XP and from one scary message to another

OK. I admit it. I am still using Windows XP on a desktop. There, it's out now. I am so bad / lazy / unconcerned / old-fashioned / stupid [delete as appropriate to fit whichever news article you read]. Microsoft's support for the operating system stopped yesterday. I now get a warning when it starts and the Microsoft Security Essentials flag icon in my tray has turned red. Add to that a mass of articles and it is difficult to ignore the fact that XP is no longer 'supported'.

So, all credit to Microsoft in a sense for a massive increase in their name being mentioned everywhere. It is quite remarkable just how many people have stuck with Windows XP over the years. Vista really did not appeal and the press were critical at the time, Windows 7 initially seemed like a slightly fresher version of Vista (although it was a considerable improvement) but didn't seem that big a deal when XP was still managing fine and, having used both a lot over the years, I genuinely didn't see much difference in performance and decent protection kept systems running and free from nasty bugs etc. The years passed and Windows 8 definitely didn't appeal visually. I have had lots of clients, friends and colleagues call me up to ask for help with quite simple things with Windows 8 where, basically, they couldn't figure out what to do whereas they had been quite adept in earlier versions. That put me off upgrading too. I would have liked the more efficient system and anything that's faster and more secure is welcome but the interface had no appeal whatsoever and I dreaded the thought of being a beginner again!

So here I am. Still running XP on my desktop, which I use daily for all sorts of stuff. I do have Windows 7 on an ancient laptop but that is so slow and clunky in many ways that it's not a pleasant to use at all and it hasn't moved for many months. The main alternative machine is a Chromebook. That's is brilliant but I still need quite a few bits of software for drawing and web design that I can't do on the Chromebook. There are apps and they're improving all the time but I would struggle without my Serif, Dreamweaver and one or two other bits of software.

I will have to take the plunge into the Windows 8 ocean soon and have been looking at some new kit but, in the meantime, I thought I should do something about the dire warnings of imminent disaster. Microsoft do say that they'll keep updating the virus stuff in Security Essentials for another twelve months but that doesn't stop the flag being red or the warnings bout the 'system' not being updated. I think that means that if there is another hole discovered in the operating system code that allows people to wander around inside your files and steal data then Microsoft will not be fixing it. I understand that. It's fair enough. You buy an old car and accept that it may not do everything it should. Once the guarantee's up, you're on your own, even if they made a mistake when manufacturing it. You do get the feeling though that Microsoft are not so bothered and might not put much of an effort into protecting us old XP folk. They may update virus definitions or they may leave them for a while. Who knows? There may be more income-generating things to do. Now, I'm sure they won't deliberately put my files at risk but I don't feel comfortable and that damned red flag keeps reminding me of the fact.

So, as an interim solution for my nerves if nothing else, I downloaded Avast! a free anti virus programme that I remember using years ago. There are a few alternatives out there. AVG gets good reviews too as do some others. As with many free programmes, though, you need to be alert. Attempting to download from one quite reputable news site, I find a screen where I have to choose some add-on on the way. I cancelled that and went direct to Avast!'s own site. That was better and avoided the extra programmes. On the way you may need to untick some browser extensions or add-ons but there's nothing significant to worry about. I am not at all sure this will give me any more security at all, just more system resources being used up and an occasional scary message from some woman coming through the speakers, but I feel a bit better.

Now, back to deciding between a Shuttle and traditional desktop...

SD XC and XP

I got a new camera a week or so ago but it didn't come with a memory card so I bought the recommended SDXC type with a massive 64GB of memory and faster read/write speeds so that it could handle the big files created by the camera. Took a few practice shots and thought I'd have a look at how they turned out.

Unfortunately, my pc couldn't access the card data. It wanted to format the card. I quickly hit No. That would have wiped everything off which rather defeats the purpose. I tried inserting the card directly in a card reader slot but that didn't work either. Now it is an old pc with Windows XP but it has had all the updates and is SP3 so it's as up to date as it ought to be in that respect. I looked on some forums and saw that the SDXC card has a different file format system and that there were card readers available that claimed to read this new type. So I bought one of them.

I had also tried the card in my new Chromebook, thinking that Samsung might have used a later type of card reader for the device installed on that. No luck there - the Chromebook recognised a card was there but wanted to format it too.

The new card reader arrived today and I plugged the card into it and the pc recognised the various drives on it. I was thinking that it was a bit of a drag to have to fiddle around taking the card out of the camera and then insert it into this little reader every time when I had got used just to plugging a cable from the camera into a USB socket but resigned myself to having to do that. Hang on - the pc still wants to format the card! Damn. Looks like I still have a problem.

I tried a slightly different set of search terms on Google. Something like Why on Earth can't I read my SDXC card?!! and read on a forum that it was a Microsoft Windows XP thing. Things looked gloomy as I'd had all the updates so I dug out an equally old laptop which I'd put Windows 7 on. It seemed that I could at least get the photos with that and then transfer the files to the pc where I wanted them. While the old laptop was thinking about getting started I had another look at the forum and noticed a link to an update related to this someone had posted. I downloaded that, restarted the pc and stuffed the card in the old slot on the pc.

And there they all were! Picasa found all the photos, just like old times!

I should also be able just to connect the camera direct too now. So I didn't need the new card reader or the Windows 7 laptop at all. Just a little update that, for some reason best known to Microsoft, hasn't been included in updates so far. So if you're having trouble reading SD XC cards DO NOT FORMAT them! You don't need to buy some fancy new reader (although it may read them a bit faster if you have hundreds to deal with) and you can do things the way you always used to.

Get the download at this link.