Entropia Universe Ending Support for Windows XP

Aio said:

I've italicised the part which is fact (therefore not disagreeable on). I've bolded the part which is opinion, i.e. what a normal fucking person would assume you disagreed with.

Don't cry like a prick just because you can't elocute your thoughts correctly.

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I wasn't crying I just dont have time for people like you.

My post #5 is my position on the thread topic.

Sionkiewicz said:

Software, for the most part, is not the same. Use of old, outdated software with security vulnerabilities just makes you a target for the hackers and script kiddies out there. I would equate it more to continuing to drink milk that is over it's expiration date. You may be ok for a short period but if you just keep drinking, it will get you sick as a dog. Most times, it's best to get a new one and throw the old shit out.

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In Sweden, for milk, it's said that the expiration date is set for fridges running at 8oC, and as most fridges are running at 4oC milk should be ok a few Days after expiration date. And, generally, if you're in doubt, smell it.

It's a different thing during the summer when milk can turn sour very quickly. And also when you open the milk container (for first time) it starts to get vulnerable to things like listeria.

As for Windows XP, I run it Daily more or less, as a surfing sandbox. No big deal if it gets caught by a script kiddie; on one computer the base image is on the SSD and the (temporary) differncing file is copied to a ramdisk and runs from there. Reason I run Windows XP as a surfing sandbox is because it's lightweight (boots fast with 1-2 gb of memory) - though I can't say that Chrome is lightweight (at least not with like 10 open windows).

I Think everyone needs to make the decision by their own: "How likely is it that this computer setup will be hacked and what will the consequences be". For entropia it's like, if you're a land owner with 100k's of PEDs invested, yes then you want it to be ironclad. But if you just use it as Entertainment after work and you get "hacked" and you know you won't cry if your computer gets taken over by let's say ransomwere and you need to reinstall it all, then it's a choice you have made.

I don't have an ironclad setup at home (there is one thing I should do that practically would be connecting an USB wire and add Another driver), but it's reasonable safe. Like, I got a firewall that stops windows networking calls, and I have restricted ports that my computer can connect to in areas such as the APNIC area and that french ISP that seemed to (at least a few years ago) host quite a few troublemakers.

Just for fun, I watched my firewall log. (I ahve to admit I usually don't do it often nowdays.)
This is what I saw that was interesting:
AUG 30 23:40:22:linei (40) tcp 145.239.140.179 > (external ip) (20) AS 25461 > 59604 - DENY rule default - s(8)accept u(-1)deny
AUG 30 23:45:25:linei (40) tcp 59.41.103.97 > (external ip) (20) S 55972 > ssh'22' - DENY rule - s(4)deny
AUG 30 23:48:17:linei (40) tcp 95.215.1.201 > (external ip) (20) S 42365 > 3394 - DENY rule default - s(8)accept u(-1)deny
AUG 30 23:49:18:linei (40) tcp 175.205.178.104 > (external ip) (20) S 6958 > http'80' - DENY rule default - s(8)accept u(-1)deny
AUG 30 23:49:18:linei (40) tcp 175.205.178.104 > (external ip) (20) S 7893 > http-alt'8080' - DENY rule - s(8)accept u(0)deny
AUG 30 23:49:18:linei (40) tcp 175.205.178.104 > (external ip) (20) S 6175 > ftp'21' - DENY rule default - s(8)accept u(-1)deny
AUG 30 23:49:18:linei (40) tcp 175.205.178.104 > (external ip) (20) S 6075 > ssh'22' - DENY rule - s(8)accept u(0)deny
AUG 30 23:49:54:linei (40) tcp 5.188.10.103 > (external ip) (20) S 53710 > 5064 - DENY rule default - s(8)accept u(-1)deny
AUG 30 23:52:45:linei (458) udp 212.129.52.104 > (external ip) (430) 5120 > sip'5060' - DENY rule - s(4)deny - REGISTER sipexternal ip):5060 SIP
AUG 30 23:53:28:linei (40) tcp 222.96.190.71 > (external ip) (20) S 37329 > telnet'23' - DENY rule - s(4)deny
AUG 30 23:53:58:linei (40) tcp 81.227.39.86 > (external ip) (20) S 25214 > telnet'23' - DENY rule default - s(8)accept u(-1)deny
AUG 30 23:54:22:linei (444) udp 212.129.52.104 > (external ip) (416) 5124 > sip'5060' - DENY rule - s(4)deny - REGISTER sipexternal ip):5060 SIP
AUG 30 23:54:27:linei (444) udp 212.83.182.167 > (external ip) (416) 5069 > sip'5060' - DENY rule - s(4)deny - OPTIONS sip:100@(external ip) SIP/2


IP address 212.129.52.104 seemed to belong to Tiscali France, but then I saw the name? "SAS". I wonder if it's not a new name for that french isp OVR or somerhing like that. That ISP that hosts troublemakers.
Then it seems like that IP address was used by a web sevrice "cheateo.com" that adverts itself with "Create your own bots! Send fake traffic! - Babylon Traffic". Well, a bit interesting.
"Babylon Traffic is an easy-to-use tool that help you to cheat on all the websites of your choice. Here is a basic tutorial on how to create your first own bot which is ..."

5.188.10.103 seem to be hosted in Bulgaria.
59.41.103.97 ChinaNet Guangdong Province Network
95.215.1.201 seems to be hosted in Russian Federation.
222.96.190.71 South korea ("KT Corporation")

This one was a hottie:
145.239.140.179 - United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority - is it that GCHQ trying to hack me? lol

Again, there are holes in Windows XP. But at least it's not Windows XP that's freely accessible on the internet (unless I open it up, like I install teamviewer for the "windows support department" to see what they are doing...).

You can pay Microsoft now, or you can pay the hackers later (Upgrade to Windows 10!)

aia said:

Again, there are holes in Windows XP. But at least it's not Windows XP that's freely accessible on the internet (unless I open it up, like I install teamviewer for the "windows support department" to see what they are doing...).

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Oh there are holes alirght... Holes big enough to drive an 18 wheeler truck trhough.

Let's face it, and for those of you who have been ignoring the issue or who have been hiding under a rock, The Windows XP thing is very serious business.. and here's why... Or do you 'Wanna Cry'?

If you were not warching the news in May and again in June, some hanckers released a couple of attacks that were strictly targeted against machines that still were using Windows XP (and this includied a lot of machines that even resided in hospitals and a lot of commercial businesses. But "Wanna Cry was a form of attack that involved "Ransom ware" which means if you want your computer back, you had to pay.. Sometimes upwards of 300USD (That's 3000 ProjectEntropia Dollars for those of you EU'ers out there.. and even when you sent the people the money they did something really nice.. They gave you bad info, or worse, locked out your computer and said, "Man what a sap! You gave me your personal information! I'll go !!!! your bank account and ruin your credit!"

(Humorous note: Seems only fair to those folks who use Multiple accounts in EU.)

But hey if you thought it happened once, it happened twice, and Windows actually had to geta patch (No not one patch but rather 2!) in order to lock down this issue and put the ransom ware thieves out of business..

But the point is this: XP ended support a year or two back, and windows 7 will be ending it in 3 years (from what my tech friends tell me 2020... which means Windows 10 (Which is the current standard on most machines) is perhaps the best way to ggo.. (One electrionic engineer told me that Windows 10 is now Rock hard soloid and it's hard to crack that one..A) Now what is the cost of a Windows 10 Home cost? About 120 USD..

Now then to quote an old Fram oil filter commercial , you can pay me now, or ... pay me later..

(What this meant was this: you could pay the vehicle repairman 2 bucks for aoilfilter or 2000 USD for an entire new engine block...

Now, this brings up a question.. Do folks want to pay 120 USD for Windows 10 to upgrade from Windows XP? Or do they want to pay 300 USD to some miscreant, who then getsyour information and then drains your bank account, and possibly your EU account if you don't have the Pocket app installed?

I'll leave that one up to the rest of you... cause as of right now, I'm going to pay the 120 USD to get the Windows 10 Upgrade and save myself the 300 USD that I would have to pay when windows 7es belly up o in 2020.

'Nuff said.

(Sgt.) Benjamin 'Ben' Coyote , IFN Marines,
a.k.a. "The Blind Sniper" (and ) His_Dog_Spot)

BenCoyote said:

Now, this brings up a question.. Do folks want to pay 120 USD for Windows 10 to upgrade from Windows XP? Or do they want to pay 300 USD to some miscreant, who then getsyour information and then drains your bank account, and possibly your EU account if you don't have the Pocket app installed?

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120? I got full working OEM version of Windows 10 Pro 64 bit for under 40 USD.

Eh, we'll get er to run on XP. You'll see

nvm ... though i got windows xp ... but its 7 xD

BenCoyote said:

But the point is this: XP ended support a year or two back, and windows 7 will be ending it in 3 years (from what my tech friends tell me 2020... which means Windows 10 (Which is the current standard on most machines) is perhaps the best way to ggo.. (One electrionic engineer told me that Windows 10 is now Rock hard soloid and it's hard to crack that one..A) Now what is the cost of a Windows 10 Home cost? About 120 USD..

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There are two negatives with Windows 10: People might not be comfortable with what microsoft is doing with the UI. They re-added the old "start menu", but you can't add programs to it by yourself. And, for instance, if you remove program from recently used ("don't show this anymore") the only supported way to get it back to the start menu is by restoring from a restore point. And MS, themselves, are free to add "suggestions" like programs you never installed there by themself (like Candy Crush Soda). An interesting thing is that many users of Windows 8 have installed a program called "classic shell" to get the old start menu back. At a "version update", Microsoft silently removed classic shell. This made tons of people go googling to reinstall the program. The problem was that some prankster had hacked the download servers, replacing the real program with a program that crashed the harddrive (logically). So, a typical user running MS latest OS was actually in greater risk than a windows 7 user who just used the same windows version as ever.

The other thing to think about is that Windows 10 isn't one windows 10. It's an ever evolving version. On a practical level, this means that the same way historically Windows versions have gone up from Windows 2000,xp, Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 this will continue even if the official name stays the same. The differnec is that upgrades with windows 10 will be free (as it wasn't windows XP -> windows 7). But, what will change, is system requirements. As Windows 8 came out, Microsoft started to make more use of the hardware; one part is to add more security, but the other part is to use more hardware features. And now it got evident: Windows 10 will stop supporting a few CPUs. That is, current windows 10 is runnign on those CPUs, but next version of windows will say "Your hardware isn't compatible with this upgrade". And, as new versions of windows 10 are released, that practically are new windows vesions but with new name, Microsoft will stop support of older versions.
This means, that paying say 120 USD for a license of Windows 10 won't be an option when your hardware gets marooned. And it will be harder in the future to state an OS level because of the trade name "windows 10" as "windows 10" don't tell which release you are running, if it's like 2017:1 or 2016:2 (well it's really about "build numbers").

There is a solution for it: Microsoft do have a windows 10 with "long term support" that solves quite a bit of the headache. However, it's only offered to companies with volume licensing agreements. As a home user you can't switch to LTS. You have to be on the train with new OS releases each 9 months or so as long as your hardware is still supported.

As for wannacry and security holes: Generally there has been security holes in most windows versions. The main diffeence of course is that Windows XP won't be patched. It was patched for one of the latest security holes (SMB 1/samba vulnerability) but it won't get other patches.

So, it's not safe to run windows XP. It has and continue to have unpatched security holes. I don't say anything else. But for computer literate people, I think it's up to everyone to make their own choice of upgrading or not. Keep in mind that first, not everyone is "aunt Agda". Secondly, there might be a technical reason why you stay at a certain windows version. Imagine if you have a computer with a video card, a printer, some other hardware that won't work for 100% with new windows version. And thirdly, not everyone has the money to fork out $$$ when an operating system update requires new hardware. I think we need to respect those that use a certain version of the OS, knowing its pros and cons.

In a way, not upgrading is the only way to tell Microsoft "I don't like the way you have developed windows 10", or more specifically "I'll consider upgrading to Windows 10 when we get the option of the enterprise version where we can opt in for LTS rather than just hardware warming new features we don't need every 9 months".

On the other hand, I understand that Widows 10 is safe. It should be as it's the current version. (But, consider, NT 3.1 was supposed to be safe as it was built on mandatory accesslist and had many thoughts from the VAX world.)

Hint: I don't have any spellchecker hardcoded for Swedish that tries to "correct" what I write all the time such as cost -> "COST".

Oh, and can you guess the OS I'm writing this on now? Hint: it's not same OS I use as when I run Entropia Client. On this computer the changes are saved on a ramdisk.

In a few years, when windows 7 support ends, I wonder if there will be a new bunch of people who "refuses to upgrade". If Windows 10 is safer, but comes with "features" that no current windows 7 user want or need. Consider, "can I live without Cortana" vs "Do I want evey search I do - local aswell as internet as there is no difference for Cortana - gets sent to Microsofts' servers for them to analyze?". Or "no way you can add programs to start menu [left pane], but we at microsoft can add programs as we like". Or, "We will restart your computer when you are off keyboard. We'll be graceful enough to give you a timespan of 8 hours when you can use your computer, but after that we WILL reboot it regardless if you have documents/running programs up or not".

And I said it again: If I get offered to upgrade to Windows 10 EE then I consider it seriously. As it stands now though now I consider Windows 10 Home/Pro adware and being toys for the Microsoft Market department. Well, not enterely. Again, I have to admit Windows 10 is safeest. On the other hand, the "VUs" comes with suprises for home users.


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I Will stick to win7 until I no longer can.

I guess, in the end, it really doesn't matter if you like XP of not.. MA isn't going to support it any longer and if you want to play the game then you will need to move to an OS that their application will support.

Sionkiewicz said:

I guess, in the end, it really doesn't matter if you like XP of not.. MA isn't going to support it any longer and if you want to play the game then you will need to move to an OS that their application will support.

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I practically retired my Windows XP machine long ago when it comes to entropia, because 1.5 gb RAM made it crawl. (I guess athlon CPU, with single core and no multimedia exensions also adds to the load.) And I guess most XP Machines are at same hardware level. I still have entropia installed of it but haven't started (=updated) it for a looong time.

What I use it for nowdays is mostly that I have an email program on it that Cleans up my webmail once in a while. Some year I'll try to find a new email program lol.

I bought a new computer eventually to cope with the lag that came with VU10, so that's what I'm using right now, with it's bundled OS (Windows 7). I run Windows XP in a virtual machine. I don't do it right now, but on my Windows XP machine I used to run a server under Linux (that actually was publically accessible). (No file sharing type of server.)