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xp 32 bit or linux

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  • Linux
  • Hard Drives
  • Windows XP
Last response: in Linux/Free BSD
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January 13, 2014 9:15:23 AM

I'm building a newvcomputer , and looking for an operating system. I have an old hard drive has windows xp 32bit, and im more comfortable with windoes, but I've read that it would lower the performance. That being said, would it be a smarter choice to use Linux?

More about : bit linux

a b 5 Linux
January 13, 2014 9:27:59 AM

Generally and financially speaking, yes. But without knowing your intended use of the new PC, more about specific hardware components, and your level of tolerance for the command line, it is hard to say for sure.
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Best solution

January 13, 2014 11:02:47 AM

1) You will not be able to just plug your old hard drive with XP into your new motherboard and boot. You will need an XP install disk and original serial number to re-install the OS (or if you are lucky, repair)

2) Support for XP is ending in April, so no more updates from MS. This will become more and more of a security as time passes after April.

Tell us more about the hardware and your intended use and you will get better recommendations on what you should do.

Without knowing this information, I'd give Linux Mint a try, trying never hurt anyone. If you don't end up liking it and want to use Windows, I'd suggest buying Windows 7 or Windows 8. Which ever route you choose, I'd get over XP...
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January 14, 2014 8:18:14 AM

I agree with dmroeder. Windows XP will not be supported after a few months, plus it is notorious for bogging down old computers. This is a great opportunity to extend the life of the computer and try out Linux.

Search for Linux distributions designed to be "lightweight" and choose one that looks nice and comes with a selection of software that appeals to you. LUbuntu, XUbuntu, and Mint with XFCE desktop will be good options to look at.
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a b 5 Linux
January 18, 2014 12:35:04 PM

Don't be mislead. That is support for XP versions of their anti-malware apps, not support for XP. Security problems will still not be patched when support ends very soon now.
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a b 5 Linux
January 18, 2014 2:33:35 PM

It should be pointed out that extended support is for production of new signatures only, Security Essentials for XP will be withdrawn for download on April 8.
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January 19, 2014 4:53:15 AM

You could dual boot and install XP and linux. If you need to play XP games this is one way to have best of both worlds. Although support for XP is ended Mozilla firefox still has support for XP, although its safer and more secure to use linux, some good suggestions have already been made.

The worst flaw about windows (all versions including win8) is the NTFS filesystem. You will have fragmentation as soon as XP is installed and it just gets worse the more it is used, By contrast a journalled linux filesystem like ext3, ext4, reiser and many others have extyremely little fragmentation.
This means that if your linux PC boots in 25 seconds, when you install it, it will still boot in 25 seconds 7 years later. One other side effect, is because there is so little fragmentation, there is much,much less meachanical wear and tear on your hard drive. After 6 years of continuous use, fragmentation of my ext3 shared partition was a mere
1.7% ! There are no losers here apart from microsoft.
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a b 5 Linux
January 19, 2014 5:07:36 AM

Journalling of a file system has no connection with fragmentation. NTFS is a journalled file system. As we move towards SSDs fragmentation becomes irrelevant.
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