I have XP too and really don't have the memory to upgrade. My box computer has been ill since my best friend put a wireless card into my computer. WWIII broke out in my computer because he didn't read the fine print. Wasn't for use on any computer running XP. OOPPS!! THANKS for the post on Bob Rankin. I will send the info to my 'not always so correct' best friend who maintains my computer. I have McAfee, which is NOT very friendly with older computers. I don't go to any blogs. It is so easy to pick up a virus. GOOD LUCK to all.

McAfee isn't too friendly with any computer, the first thing I do at home is uninstall it (we do that at work as well). Windows Security from Microsoft is free and works great. You can go into your settings and see if there have been restore points set and if so you can restore it back to before he installed the card. The card might be still in there but the software will no longer be installed. Its one of the best things Microsoft ever came out with. My old XP had been stollen, sold to a pawn shop and the resold. I managed to track it down, the pawn shop had to go and get it back but said the new user had wiped all of my stuff off of the machine. I took it home, had it to use the restore point from before it was stollen and all of my stuff was back onto my laptop. It was great.

Has anyone used Ubunto? It's free and I think really great. I just installed it on a very old computer with XP and it lets you either use Ubunto or Windows. I installed the wubi installation and used the 32 bit download because of the size of my computer memory and it installs itself basically. This is the third old computer we have installed with this system or whatever you call it. I love it. They have excellent security built into the program so no need to have or pay for anything else. It is like Apple with everything just a little different but it has turned three computers into a safe and easy alternative for me. Now I have computers on all three floors!!! Came in handy when my cousin was in the hospital and now that I am confined to one room with our dog after his knee surgery.
The HP I am using now would over heat and shut down, I just barely got my stuff of it but it has been great now. I still have to watch when playing videos but that's it! We have put it on two laptops and now the one desktop. You are right that not all programs work on it but if you have Windows still available you can just download on that half of the computer or leave those programs on it. No need to buy any programs for Word or anything as they come with it. Hope you find this helpful. You can donate or not it's up to you. http://www.ubuntu.com/download/deskt...u-with-windows

Good Luck,
Lisa

I haven't used a XP computer in years. It was very easy for malware, virus, and spyware to get in XP. I wouldn't use XP to go online at all now that there is no protection. Hackers know this and are just sitting there grinning.

I have 2 computers with XP..my problem is that it is the only system compatible with my card reader that came with my embroidery machine and of course the company that produced the software no longer updates..so if I go down then I will be totally up the creek..but then again I just might have to convince my hubby I need a new embroidery machine that has a USB connection...This might work out after all...lol

XP will continue working - the main issue is security, if you do online banking etc you will be vunerable!!!!

We bought a refurbished computer with Windows 7 ultimate(or something like that), there's no way we want to buy a new computer with Windows 8 and all of it's problems, and in a couple years have it be obsolete, which is what they're planning on doing, according to some research that my dh did, in 3 more years(I think), Windows 8 won't have any support either.

***
*** Same here with keeping it and being careful.
*** I like XP.
*** Can't afford a new system on my income.
***

Getting refurbished computer and new printer. I want my PC for certain things that I have to work on, so had my computer guy order it and he will take care of the transfer from old to new computer. My PC was ten years old and was hanging together with a thread, so I'm glad to replace it.