
Ask HN: How do I secure Windows XP? - jklein11
I have a few relatives who are resistant to change and are still using Windows XP. Does anyone have any recommendations on how best to secure XP?<p>I found bitdefender[1]. Has anyone ever used this?<p>1. https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bitdefender.com&#x2F;solutions&#x2F;security-for-xp-and-vista.html
======
romanhn
Are you providing friends-and-family support? If they are stubborn about
moving on, you should be stubborn about continuing to support them. I think
you can make a very reasonable argument there.

None of the answers here actually address your question. Probably not a
coincidence.

~~~
jklein11
I wouldn't say they are stubborn about moving on, it will just take a little
bit of time for them to migrate everything over. In the meantime I don't want
to leave them exposed

------
mike-cardwell
Disconnect it from the Internet and fill the USB ports with epoxy.

------
seanwilson
Can you not get them to upgrade? It's a losing battle sticking with XP.

~~~
jklein11
That's the ultimate goal but they are dependent on software that has also
reached EOL. I'd like to get everything moved over within the next few months
but in the mean time I'd like to patch them as best as possible

~~~
seanwilson
Personally, I would gift them a basic Chromebook. Technical support for
relatives is a bottomless pit otherwise. :P

~~~
neilsimp1
I agree. I'm willing to bet that if their naive enough to think Windows XP is
still a good idea, then their computer usage probably exceed beyond
emails/Facebook and the like. A Chromebook is inexpensive and will meet all
the basic needs.

------
limeblack
This may be rather obvious but I would either dual boot(and disable the
internet XP side and install antivirus or disable USB drives also) the machine
or run the software in a VM. I have an EOL software for W7 and that is my plan
at this point. The advantage with VM it that it rather easy to take snapshots.

------
niutech
Enable the POSReady registry hack for getting the updates:
[http://www.zdnet.com/article/registry-hack-enables-
continued...](http://www.zdnet.com/article/registry-hack-enables-continued-
updates-for-windows-xp/)

------
schwede
You should really convince them to make the change. XP was was end-of-lifed
April 2014.

------
ProMarc
Why XP? There's so much more OS.

------
WhiteSource1
Upgrade

Or move to Linux

