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Interview with "last XP fan"

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Reply 20 of 61, by CwF

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cyclone3d wrote on 2021-10-26, 16:40:

I wasn't doing this to prove that XP or anything else was bad. I just wanted to see what would happen.

Fair enough. So, an open XP was used to reveal a dirty network, that's the takeaway.

I used to know what I was doing...

Reply 22 of 61, by mihai

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most wireless routers put a NAT between a client computer and the internet; such routers usually come with a firewall. This combo should be enough.

If the cable modem was connected directly to the internet, no NAT / no proper firewall, could explain why the XP client was compromised. I am quite sure that there are bots scanning responding computers / servers for open ports.

Last edited by mihai on 2021-10-26, 20:11. Edited 4 times in total.

Reply 23 of 61, by bakemono

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I'm using Win 2000 right now. 20 years, 7 different ISPs, no anti-virus bloatware. I've been waiting so long for the warnings of impending doom to materialize, but they never have. Of course, I have never used worm farms like Internet Explorer or Outlook. Opera was always better.

I didn't use XP for the first time until 2010 when I got a laptop that came with it installed. So it's only been 11 years of waiting for the rumored malware deluge to appear there, but so far it is still the same story as above.

It's funny to see this old discussion pop up again. These days, the malware is built right into the system. People buy it voluntarily and then tell you it's no big deal. *shrugs*

again another retro game on itch: https://90soft90.itch.io/shmup-salad

Reply 25 of 61, by leonardo

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Didn't the uncanny valley valley wallpaper and toy-color scheme turn any of you guys off? I seriously thought Ballmer and Gates were trolling us there. 😁

[Install Win95 like you were born in 1985!] on systems like this or this.

Reply 26 of 61, by zerodiagonal

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I kinda get disappointed when I run Kaspersky and go through the hassle of installing MalwareBytes just to have them find nothing.

Reply 27 of 61, by xcomcmdr

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leonardo wrote on 2021-10-26, 20:16:

Didn't the uncanny valley valley wallpaper and toy-color scheme turn any of you guys off? I seriously thought Ballmer and Gates were trolling us there. 😁

Yes, and the sorry state XP RTM was in. So much bugs and errors.

I'm glad Windows 7 and 10 were so much better.

Reply 28 of 61, by leonardo

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xcomcmdr wrote on 2021-10-26, 20:25:
leonardo wrote on 2021-10-26, 20:16:

Didn't the uncanny valley valley wallpaper and toy-color scheme turn any of you guys off? I seriously thought Ballmer and Gates were trolling us there. 😁

Yes, and the sorry state XP RTM was in. So much bugs and errors.

I'm glad Windows 7 and 10 were so much better.

I honestly cannot tell if you're poking fun at me or not. 🤣

[Install Win95 like you were born in 1985!] on systems like this or this.

Reply 29 of 61, by Caluser2000

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I always feel dirty each time I connect MS Windows to the internet 😉

It's a joke you vogons members without a sense of humor.

There's a glitch in the matrix.
A founding member of the 286 appreciation society.
Apparently 32-bit is dead and nobody likes P4s.
Of course, as always, I'm open to correction...😉

Reply 30 of 61, by cyclone3d

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mihai wrote on 2021-10-26, 19:25:

most wireless routers put a NAT between a client computer and the internet; such routers usually come with a firewall. This combo should be enough.

If the cable modem was connected directly to the internet, no NAT / no proper firewall, could explain why the XP client was compromised. I am quite sure that there are bots scanning responding computers / servers for open ports.

Definitely. I was running, I think, ClearOS as my router/firewall at the time and noticed that there were a ton of Chinese IP addresses constantly hammering my IP address.

I ended up blocking a bunch of IP ranges on my ClearOS box after I noticed it.

Yamaha modified setupds and drivers
Yamaha XG repository
YMF7x4 Guide
Aopen AW744L II SB-LINK

Reply 31 of 61, by Big Pink

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cyclone3d wrote on 2021-10-25, 20:07:

Oh, it's fun sticking a non-patched XP machine directly on the internet and watching it get overrun by malware within a matter of minutes.

Imagine a server farm of unpatched XP machines exposed to the internet. A gigantic digital mousetrap to keep the information superhighway free of infestation.

I thought IBM was born with the world

Reply 32 of 61, by cyclone3d

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Big Pink wrote on 2021-10-26, 21:13:
cyclone3d wrote on 2021-10-25, 20:07:

Oh, it's fun sticking a non-patched XP machine directly on the internet and watching it get overrun by malware within a matter of minutes.

Imagine a server farm of unpatched XP machines exposed to the internet. A gigantic digital mousetrap to keep the information superhighway free of infestation.

Perfect to host a botnet that conducts DDOS attacks.

Yamaha modified setupds and drivers
Yamaha XG repository
YMF7x4 Guide
Aopen AW744L II SB-LINK

Reply 33 of 61, by soggi

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I think every Windows directly connected to the Internet (if not even every OS) gets problems when it comes to malware and stuff. Fortunately nearly everyone is behind a NAT today. Surely you remember worms like Blaster and Sasser from the early 2000s when many people still had a direct connection via modem.

BTW did you know this one?:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2cFy4A-XvXc
„I call you XP cause you‘re Xtra Precious“ 😉

kind regards
soggi

Last edited by soggi on 2021-10-27, 00:51. Edited 1 time in total.

Vintage BIOSes, firmware, drivers, tools, manuals and (3dfx) game patches -> soggi's BIOS & Firmware Page

soggi.org on Twitter - talent borrows, genius steals...

Reply 34 of 61, by Caluser2000

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WOW! If it was really that bad wouldn't internet providers do something about it? Black list untrustworthy ip addresses and such?

I can't recall any outages with my internet provider having any problems 25 plus years we've been with them. That includes dial up and when I used XP on my daily computer at home or any of the work systems using XP. Prior to XP I was using Win98rtm.

There's a glitch in the matrix.
A founding member of the 286 appreciation society.
Apparently 32-bit is dead and nobody likes P4s.
Of course, as always, I'm open to correction...😉

Reply 35 of 61, by Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman

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cyclone3d wrote on 2021-10-26, 14:14:
CwF wrote on 2021-10-25, 22:37:
BS do you care to wager? […]
Show full quote
cyclone3d wrote on 2021-10-25, 20:07:

Oh, it's fun sticking a non-patched XP machine directly on the internet and watching it get overrun by malware within a matter of minutes.

BS
do you care to wager?

XP can tip toe through the net without issue if you know what your doing.

I've heard this BS for years, I guess the internet doesn't like my XP honeypot.

I did this experiment a few years ago just to see what would happen. Installed XP and then installed the hardware drivers. I did not install ANY MS updates on the machine and then hooked it directly up to my cable modem.

Within 15 minutes the computer had so much crap on it it was unusable... I didn't do anything except hook it up to the modem. Didn't open a browser or anything.

Quite preposterous, I must say.

Back in 2016, I performed major reinstall on all PCs in my home office --with Windows XP, of course. In any case, it was also the year where Microsoft stopped Windows XP updates, so none of my PCs was updated. Those PCs, of course, were to be used by my employees, so I used Windows HOSTS file to block unwanted websites. I also set the necessary policies, so that only admins can install anything. Autorun is also disabled to prevent thumb drive viruses. And the only Microsoft products used with those PCs are Microsoft Office, while things like Windows Media Player and Internet Explorer remained unused.

Now it's already five years, and none of the Windows XP PC has been infected by anything. If anything, it's the hardware that fails first, while the Windows XP itself remains strong. In fact, without Windows updates, those Windows XP remains as fast as they were after fresh install.

Now my daily driver is a Windows 7 PC. I started using it since 2020, which was coincident with the end of Microsoft support, in other words, no updates. And the Windows 7 PC does not suffer the typical slow down that comes with Windows updates. And no virus either.

Based on my experience, most infections come from user's stupidity, like my employees browsing suspicious websites then click 'Ok' or 'Yes' to download the p0rn (or what the believe to be p0rn). That's why I set the Windows in such way that only admins can install anything, while my employees always log in using non-admin accounts. The Windows HOSTS file is also set to block dangerous websites.

Never thought this thread would be that long, but now, for something different.....
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman.

Reply 36 of 61, by The Serpent Rider

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CwF wrote:

XP can be hardened. Support ended for 'Public' consumption, paid support exist to 2022+.

Support for last variations of NT 5.x was dropped in 2019. It's dead, Jim.

I must be some kind of standard: the anonymous gangbanger of the 21st century.

Reply 37 of 61, by zyzzle

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Nobody would be foolish enough to connect a PC directly to their cable modem without using a router. Or a least even Windows XP's "built-in" firewall. I think outlandish claims of XP being "infested" within mere minutes are simply not true and extremely misleading. if a home-user takes a few simple precautions, it's just not true. A minute to set up a router, another few seconds to say "yes" to enable Windows Firewall. Don't even need to "bother" with security updates or download bloated virus scanners / modern browsers. Another few minutes to download a thourough hosts file, updated security certificates, followed by TURNING OFF Javascript! And you'd be fine in XP, for 95% of modern browsing. Just get those damn scripts Off! Even in the big, bad dangerous world of 2021. I've done it, in a pinch, and an XP used for small doses of Internet is just fine. No problem, no mysterious corruption or odd processess being opened within minutes!

Reply 38 of 61, by foil_fresh

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so from 1997 to 2004 i used serial connected modems for dial-up internet and only ever had one interfering "virus", msblaster. and only one time after that i found a keylogger, but that was from some warez download which i quickly fixed up after noticing a strange process in task manager. i always had windows firewall turned off too (i was also a light user, never hosting any complicated network services or running clients to connect elsewhere).

i'm sure if someone wanted to exploit something to poke in and browse, they could (maybe they want to rate and browse my mp3 collection), but to say that a direct internet facing XP PC would get junked up quicker than a lottery winning crackhead is a tiny bit bs. msblaster would have been scary for some people so i can understand the alarm but thats kinda as far as it goes, right?

Reply 39 of 61, by leonardo

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zyzzle wrote on 2021-10-27, 04:16:

Nobody would be foolish enough to connect a PC directly to their cable modem without using a router. Or a least even Windows XP's "built-in" firewall.

It was quite common actually back in the early days. People know better now, but in many cases you only had a modem and no router… and the XP firewall was introduced in an update, a service pack if I recall - specifically because of all the trouble with people infecting their Win2K/XP installations.

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote on 2021-10-27, 01:49:
Quite preposterous, I must say. […]
Show full quote
cyclone3d wrote on 2021-10-26, 14:14:
CwF wrote on 2021-10-25, 22:37:
BS do you care to wager? […]
Show full quote

BS
do you care to wager?

XP can tip toe through the net without issue if you know what your doing.

I've heard this BS for years, I guess the internet doesn't like my XP honeypot.

I did this experiment a few years ago just to see what would happen. Installed XP and then installed the hardware drivers. I did not install ANY MS updates on the machine and then hooked it directly up to my cable modem.

Within 15 minutes the computer had so much crap on it it was unusable... I didn't do anything except hook it up to the modem. Didn't open a browser or anything.

Quite preposterous, I must say.

Back in 2016, I performed major reinstall on all PCs in my home office --with Windows XP, of course. In any case, it was also the year where Microsoft stopped Windows XP updates, so none of my PCs was updated. Those PCs, of course, were to be used by my employees, so I used Windows HOSTS file to block unwanted websites. I also set the necessary policies, so that only admins can install anything. Autorun is also disabled to prevent thumb drive viruses. And the only Microsoft products used with those PCs are Microsoft Office, while things like Windows Media Player and Internet Explorer remained unused.

Now it's already five years, and none of the Windows XP PC has been infected by anything. If anything, it's the hardware that fails first, while the Windows XP itself remains strong. In fact, without Windows updates, those Windows XP remains as fast as they were after fresh install.

Now my daily driver is a Windows 7 PC. I started using it since 2020, which was coincident with the end of Microsoft support, in other words, no updates. And the Windows 7 PC does not suffer the typical slow down that comes with Windows updates. And no virus either.

Based on my experience, most infections come from user's stupidity, like my employees browsing suspicious websites then click 'Ok' or 'Yes' to download the p0rn (or what the believe to be p0rn). That's why I set the Windows in such way that only admins can install anything, while my employees always log in using non-admin accounts. The Windows HOSTS file is also set to block dangerous websites.

You’re right about some people being too careless online, but I myself had to go to many people to fix their issues with malware that made use of the plethora of remote vulnerabilities in Windows - some of which could already be taken advantage of during installation. Yes, if you have an older release of XP, you can literally infect your computer during setup if you also have a direct connection to the internet.

Caluser2000 wrote on 2021-10-26, 21:46:

WOW! If it was really that bad wouldn't internet providers do something about it? Black list untrustworthy ip addresses and such?

I can't recall any outages with my internet provider having any problems 25 plus years we've been with them. That includes dial up and when I used XP on my daily computer at home or any of the work systems using XP. Prior to XP I was using Win98rtm.

In many cases the way people found out about their malware problem was their ISP spotting the traffic and then cutting their connection. I didn’t go in to fix a malware problem - I went in because “our internet just stopped working”.

By the time the service pack and security fixes to the worst of these rolled out, the legend was already born…

[Install Win95 like you were born in 1985!] on systems like this or this.