I would like to move off of XP, but not sure to what? Help!

Just because MS dropped support, does not mean that it will stop working.
It still works. Java, flash, av signatures will still be updated.

You say " networks running with the least amount of computer troubles possible." So Linux won't be an option for you. Some distro's are hard to set up. And it not like any Windows program will run on it.

And Apple won't work either. Windows programs won't run on Apple. You would need a VM or boot camp to get it running on it.

You can, if you are that worried about security. Keep XP offline, and get a new pc that you can connect to the internet,

Sounds like for the one machine you can't move from XP to run the one program.
1st google running xxx on win7 and see is anyone has a workaround for xxx program.

No solution? then
Linux Mint Cinnamin 17 and dual boot. Woudn't bother with virtualization depending on the age of the machine, amount of ram etc. Down side is you can't flip back and forth between OS you need to reboot but it uses less resources. Upside is you won't have to reinstall XP within linux it'll be there the same as it ever was.

Run all your normal applications or their free equivalents in Linux and online stuff. Reboot into XP to run the one app. and don't allow an online connection.

Change your bios boot options to try USB 1st and run a live (uninstalled version) of linux on a small 8Gig thumb drive.
Play with that and see if it meets your needs is compatible with your hardware, you can get on line etc. If it does install it along side XP. It will give you that install option.

In XP download the linux mint .iso file then overwrite the thumb drive with it usinng unetbootn or something.
If you boot with the thumb drive in, linux will load off the thumb drive leaving XP intact. You can allocate space to remember any changes you make but at this point were're just trying out linux. Boot again without the thumb drive and XP will be there the same as ever. The linux install comes with a full office suite already there. If you don't do a lot of macros in excel etc. I'd bet libreoffice meets your needs and you can ditch MSoffice.

You'll be asked to partition the drive to make room for linux. Windows partition will be smaller than now and XP won't even know linux is on the drive. Linux will know XP is on the drive and will be able to see that partion. So linux will find your data on the xp partition so the office suite will find them but XP won't see the user data you save on the linux partition. In linux you can move data back an forth. Becarefull with that XP hidden os folders won't be hidden.

1 back up your data.
2 clean house on XP. CCleaner is a free app for that.
3 defrag the disk. Defragler (also free) is good for that. Then use it to defrag free space.
4 install linux with dual boot option. It will ask you how much disk space you want to allocate for linux. Give it say 20Gig and let it do it's thing.

Next reboot grub2 will ask what OS you want to run. Have fun. You can wean yourself off of XP as you learn linux and it's office suite and fiddle with WINE to run some .exe programs but still keep XP around for the one program and whatever else forces you into XP.

Clone a drive, image a drive, move partitions, fix a broken MBR when it won't boot.
You can do it all for free with a small rescue distro on a thumb drive with linux.

.02 (and worth that much) Apple wants to force you into its ecosystem as much as MS on more expensive hardware.

linux tends to work on older hardware and you'll likely find faster as well.

Lynn,

Don't listen to the hyped up myths criticizing Windows 8/8.1 -- the only two problems with WIndows 8/81. are solved for $7.99. The gripes center around the absence of the Start button and menu, and the separation of the Modern UI apps from the desktop. All anybody needs to banish these problems are two programs from StarDock.com called Start8 (restores the Start button and menu, easily enables booting directly into the desktop) and ModernMix (opens Modern UI apps in a resizeable window on the desktop like all your desktop programs have always done). There's a free 30-day trial and they sell together for $7.99 (otherwise $4.99 each).

I've built over 70 Windows computers over the years for my own office and for clients -- and have run into just about every conceivable situation -- none of which could be solved by switching to Linux or Apple.

Also the vast majority of your Windows XP applications will probably work in Windows 8/8.1 You may need to use a few tweaks during installation with some of them, like changing the properties of the installation file to "Run As Administrator" and maybe setting "Compatibility" to Windows XP. It's likely that discussion boards, newsgroups, and the manufacturer's online help pages will tell you. Also Microsoft maintains a web page with information about compatibility of older programs with Windows 8/8.1 based on users responses. I use a lot of applications and the only one that won't work with Windows 8/8.1 is Roxio Creator Pro 2011. Even the 12 year old desktop publishing program Corel Ventura 10 runs just fine in Windows 8/8.1 -- the Ventura newsgroup provided step by step details to install Ventura in Windows 7 and 8/8.1 that work, even in a 64-bit version of Windows.

Unless you're a techie, switching to Linux is just plain foolish -- and certainly unnecessary.

And I can't fathom any reason to switch to an Apple computer -- which are far from perfect machines, more expensive, and unless you install Windows on it, won't run your Windows programs.

Again, don't believe the griping about Windows 8. Every "gripe" is easily solved for under $10.

I have gone through them all.

I have been through Apple MacBook Pro worth $2000. I have gone through Microsoft Windows 8 worth $350. I have gone through Linux free for everyone, etc. My advice to you is stay with Microsoft Windows XP. Get the 32-bit if you can. Many people have peaked out on Microsoft Windows XP. These days the 64-bit applications are silly. They are not as productive as those were on the XP. Neither are they as numerous. XP is a winner. However, for your security, just stay with the websites that you normally frequent and trust. I have found if you open e-mails from unknown senders or if you go to new websites all the time, it is a sure way of making your system more vulnerable. So the old saying goes, "Do not talk to strangers." is a true saying in web environment. However, what you can do in these days is to think seriously about the content of what is being said no matter who it is from. Whether you are black, white, yellow, brown, purple, or any other color skin, it does not matter as long as you look past appearances and see what is the true content. Read it if you wish, however, think and say to your self a serious question, "Does this information in this person make any sense?"

I had the same problem with couple old software pieces. They work fine on 32-bit Windows 7 machine.

VMware Player will allow you to install a fully legal version of XP. So you can run the difficult program with no problem.

I did this with an old XP program and it works fine.

I've had the same problem with Win XP scanner and business software not working with Win 7. I employed two solutions that work fine. Consider these:

1) When you use Win XP, make sure you downgrade your log-in from Administrator to Restricted User and install a decent password. You can install Avast free version for anti-virus; they still update Win XP. If you need to use Admin functions with Win XP, temporarily change back to administrator and then change back when you're done. On the web you can use Google Chrome to be assured of continuous anti-virus protection, or Mozilla Firefox is good too.

2) If you have a desktop computer, add a solid state drive (SSD) and install Win 7. Use it only for operating system and new applications. Leave the original (Win XP) drive intact and direct the SSD to access your Documents file on the XP drive. When you boot up the computer (hold down delete key) select BIOS. You should be able to select the boot order and choose the disc / operating system you want to boot to, either Win XP or Win 7.

That's my recommendation. My computer has never run better.

Hi Lynn,
I am in a similar boat. However my attitude is "if it isn't broke, don't fix it!" I plan to go on using XP SP3 until some major future event or failure actually happens. In order to protect myself from that future - i.e. a nightmare - I have prepared for that possible situation. The components of my down-risking include:- (a) use of an effective anti-virus product, kept current, (b) regular and systematic execution of my data backup procedures (which incidentally includes a grandfather copy out of my home, in the garage, in case of data loss by fire), (c) a CD download of Linux Mint Cinnamon - which closely resembles XP to the user, all ready to boot from that same installation CD, (d) a moderately full pre-test of this Linux version so that I have assurance that my software will run with Linux, shouuld I need to switch at short notice, (e) a prior switch to Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird, so I have good actual experience of my possible future Linux environment, should it be needed. I also think that use of these products gets me away from overpowering commercial interests and also reduces my exposure to viral infections of Outlook Express 6.0 and Internet Explorer 8.0. I will re-test Linux over time, perhaps annually.
My view is that if there are still 27m copies of XP installed, some enterprising body will discover ways to offer increased external protection through possibly chargeable add-ons etc. I also note that all of my software described above is free to me. I wrote to Bill Gates decrying the withdrawal of support for so many Microsoft customers, and got no reply! I am sure that many people would be happy to pay a support licence fee for ongoing support.
My best advice is however that you ask yourself why you might want to migrate and what are the risks you see. It is the level of risk that should guide you on the best course of action. For me, my answer today is that I will stay with XP.
Good luck,
Geoff.

I'm in the same boat as Lynne E. I use a lot of " custom " software.

I've contacted the folks who wrote the software and to be compatible with Win8, I'm looking at well over 25 killobucks.

Those dasterdly people at M/S just literally screwed gazillion of folks who can't afford a new machine or whose machine isn't capable of Win8 - I think this was really a big attempt at a money grab by M/S.

From what I've experienced first hand, Win8 is OK for tablets but for a working laptop it's pure garbage.

Can anyone really come up with concrete reasons why XP was killed? In seven (7) years it *NEVER* crashed, never froze up - it was the best O/S M/S created. Also, from what I've been able to read, M/S is going to continue to support XP in Germany and another country [ can't remember the name of the country at the moment ].

Lynn, Often i have found that if your using software that will not run on newer versions of windows that it is old or unsupported. I have taken the leap of moving to non-microsoft products when i can. Often the community of computer software people will have made a version of software that will work as well as the licensed and paid version of software you can get from microsoft or its partners. More often these programs are free (or by donation if you wish) and can be updated for quite a while. I.E. microsoft office costs about $300 but the comparable version of this is Libre Office or Open Office. Both are almost the same and easily had for nothing if you wish. I have found several programs such as an old version of quicken our church used could not be opened by new programs but I was able to open and see the information using a program called gnucash http://www.gnucash.org/ even though it wasn't quite the same but was free.
Try using Google and typing "Open source version of" and then the computer programs name and see what comes out.

Hi, had similar concerns on 2 machines and found this to be a way around:
These settings have to be made in the router. Adresses are fixed and based on the MAC address which is unique to every electronic item around, in this case it would be the MAC address of your Network card
1) make sure you have fixed addresses for the XP PC in your router setup
2)disallow internet access permanently for the fixed address XP PC
3)share a drive/folder on a supported version of Windows e.g. Win7
Although you can't access the internet from that XP you can do everything else you would do on the network as long as it doesn't involve the internet
So, anything that needs to work to and from the internet, such as e-mails and browsing is handled by the Newer OS, then worked on in the old XP machine, but saved back to the shared folder. The newer PC does the "keeping things secure" bit, i.e. stuff reaches your XP machine clean

Jesus Christ!hehe On second thought, if you are a business then security is important. I read one post where it says to keep the internet out of it. That is one idea since another post also mentions that you are using softwares not compatible with the newer system. Personally, I use Borland Turbo C 2.01 for my work and it is backwards in the sense that it is old like I am. It is from the 1980's or 1990's. So it is not compatible with my Microsoft Windows 8. However, I over-ride the settings by installing DOSbox and it works that way. My Windows 8 is 64-bit machine so it always shows an error message trying to play my 16-bit works. That is why free emulators like DOSbox, FreeDOS, ect. are good. If my over 31 years software I use for work is compatible with a little adjustment, yours should be too. I know I do NOT have the money to spend on buying these expensive softwares all over again. I spent thousands of dollars back in the 1990's and now a days I am flat broke. Thank you Jesus Christ these programs that are old are free these days. However, my lost in money is your gain.

You'll probably need to upgrade to 7 or 8 sometime, so do so now and dual boot. It's very easy, particularly if you have two separate hard drives, one for each Operating System, though using an extra partition on a single disk drive is not difficult.
Either way, you will have the best of both worlds, and, as I have discovered, you may never need to boot into XP at all. I've got some very old programs on my XP partition, but I discovered long ago that I could run them while I was running Windows 7 by navigating to the program's .exe file on the XP partition's Program Files folder, using Explorer, and double-clicking. So effective was this that I simply made a shortcut on my Windows 7 Desktop to that .exe file on the XP partition, and I don't need to boot into XP to use those programs.
I might have just struck lucky with those programs I wanted to install on the XP partition, and your business software may not work that way - it's worth a try, though, and, anyway, you can just boot into XP if it doesn't. Much easier than creating a Virtual Machine, which I've tried, unsuccessfully, or moving away from Windows and learning a new Operating System, and cheaper than buying Windows 7 Pro.

Lee, I share your pain in your dilemma - and I also share the pain you no doubt have with these replies to your post. You have already stated that your are not a techie - we "dinosaurs" vastly outnumber the techies - but they just can't resist taking off and displaying their techie knowledge. Their replies are mostly no help at all - we have little or no idea of what they are talking about, and they easily throw out advice such as "just make sure the computer you buy is (whatever) capable". How the hell are we non-techies supposed to know that? The techies can't imagine that there is more in life than keeping yourself glued to a computer.
Now that I have vented - I am not a business owner, and I do no financial matters on line, and I still run XP Home. Why? It runs perfectly for me, I know the system well, and all my peripheral equipment (camera, printer, GPS, and more) operate flawlessly with it. I run Eset NOD-32 Antivirus.
The bandied-about statement "Microsoft" no longer supports XP is not strictly true. Since the announced April cutoff date, there have been several "critical" updates issued, and just this week they issued the "Malicious Malware Removal Tool" again.
I considered a change to Linux, then I considered a move to Apple, then I considered a move to a later Microsoft system, but - did I mention there is more to life than staying glued to a computer?

Personally, while owning 4 windows 7 pc's, 4 windows 8 pc's, and having been thru Vista and XP; I have to recommend you get into Windows 7, whatever it takes, and ride that OS as long as possible, much like you did XP. You probably would not like win 8, and win 9 is not likely to be the new improved win 7, so I have to recommend Windows 7. Good Luck to You!!!

I lot of the answers say go with lunux , way to complicated for anyone asking your question to do, or apple which won't run anything but their own stuff . If your present computer can take windows 7 get a tech to load it dual boot this means you keep windows XP with the old program ( It must really be old , the tech can check this ) he should install windows 7 and move your data to it and the programs that are possible . This will leave XP as is and you can choose which system starts from the black and white screen menu .

KISS -keep it simple stupid my moto as a repair tech for seniors 10 years of happy customers

Bob Montreal

I don't have a problem using Win 7/8, and have machines that run those systems. I will retire next year. I still use a core DOS program, and two less important but regularly used DOS programs. All these programs run fine in WinXP, but one will not run in Win7. I like to have a standard setup for these linked programs which together form a well integrated system. Moving to later software is perfectly possible at a cost that is unjustified with retirement in prospect, and the newer software would, without doubt, be less efficient than the old. I still use an XP machine for the old software, and have taken various steps to improve security. It also currently runs modern software for other purposes.

On the later operating systems I have tested out VMLite XP mode, which appears quicker, less fussy, and has more facilities than the MS XP mode, and have created a standard setup which works well in Win7 32/64 bit, and Win8 32bit. I am confident that if I have to move over to Win7 before I retire, I can do it relatively easily. Alternatively, I could set up with an XP and Win7 machine in tandem and may have to if support for XP ceases on the modern software.

At the risk of tempting fate, the end of MS support for XP has not yet been quite the apocalypse that was predicted - and NO, I'm not being complacent.

Personally I haven't had any luck using the compatibility mode with Windows.
I did have much better luck with Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and WINE on many older Windows programs, most could use WINE TRICKS to load and use