OT: Don't Buy XP Home

[Fyron]

If you are considering purchasing XP Home Edition, it would be a very bad idea at this point in time. As of Dec. 31st, 2006, it will get no more security updates or any other updates:


"For consumer products, security updates will be available through the end of the mainstream phase. For Windows XP Home Edition, there will be no security updates after 12/31/06." Regarding paid support for problems unrelated to security patches, I was told that "Users who want to continue to receive support after the Microsoft assisted and paid support offerings have ended may visit the Retired Product Support Options Web site."



http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060103-5891.html

Either wait for this to be satisfactorily resolved, or purchase XP Pro instead, which will continue to recieve mainstream support for 2 additional years, then it goes into a 5 year "extended support" phase where it gets only security updates. MS will probably change this policy once bad PR starts building up, but it isn't IMO worth the risk purchasing XP Home for now.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

...I knew I should have built the time machine, instead of the teleporting lawn chair.

[Atrocities]

Post about the other discovery you made tonight Fyron... about the new flaw in MS OS.

[Fyron]

I didn't "discover" it, I just pasted it from a RSS feed I read.


A newly-reported flaw in the way Windows handles images was successfully exploited over the New Year's weekend, and no official patch is yet available from Microsoft. The problem stems from the way that Windows deals with .WMF (Windows Metafile) images; a maliciously crafted image can execute code on any Windows system, including XP SP2. All that's required to trip the payload is viewing a .WMF image locally or on the web.



http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060102-5876.html

[Atrocities]

Ooops, good point, I must improve my communication skills..

By discover I mean he uncovered the information and informed us.

[Suicide Junkie]

I love not being vulnerable to all the new crap.

98se dosen't have that buggy MWF support by default.

[Baron Munchausen]

All versions of Windows have this vulnerability. Even Windows 3.1 from the days before Microsoft had even noticed the internet! It's not truly a 'bug' but an intentional feature of Windows. It's actually possible to make code function calls from a WMF file because WMF files were designed for fancy functionality, but without any thought for security. This is yet another lesson on Internet Exploder. Don't Use It, Mmm'kay? People who surf with a non-Microsoft browser are dramatically less vulnerable. You can still be sent an email with a trojan in it, but at least you won't infect yourself in routine surfing.

[Suicide Junkie]

But only if you have a MS viewer to load those WMF files.

Basic 98se + irfanview to look at the files with dosen't get owned.

http://blog.ziffdavis.com/seltzer/archive/2006/01/03/39684.aspx

[PvK]

Good link, SJ, thanks.
(PvK remains content with Win98SE and Win2KPro at home; sees no reason to join the XP Borg 'cept at work. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif )

[Fyron]

This may have been resolved:

The good news is that Microsoft appears to be making an exception to the way it normally treats "consumer products," and has explicitly extended Windows XP Home support to "two years after the next version of this product is released," that is, two years after the release of Windows Vista.

article (http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060112-5970.html)

[Atrocities]

Well now, looks like Microsoft upset its larger comsumer base and decided to do a think of thier SOP.

[Xrati]

"THINK" and "MICROSOFT" should never be used in the same sentence. Watch your grammar AT.

[SpaceBadger]

Hi, y'all. I just dropped back in this evening to search for an old thread w/ some comments by Fyron about fine-tuning XP, and here y'all are talking about it right now. Whaddyaknow?

So far I've taken the approach that PvK and SJ espouse above, sticking w/ Win98SE on all of my machines because it does what I need it to do and I've seen no reason to move to XP. Except that now my boys have a couple of games that need XP to run, plus they have some Christmas money that they'd like for me to use to put XP on their machines, so I guess the time has come.

So it looks like I should buy XP Pro (and I think that is what Fyron had recommended before, in that old thread I was coming here to re-read), but are there different variations of that? Seems like last time I checked TigerDirect they had several different XP Pro packages listed. I've also been told that I should get the "corporate" version of XP Pro because that doesn't do all of the "phone home" crap, but have not had much luck on finding out where to get this.

Also, where is a good place to buy it from? Any recommendations on that?

Also, Fyron, I think you mentioned before doing a lot of fine-tuning to XP Pro to make it work a lot better than it would right out of the box; can you point me to any good site or FAQ w/ instructions/suggestions on that fine-tuning?

And regarding this WMF exploit, would it be useful to just remove the file associations that go with that extension, so that if you run across one it wouldn't open/display? Or would IE try to display it anyway, thereby running the embedded virus?

[Fyron]

Space Badger! Now that's a name I haven't seen in a while.

You can only legitimately get a corporate version if you are in a corporation that has purchased a volume licensing scheme. Or maybe a school or other big organization. You won't find it for single license sale legally anywhere.

I believe there is a patch out for the WMF exploit.

I lost my links to optimization sites on dead hdd. Someone else will have to post something.

[SpaceBadger]

Howdy, Fyron. Thanks for the info. I'll hunt a bit more for that old thread and link it from here if I find it; I think you gave a few site links in that thread.

I haven't played any Space Empires online since Kwok's Aldan Galaxy game folded, and my boys got interested in other games, so I only play the occasional solo game against the AI nowadays. I was glad to see I still have an account on this board, since it has probably been over a year since I logged in here.

Anybody still playing SEIV, or have y'all moved on to SEV now? I haven't bought that yet, since I was still getting good enjoyment out of SEIV but not really playing it much.

[SpaceBadger]

Oops, browsing some other threads I see that SEV still hasn't been released yet, so I guess that is another reason that I haven't bought it. *g*

[Captain Kwok]

Actually, Space Empires V is not out yet... perhaps later this year. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[narf poit chez BOOM]

New people coming in...Old people coming back (Hi Badger)...

It's beginning to feel a lot like Space Empires Five...

[SpaceBadger]

Hey, Narf. Any ETA on SEV, or is it just "when it's done"?

[Captain Kwok]

The ETA is when it's done. February used to be a date mentioned, but that's very unlikely.