XP-Replacement for Parents

[David Cantrell]

On 27/03/2014 17:34, Smylers wrote:
> David Cantrell writes:
>> On Thu, Mar 27, 2014 at 03:21:02PM +0000, Smylers wrote:
>>> Note my concerns weren't about the OS's user interface, but scanner
>>> support and a couple of decades' worth of WordPerfect documents.
>> Assuming that Ubuntu supports the scanner, WordPerfect could run
>> inside a WinXP VM.
> Does that avoid the security problems with running XP directly?

Sort of. If the XP VM is isolated from the interweb - so never runs a 
browser, never runs a mail client - that'll cut out the vast majority of 
the risk. Of course, the user can still sneak things into it manually 
(infected files for example) or if you've got USB pass-through enabled 
(useful for the scanner!) there's a risk of auto-running nonsense on 
Flash drives. I think the auto-run idiocy can be turned off though.

I'd still install some antivirus thingy just to be on the safe side - 
paranoid, but can't do any harm. I believe AVG is the freebie of choice.

Counter-intuitively, once support stops, you should actively turn off 
any OS updates, just in case some naughty person manages to do something 
like hijack the DNS and serve malware to the millions of XP machines 
that will still be out there.

> Also, would the XP that came with the laptop work in a VM?

No idea.

-- 
David Cantrell | Nth greatest programmer in the world

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