26 replies to this topic

[Frylock86]

There have been two new releases of the Windows operating system since the release of Windows XP in 2001, yet XP market share is still predominantly ruling the market. Since the release of Windows 7, some people have decided to move but others haven’t.

Some may argue that it’s only a matter of time before those on XP are pushed to Windows 7 when Microsoft discontinues support for the product, but an online survey done by Dimension Consulting on behalf of Dell's Kace systems management appliance business found that this may not be the case.

Zdnet reported the results which found that 48 percent of participants would continue to use XP even after it stops receiving support, including no further security updates. XP will stop receiving support after April 8, 2014, which leaves plenty of time to upgrade. This raises the question, why are people so anxious to stay? On the flip side, 47 percent responded by saying they would upgrade when XP support is gone. The final 5 percent of people said they would continue to use XP but with third-party support.

Although a large amount of people said they would upgrade from XP, the survey also suggested that a large majority would skip Vista and go straight to Windows 7. Vista was never a big hit with companies in the past, and it actually was more rather a huge failure with companies as Vista was never properly adopted by them. The success of Windows 7 and flop of Vista would convincingly explain why they would move straight to Vista, if the fact that it’s the newest version doesn’t serve enough precedence.

However, when questioned about Microsoft Office, 78 percent of the 953 participants said they would avoid Office 2010 mainly because of its ribbon interface although a third still said they would skip Office 2007 to upgrade to the 2010 version.

Source: http://www.zdnet.co..../?tag=mncol;txt


I have no words for this. This is disgusting plain and simple. These "IT pros" are guilty of malpractice. Who the hell wants to run a circa 2001 era OS past 2013/14? How is that going to even be possible?

[_akier_]

I have no words that can express what I have in mind right now...
O_O

[Elijah?]

Now those are some truly professional people. Truly professional. Gotta love using an insecure OS, leaving you vulnerable to a hell of a lot more than if you would learn to use a newer release... which you get used to in a matter of days.

[Villain]

I think that most people simply dont want to upgrade. The majority of these people probaly just use the computer for simply web surfing. You dont need a Windows 7 machine to fire up IE / Firefox / Chrome.

If it is a hardware issue, then the answer is simple. you can either...

a > Keep running XP

b > Install Linux (ubuntu perferred), then once you have everything working (internet, video...), sudo apt-get install wine

for solution b, people DO make graphical, easy to use scripts to help set up everything, including wine.

[Frylock86]

I think that most people simply dont want to upgrade.

Simply put though, it's not a matter of choice anymore. Newer hardware isn't meant to run it. And quite frankly, running a 2001 era OS on a 2011 network is laughable and embarrassing. It's not something to be proud of.

Edited by Frylock86, 02 November 2010 - 01:36 AM.

[Afzal]

I think that most people simply dont want to upgrade. The majority of these people probaly just use the computer for simply web surfing. You dont need a Windows 7 machine to fire up IE / Firefox / Chrome.

If it is a hardware issue, then the answer is simple. you can either...

a > Keep running XP

b > Install Linux (ubuntu perferred), then once you have everything working (internet, video...), sudo apt-get install wine

for solution b, people DO make graphical, easy to use scripts to help set up everything, including wine.

and then a person like me would come and tell them to run the following command in the terminal:

sudo rm -rf /home

Edited by Afzal, 02 November 2010 - 02:18 AM.

[Syzygy]

The upgrade of office would simply suggest that people would rather simplicity.

XP, although outdated is one of the most simple systems out there (graphically).

[MeToo]

Have you considered that you might be wrong?

First: That in some cases they can not update because of legacy hardware?

If a machine has a single stable function (and obviously is not connected to the Internet) there is NO reason to update the OS. Period.

I could provide several real world examples but I can see that it's pointless.

Second: In a controlled environment like a company where computers only have access to an intranet and no removable devices are allowed.

Updating an OS for tens or hundreds of PCs that are running perfectly and are not exposed to exploits makes no ECONOMICAL sense.

Keep riding the wave!

[Phenom II]

Have you considered that you might be wrong?

First: That in some cases they can not update because of legacy hardware?

If a machine has a single stable function (and obviously is not connected to the Internet) there is NO reason to update the OS. Period.

I could provide several real world examples but I can see that it's pointless.

Second: In a controlled environment like a company where computers only have access to an intranet and no removable devices are allowed.

Updating an OS for tens or hundreds of PCs that are running perfectly and are not exposed to exploits makes no ECONOMICAL sense.

Keep riding the wave!

Yea coz NO-ONE will ever use an infected flash drive on one of those out of date machines, and the infection will definitely not infect other machines on the network.....

Edited by Phenom II, 02 November 2010 - 10:57 AM.

[Villain]

Have you considered that you might be wrong?

First: That in some cases they can not update because of legacy hardware?

If a machine has a single stable function (and obviously is not connected to the Internet) there is NO reason to update the OS. Period.

I could provide several real world examples but I can see that it's pointless.

Second: In a controlled environment like a company where computers only have access to an intranet and no removable devices are allowed.

Updating an OS for tens or hundreds of PCs that are running perfectly and are not exposed to exploits makes no ECONOMICAL sense.

Keep riding the wave!

Yea coz NO-ONE will ever use an infected flash drive on one of those out of date machines, and the infection will definitely not infect other machines on the network.....

I have actually never heard of an infected flash drive. What have you been downloading? (or the owner of the flashdrive...)

[Villain]

I think that most people simply dont want to upgrade. The majority of these people probaly just use the computer for simply web surfing. You dont need a Windows 7 machine to fire up IE / Firefox / Chrome.

If it is a hardware issue, then the answer is simple. you can either...

a > Keep running XP

b > Install Linux (ubuntu perferred), then once you have everything working (internet, video...), sudo apt-get install wine

for solution b, people DO make graphical, easy to use scripts to help set up everything, including wine.

and then a person like me would come and tell them to run the following command in the terminal:

sudo rm -rf /home

oh you naughty monkey I bet your one of those people that tell people that to speed up the internet, press ALT + F4 when you have your browser open.

[Phenom II]

Have you considered that you might be wrong?

First: That in some cases they can not update because of legacy hardware?

If a machine has a single stable function (and obviously is not connected to the Internet) there is NO reason to update the OS. Period.

I could provide several real world examples but I can see that it's pointless.

Second: In a controlled environment like a company where computers only have access to an intranet and no removable devices are allowed.

Updating an OS for tens or hundreds of PCs that are running perfectly and are not exposed to exploits makes no ECONOMICAL sense.

Keep riding the wave!

Yea coz NO-ONE will ever use an infected flash drive on one of those out of date machines, and the infection will definitely not infect other machines on the network.....

I have actually never heard of an infected flash drive. What have you been downloading? (or the owner of the flashdrive...)

Really? Where have you been learning about security ?

Infected flashdrives are a very easy way to spread a virus.... cleverly known as an "autorun virus"


Why do you think Windows 7 disabled autorun in autoplay for removable devices ?

---
In order to help prevent malware from spreading (such as Conficker) using the AutoRun mechanism, the Windows 7 engineering team made two important changes to the product:

1. AutoPlay will no longer support the AutoRun functionality for non-optical removable media. In other words, AutoPlay will still work for CD/DVDs but it will no longer work for USB drives. For example, if an infected USB drive is inserted on a machine then the AutoRun task will not be displayed.

Source
http://blogs.technet...-windows-7.aspx
---


And why do you think AV's such as Avira disable autorun ?

[Villain]

Have you considered that you might be wrong?

First: That in some cases they can not update because of legacy hardware?

If a machine has a single stable function (and obviously is not connected to the Internet) there is NO reason to update the OS. Period.

I could provide several real world examples but I can see that it's pointless.

Second: In a controlled environment like a company where computers only have access to an intranet and no removable devices are allowed.

Updating an OS for tens or hundreds of PCs that are running perfectly and are not exposed to exploits makes no ECONOMICAL sense.

Keep riding the wave!

Yea coz NO-ONE will ever use an infected flash drive on one of those out of date machines, and the infection will definitely not infect other machines on the network.....

I have actually never heard of an infected flash drive. What have you been downloading? (or the owner of the flashdrive...)

Really? Where have you been learning about security ?

Infected flashdrives are a very easy way to spread a virus.... cleverly known as an "autorun virus"


Why do you think Windows 7 disabled autorun in autoplay for removable devices ?

---
In order to help prevent malware from spreading (such as Conficker) using the AutoRun mechanism, the Windows 7 engineering team made two important changes to the product:

1. AutoPlay will no longer support the AutoRun functionality for non-optical removable media. In other words, AutoPlay will still work for CD/DVDs but it will no longer work for USB drives. For example, if an infected USB drive is inserted on a machine then the AutoRun task will not be displayed.

Source
http://blogs.technet...-windows-7.aspx
---


And why do you think AV's such as Avira disable autorun ?

I must have missed that one. I heard that MS was disabling AutoRun, but i never thought of it for flash devices. Thanks!

[orcus]

I have actually never heard of an infected flash drive. What have you been downloading? (or the owner of the flashdrive...)

Are you kidding, Right?!!?!??

and then a person like me would come and tell them to run the following command in the terminal:

sudo rm -rf /home

No biggie if you have a backup; but, If I was you I would run this one....sudo rm -rf /*

[Afzal]

I think that most people simply dont want to upgrade. The majority of these people probaly just use the computer for simply web surfing. You dont need a Windows 7 machine to fire up IE / Firefox / Chrome.

If it is a hardware issue, then the answer is simple. you can either...

a > Keep running XP

b > Install Linux (ubuntu perferred), then once you have everything working (internet, video...), sudo apt-get install wine

for solution b, people DO make graphical, easy to use scripts to help set up everything, including wine.

and then a person like me would come and tell them to run the following command in the terminal:

sudo rm -rf /home

oh you naughty monkey I bet your one of those people that tell people that to speed up the internet, press ALT + F4 when you have your browser open.

haha actually I've never done this, a person I know told someone with a mac on a DC++ hub to run rm -rf /
lol...but dunno if he was bluffing (dunno about the privileges of a normal mac user)

[Villain]

I have actually never heard of an infected flash drive. What have you been downloading? (or the owner of the flashdrive...)

Are you kidding, Right?!!?!??

A flash drive to me is a personal object... NO ONE borrows my flash drive at all... It is like me asking you if i can borrow your PC's harddrive for *whatever* purpose. Your not going to let me borrow it. So why let some one borrow your flash drive?

Oh, and you can forget some one bringing there flash drive and they want to use it with my PC.. no way in hell.

[Phenom II]

Im not talking about borrowing flash drives - the employee of the company who uses his flash drive to take work home with him and use on his home PC, which is infected with an autorun virus is a very common scenario and one that would easily infect the XP machine back at work

It has nothing to do with letting anyone else near any machine - it only takes the sole user of the machine to infect the entire works network, because "someone" decided it was fine to leave out of date, unsupported operating systems running on the machines


OS's are dropped for a reason and new ones are made for a reason


It actually happened to me at my old job in a computer repair shop - I used my flash drive to install malwarebytes on an infected machine, forgot to scan the drive before plugging it into my work laptop which was on the work domain, and also managed to plug it into a brand new laptop that was going on display in the window

I successfully infected the majority of machines on the domain... a schoolboy error on my first week in a new job

Needless to say I was not the most popular person that day, and was given the fun job of reversing my mistake

Edited by Phenom II, 02 November 2010 - 06:58 PM.

[Afzal]

@phenom: moot point man, these days antiviruses detect that before the autorun is executed. (well i know about nod32)

[Phenom II]

Yea, as does Avira, the system I was using was running Avast 4 and it missed it - the new laptop I was also using had a trial of Norton, enough said about that... and the servers on the network had no AV installed... go figure