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Ask HN: How do I secure Windows XP?

5 points by jklein11 ↗ HN
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?

I found bitdefender[1]. Has anyone ever used this?

1. https://www.bitdefender.com/solutions/security-for-xp-and-vista.html

13 comments

[ 3.8 ms ] story [ 44.6 ms ] thread
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.
thijsvandien
Can't you virtualize those bits? Hopefully the VM can be isolated from either the internet or the host (i.e. no shared filesystem or networking).
schwede
You should really convince them to make the change. XP was was end-of-lifed April 2014.
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.
ProMarc
Why XP? There's so much more OS.
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.