windows xp replacement ?

Hi Leigh,

It really depends on what you mean by everything when you say you use it for everything. I use my iPad for everything, I just don't ask that much of it. You can certainly do secure transactions with a tablet – no different than a computer. And the price of entry is pretty low.

As far as 8 or 8.1, I use Macs so I have no idea about Windows.

Sorry Doug, should have elaborated a bit more. I don't own a tv (on purpose), so I'll stream netflixs on occasion, sometimes dvds. Use it for banking,bill paying,online purchases, budget, gear spreadsheets, posting trip reports/blog/pix,email,Lumosity brain training :-). I think for as much as I type, a laptop might work better than a tablet.

ChromeBook.

one tool. one purchase. one solution. and you Never have to put up with the criminal organization microsoft again.

of course, it might be said that one is substituting one criminal organization for another. and that may well be a valid point.

but if i could not go with the incomparably flexible (and reasonably Free) SnowLeopard system, i'd go ChromeBook.

Peter,
It is a Google product and environment.

Can you avoid sending everything back to the mother ship by using 3rd party email and browser programs? (Google is building tracking into search and browsing.)

Can you block the Google-Ad onslaught with something like AdBlockPro?

Thanks.

"I still run XP Pro on our machines. I run AVG Free plus Zone Alarm Free plus SpyBot S&D on those machines. But the real secrets are three:

* The home network runs…

(yada yada yada)

…unless we are QUITE sure of their source (and they have passed through our walls).

Why bother changing?"

+1. I am sold on the Mac platform as it's been the most reliable for me over the years but I can see you're not really looking at this as an option. Cost of admission is admittedly high.

My experience with Windows over the years has been that it tends to be buggier than Mac OS but I was fine with XP. If it's still trucking along for you, I don't see a real reason to jump ship.

"I am sold on the Mac platform"

Yeah, me too. I add two things beyond what some folks have mentioned above as far as security:

1. A program called Little Snitch, which I find indispensable. Can be a bit of a bear to set up, but once it is, it's a wonderful program (it doesn't run on Windows, I don't know if there is a Windows program that does the same thing). From the Little Snitch product page: "Little Snitch informs you whenever a program attempts to establish an outgoing Internet connection. You can allow or deny these connections, or define rules to handle future attempts automatically. Little Snitch reliably prevents your private data from being sent out to the Internet without your knowledge." So while most programs/firewalls are set to limit incoming connections, Little Snitch lets you know whenever any program tries to make an outgoing connection (and you'd be surprised how often that happens!), including when emails try to do it, etc.

2. I use a VPN called Private Internet Access – not so much for security as for remaining somewhat anonymous when surfing. There are many VPNs out there, PIA is one of the highest rated. (It is OS independent).

Hopefully without starting a flame war, I'll put in my two cents on Macs and cost. I've found that my total cost of ownership has been the same or even lower since I've switched to the Mac. There are a lot of reasons for this (better free software options is one of them) but the main reason is that Macs keep their resale value to a degree that Windows machines can't even dream about.

I've typically upgraded to a new Mac every 2-3 years since I switched, and each time I've been able to sell my previous computer for a significant portion of what I paid for it. I've paid, all told, about $200-300 each upgrade, and that's for a very nice computer. By contrast, a Windows computer that's 2-3 years old will sell for perhaps 10% of its original purchase price, making upgrades significantly more expensive.

My experience has also been that Macs last longer, but I recognize that I don't have a huge dataset on that.

So, I have one of those old (small)"netbooks" by Asus which I really like for travelling (small, light, good battery, and I can type on it, unlike tablets)
But, it is XP.
So, I tried buying another one (used) that had Windows 7 installed on it.
Now I can compare.
My advice: Don't upgrade to Windows 7.
The computer that did is much much slower and can't handle simple things.
IT just takes more computing power than the old netbook can do, just to run Windows 7.

My DJ program (simple one) has a gauge on it for computing power and when it's just sitting idle, it is at about 75% on the Windows 7 model and about 33% on the XP.

So, I have decided to keep my old one, use it for travelling but never login to anything while on the road, use it for simple DJ'ing (as I have been) and still have my big Windows 7, fast laptop for home use or when I really need computing power.

Just pointing out what happens when you try to upgrade an old computer to a newer operating system.
Good luck all.