Support for Windows XP is ending soon

Hi Brian,

Welcome to the business world, luckily you got a PC that might work for you! In my case, i already have planned ahead of that got three PCs with Windows 7 in them, one was as I thought was an ACER Laptop, I bombed out with two other replacements for the same thing as the disk controller was fried, and on the third one, I got a Compaq CQ-62 Laptop and it bombed out also losing its DVD drive, and I now have its replacement Compaq notebook with Windows 7. I finally got lucky with it yet I had to add a second 2 GB DDR3 memory to it and replaced its slow spinning 250 GB 5400 RPM  WD drive for a 500 GB 7200 RPM Seagate drive to make perform for me. Best Buy, Staples, Office Supply or Office Depot are not in the business in checking out whether the PC or notebook is good or bad before you buy it, it is up to the buyer after the fact you spend the money first and send it back to them IF it is bad. Rebates are only valid from the store where you got the notebook only if it is from that store. Otherwise it is a scam! I am not afraid of losing support of my six PCs with Windows XP, I already have its software and installer programs and drivers I need, and a hundered and fifty backups of it all! The only thing I WISH is Microsoft would do is merge the versions of Windows all together, some of it is left out of 7 and 8.21 whatever NEW they create! That is their way of doing business and we all have to suffer from it. I already lost the 566i e machine, the 400idx e machine. the Gateway L1PC1 PC, the T2862 e machine and the T3612 e Machine PC Towers because they were now diansaurs. I had Windows XP in them all as upgrades. The T3612 was very special to me it ran both on Windows Vista and Windows XP as a dual OSes... Since then, I have the newer PCs and with two refurbished PCs I can work with taking apart and putting back together again with MY VERSION of XP PRO and 7 by adding to them the previous software from 98, 2000, XP and Vista. NOBODY has. and it is better than 8.1 any day! And just recently as a few days ago last week, I ordered and got a new refurbished PC tower and I am currently got it UP to my standards but it is NOT finished with it yet. I may not be IT savvy guy but I am savvy enough in getting it all together as hardware and software, Is like filling in the blank slots and the bays as to be MY type of PC... I wont boast about any notebook, they do not qualify in my book, whatever how you have them or what is in them. to me they are a poor excuse of a PC mid tower! And have one costing me a grand is how I ordered it special, and it had half what I put into it as drive space and memory. The new notebook PC do not even have an express card slot in them,  and full 8 GB of memory. It is NO contest to a PC tower! However since I have three notebooks in my network, I have them working better than whence I got them! I am out for blood or WAR when it comes to hardware, but Software is a sore issue any way you slice it. ONCE it is programmed right, it does not need updates like Windows has so many of, (183 in SP3). The theory is: programming is an exact science, Microsoft made it NOT! There are too many variants and there are too many different configurations of which comonents that are inside both the PC towers and notbooks, there cannot be ONE version for all PCs. The users all have different needs also complicate this equation, YOUR uses for a PC is not the same with mine or have the same equipment attached to it to accomplish the task in hand. IF Microsoft added up all the versions they have created without duplicate any part of it it would be about 4 GB worth, but it still needs about at least 20 GB Page file to operate 7 or 8.1 without pegging the CPU frequency meter! THAT part you as as a user ought to know! Anything less you might fry the processor as my brother has. I still call him on that one! And he fries three of his mice, (Three blind mice) sort of thing by attaching the wrong AC adaptor to a USB hub!  then he asks if I have a spare mouse and i willingly give him one since he gave me the first three of the PCs I mentioned above.

From Edmond, The Hardware and Software engineer.

Hi. Well my pc is new. And it has XP on it too. And I got a backup retail XP waiting to put on it. That will happened when this laptop I'm using breaks down. But I'm in no hurry for it to do that. I have Windows 95,98 and 2000. You can get Windows 2000 on Ebay. And it's a for real copy. So I'm prepared for XP Doomsday. I play old games and XP and 98 are good for that. Sorry I don't like Windows 7. I'm hoping they make a Windows XP Second Edition. Same look and feel. But updated underneath. And make sure it plays old games. And run old software.

DOES NO ONE SEE HOW THIS IS ASKING THE IMPOSSIBLE!?

Updated Windows exists. It's called Windows Vista, 7, 8 and 8.1.

Old programs work because they rely on the way older versions of Windows worked or certain bugs/memory layouts of older versions of Windows. Asking for updated Windows while maintaining old software compatibility (beyond what Microsoft already does) is an oxymoron since by asking for updates, you are asking for Windows to be changed, which breaks these apps.

I'm sorry your pet app isn't working on modern Windows. If the dev is still around, ask them to update the app for modern versions of Windows. If not, well, you've had over five years to find replacements at this point. Heck, even before that, the end of life for XP was known and Microsoft give extensions... twice!

The interface questions are valid (presuming you actually spent more than a few days learning the newer versions, as you would anything new, right?), but we all know it's never going to happen. I dislike the XP interface. It was fine in the mid-2000s, but Windows 7 and up have it beat in my opinion.

Hi Shadow1429,

Let's say you get two PCs up and working at a time connected wired or wireless, and combine PLUS! from Windows 98 to XP, can you do it? It is simple as COPY from ONE to Paste to the other. OR use a CD as the GO between, which is faster, Wired or WIRELESS? When you do, you can add themes to Windows XP that were NOT there before:

1. From the PC that has 98: go to: "C:\Program Fles/PLUS!"
2. Copy the entire folder, or you can customize it first,
3. Then paste it the PC the same exact place onto the PC with Windows XP

That is as simple as that, With an 'EASY Transfer USB to USB cable' it is quicker! I have one from Targus for about $35.00 A network router e cable is double the speed as wireless at 54MHz, at 100MHz. A CD takes an hour to burn and verify, good luck! IN my case the "Plus!" folder is one DVD's worth at 4.3GB and you may use an 8 GB flash drive to transfer with also. Of course I made my own themes and BMP files take up a lot of disk space! YOU then filter out the cursors and copy to the Cursor folder inside Windows, and the ,wav (sound), into the Media folder, also inside of Windows folders and the Fonts, but they may already be there. THE "SEND To" folder is the best way if you know how to access it and where it is. It is in your USER Profile folder and you can add ANY shortcut to it! THEN you see from the right mouse button its long list of shortcuts as to those you also added.

IS HOW I got started by expanding to my version of Windows. It ist not that TRicky300 Dickie to do! I copied to CD first and pick it off by filetype... However as anyone wants to admit, by using the desktop Properties in XP, you can assemble the inital PLUS! themes the same way by selecting it and applying it, and that works for me! By saving it,YOU have it also on XP, that is what I am raving about that is NOT on or in windows 8 but also in Vista or 7. The Screen savers all do not work because they are in DOS with the invisible man! I'll keep it short, you can do the rest yourself but it is very tedious to do it right! I got Atari Themes from CD also to add and then I can Centipede and Battlezone and PONG! That's getting really acient! YOU may need a 50 GB partition for drive letter C afterwards including 4 GB as the first part of the page file out of 20 GB to go into second stage turbo with Windows XP that nobody knows about! AT least another internal HDD with four more partitions with 4 GB more page file each, that is A FACT! What you put on your HDD or in the partitions ys your business, it is a PLUS for you as combined drive space for you to use! A 500 GB drive yields 4 125 GB partitions or anyway that you want it. AS you add more drives or partitions to increase XP's page file in 20 GB incrments, your computing time drops a notch and your copy time goes faster for the same amout copying folders. ON the third internal HDD you better increase your memory or else it will peg the CPU frequency chart as seen in the Task Manager under the performance tab. Depending upom the PC tower, and its cage or bays you can add three HDDS and a DVD with its current power supply, with a rear case fan and a orocessor fan, otherwise it will overheat and dink out! YOU cannot rely on what is in the case from the factory without some additional hardware. Disk space is to PCs as HP is to cars! And the radiator fan better work!

Edmond, The Software Engineer