Windows XP vs Linux for office/web system?

[Erithan13]

I'm about to pickup a secondhand dell Optiplex 380 for use in a garage workshop, it is only for playing youtube/radio/spotify in the background and occasionally looking things up on the web, nothing demanding. It comes with XP installed which I know is well beyond being a relic at this point, but for my intended use is it going to be a major problem? Particularly the potential security issues since I may well be logging into hotmail etc with it and I don't want it vulnerable to malware (although I will be using firefox with adblock/noscript for browsing).

The other option is to consider Linux, I'm vaguely familiar with it from messing about with puppy linux a few years ago, although I also remember trying to set up a wifi dongle being absolutely nightmarish with that. From a quick search it seems mint is a good choice for straightforward installation and use. Any recommendations on what else to look at would be very welcome.

I'll be taking an image of the XP install for backup anyway, so I'll be free to experiment with anything else.

 

[Charlie98]

I have Linux Mint on my old laptop, it's not too bad. It seems a reasonably simple OS to learn on (my purpose for it,) but I, too, have a problem getting a wifi driver for the old system... it worked once, but this install doesn't want to get along with the card.

If you can refrain from checking your email and such, I don't see why XP wouldn't be a bad solution... just keep it off the rest of the home network.

 

[mikeymikec]

Bear in mind that with XP not being patched any more, its security isn't ideal. Also that some software makers are saying that their products won't work on XP now (has Chrome already gone down that road or have they announced that time is coming? I can't remember).

 

[LPCTech]

There are security holes in XP that will never be patched that the malware creators know about, when people train to be "hackers" or "pen testers" they practice on win XP.

It is the least secure system that you can use even with an anti malware program running.

Id go with Linux mint 17.3 (cinnamon)personally if I were in your position. As long as you have some minor knowledge of linux. Its a fully modern OS and few malwares run in linux anyway. (usually) Make sure that when you are installing it you have a network cable plugged in so it can get all the drivers it might need for wifi etc if you have that.

and @ above, yes chrome will no longer get any updates on win XP or Vista as of April 2016.

 

[1sikbITCH]

I can't speak for other linux operating systems but as a noob to linux Ubuntu didn't seem that foreign and I was able to learn it easily. I am sure there are other distros that have also become more "plug and play" as well over the years. I'm starting to realize I should see how the landscape has changed myself.

Ubuntu at least is self installing, has firefox and an office suite pre-loaded and the desktop will be familiar enough to work with. As you start clicking around you'll notice lacking functionality here and there compared to Windows but for free it's awesome.
You will still need to learn a couple of text commands to install some programs or features but it's free and you're not a moron. I install Kodi on my linux boxes (old computers I get from work) and use them as HTPCs.


Get a flash drive, unetbootin, and whichever linux you want to try out and you cant boot from the flash drive to see if you can work with it.

 

[1sikbITCH]

There are security holes in XP that will never be patched that the malware creators know about, when people train to be "hackers" or "pen testers" they practice on win XP.

It is the least secure system that you can use even with an anti malware program running.

Id go with Linux mint 17.3 (cinnamon)personally if I were in your position. As long as you have some minor knowledge of linux. Its a fully modern OS and few malwares run in linux anyway. (usually) Make sure that when you are installing it you have a network cable plugged in so it can get all the drivers it might need for wifi etc if you have that.

and @ above, yes chrome will no longer get any updates on win XP or Vista as of April 2016.

Thanks for the Linux Mint tip. Going to give it a go this weekend.

 

[VirtualLarry]

There are security holes in XP that will never be patched that the malware creators know about, when people train to be "hackers" or "pen testers" they practice on win XP.

It is the least secure system that you can use even with an anti malware program running.

Id go with Linux mint 17.3 (cinnamon)personally if I were in your position. As long as you have some minor knowledge of linux. Its a fully modern OS and few malwares run in linux anyway. (usually) Make sure that when you are installing it you have a network cable plugged in so it can get all the drivers it might need for wifi etc if you have that.

and @ above, yes chrome will no longer get any updates on win XP or Vista as of April 2016.

I agree with this. I've installed Linux Mint on quite a few systems, and it's easy to use, and quite nice overall. (Assuming that your hardware is supported, of course.)

It can be tricky to find USB Wifi dongles that work with Linux, though. Look through the reviews, see if they say anything about Linux compatibility, or even better, if the mfg provides Linux drivers. (Look at Edimax, for example.)

 

[SparkyJJO]

In a case like that I'd go Linux. Even if you know nothing of Linux or are like me and have a hard time wrapping your head around it for some reason, you're mostly doing web-based stuff anyway from what I gather and that won't really any different.

 

[Executioner]

Besides Linux Mint, there is also a lesser know one called Zorin. Almost looks like XP. You can change the desktop to make it look a lot like XP or 7.
http://zorinos.com/

 

[Red Squirrel]

I'd go with Linux, if one wont work with the wifi then just try another distro till you find one that works. I'd check Linux Mint first.

The issue with XP is that lot of programs will now refuse to even install on it. So it will end up being more hassle than it's worth to set it up.

As far as security, let's be real, no OS is 100% secure. In 10 years from now we'll be talking about Windows 7 the same way we're talking about XP now, when it comes to security. Keep stuff behind a NAT firewall at all times.

 

[SPBHM]

Linux I think is better for web browsing, Chrome seems to perform better in it (at least on my t7200/GMA 950) than XP, also it's safer.

but on windows you can use MS office without problems, which is a big advantage, and it's all much easier to use and install if you are a long time windows user.
if you use a firewall and A/V with win xp you should be good,

 

[matricks]

I don't want it vulnerable to malware

These are your words. Running unmaintained software on an Internet connected device means you will have vulnerabilities that will never be fixed. XP is already dead, and applications are dropping support for it. Chrome dropped support last year. Firefox still supports XP, and no end-of-life date has been announced. Eventually Firefox will drop support as well. Even though Noscript and an ad blocker will prevent many attacks after that (provided that you don't let through malicious scripts, obviously), you'll eventually end up with a browser that won't be fixed. Also, keep in mind that malware doesn't only exist on shady free porn websites. Any site, be it ********.xxx, hotmail.com or yahoo.com, can serve malware unknowingly (see: How Forbes inadvertently proved the anti-malware value of ad blockers). You can't just run Noscript and allow everything on a site (as Noscript will break some sites) just because the site is well known.

As far as security, let's be real, no OS is 100% secure. In 10 years from now we'll be talking about Windows 7 the same way we're talking about XP now, when it comes to security. Keep stuff behind a NAT firewall at all times.

Yes, we will eventually talk about Windows 7 like we talk about XP today. Would you buy a car that is 100% rusty as your daily driver today? A new car will eventually be just as rusty, so is it reasonable to just buy the rust heap to avoid surprises? Seatbelts don't make you invulnerable in a car accident, but that isn't a reasonable argument against using seatbelts. Security isn't binary, there are more secure and less secure solutions. Choosing weak security because perfect security can't be had is nonsense. Also, NAT does nothing to prevent browser attacks, which is the most obvious attack vector in OPs case.

As for Linux and hardware, hardware usually doesn't work straight away in Linux the moment it is released. However, unless the hardware vendor is absolute garbage, there will most likely be a driver for hardware in the kernel in a few releases (new kernel versions are released roughly every two months). It takes some months for a released kernel version to make it into a pre-packaged distribution. It sounds like you'll be using fairly old hardware though, so unless you buy a brand new 802.11ac wireless card (very few of those are supported, currently), most of the hardware should be supported in recent Linux distributions.

Finally, I'd reinstall XP fresh if you are going to keep it. You have no idea what the previous owners install might be carrying, do you want to give it your account passwords?

 

[nerp]

As much as a Windows fanboy I am, I would run Linux over XP at this time. XP is no longer supported.

 

[PliotronX]

Check out Korora (Fedora based) and KaOSX, gorgeous and easy to use distros IMHO.

 

[Erithan13]

Good discussion here, thanks As it happens the purchase fell through so I'm back to browsing systems, often the best deals on used hardware either come with XP or no OS at all so I may end up using Linux yet. Pretty clear that XP is just too ancient and insecure, not much of a surprise.

The wifi dongle I'll be using is one of the bog standard Belkin ones like this which I think is many years old by now, I'll have to dig it out of the drawer and check it still works. So long as that or something like it works I'll be happy as I don't have a wired network connection in the workshop.

 

[xgsound]

That CPU should be fine for WIN7 without gaming.
If you pick Linux, here is a list of popular distros. http://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=popularity
I've used Puppy on CD or USB for emergency troubleshooting. It is tiny and works on a lot of older equipment.

Jim

 

[Guest essential]

I've been dual booting Ubuntu with Windows XP for at least ten years and it is nothing other than spectacular, although Windows XP, doesn't get much use.

 

[sbpromania]

Windows XP is too old, it's time to let it go, Microsoft did it! I'd suggest a Linux distribution, you have plenty to choose from, just pick the one you like.

 

[hhhd1]

Linux mint XFCE, do not go with cinnamon on an old computer with limited resources, the cinnamon interface uses some graphics acceleration.

 

[sweenish]

I'd recommend LXDE over XFCE, but that's just me.

LXLE is a great distro for old hardware. Ubuntu LTS is the base, and while the install footprint isn't as small as other distro's, it runs very light on a given system.

And without getting into the whole FOSS thing, LXLE bundles proprietary stuff by default, so it's much less of a hassle to get it running and do the stuff your "average" user wants to be able to do.

 

[Cerb]

I also remember trying to set up a wifi dongle being absolutely nightmarish with that.

These days, you either find out the chipset it has, look for official Linux support, or look for Linux users in Amazon or Newegg reviews. Most wireless adapters plug in, and work, with GUI network management.

Coming from Windows, just don't use Unity. Actually, coming from anything, don't use Unity. LXDE and XFCE are easy to use, some prefer Cinnamon or MATE (Gnome forks, as the official Gnome devs are asshats), and then you start getting esoteric.

Feature-filled Linux distros aren't much better than Windows, either, when it comes to RAM usage, so if it's only got 1GB, you might want to bump it up, some.