with
> limited local storage, so that if I do get infected, I can't be
> seriously hurt. I might be able to do the same by switching to a
> Virtual Machine for browsing, but that is a longer learning curve than
> just using a separate computer for my browsing....
>
> That's my twenty-five cents worth.... Just remember, free advise is
> worth what you
> paid for it....
>
> 73, Doug Reed, N0NAS.
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