XPost: alt.windows-xp
From: ianREMOVETHISjackson@g3ohx.demon.co.uk
In message , Shadow
writes
>On Thu, 04 Jun 2015 16:53:28 +0200, Quintus Clemens
> wrote:
>
>>My XP comp is on its last legs. If I move up to a new Win 7 or 8 comp,
>>will I still be able to access the data on my present outboard drives?
>
> Yes, but a lot of programs might stop working.
I think it's probably more accurate to say that there's a chance that a
few - a very few - XP programs might not work (or work properly) in W7,
8 etc, particularly if the new machine is also a change from 32 to 64
bit. Even so, in many cases it should be possible to install a later
version of the affected programs - especially if they are readily
available as freeware (which most of mine are!).
For what it's worth, my email/news client, Turnpike - which I'm using to
post these words of wisdom - is one of those programs affected. I think
it's the only one I have that doesn't quite work properly on my W7 32
bit laptop (although it's still usable) - and wouldn't work at all on 64
bit.
However, as Nil says, there shouldn't be any problem with data on
external USB drives.
> Consider using
>Linux and running XP inside VirtualBox.
> New life to your software with the safety of Linux, plus the
>ability to "roll back" to an earlier install if you do something
>silly.
> []'s
Although that's certainly a solution, I have to say that I think that
anyone having to ask the original question is unlikely to immediately
want to do what is suggested.
It's worth noting that XP7 Professional, Ultimate and Enterprise do
allow a free download and installation of Virtual XP (from Microsoft) -
and this is what I did on my W7 Pro laptop. While my Turnpike is still
usable W7 32 bit, it's somewhat different - and I prefer it to run
'properly'.
--
Ian
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
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