Alternative to Dropbox

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#1544927 1-May-2016 17:07

And I bought my first computer in 1984, have learnt and forgotten a few programming languages, been everything from system assembler, Microsoft trainer, systems engineer, sysadmin and now solution architect, and I have never, EVER, lost any data in my 32 years of using computers.

And I think it's irresponsible to use a PC with an unsupported OS for which even security patches aren't being released anymore. Yes, it's just my opinion, but it's a phenomenally well qualified one.

That said, not being stupid is the best defense for sure!

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

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ratbert

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#1544933 1-May-2016 17:25

Yep, stupidity is always the biggest killer!

I've been a sysadmin since Windows NT so I also know my stuff. My firewall works like a firewall should, it blocks everything inward or outward unless I explicitly allow it. I know what apps are talking to the big wide world, who they're talking to and how much data they're using. If it got infected I would know almost immediately.

There's nothing irresponsible about it really.

Sideface

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#1544937 1-May-2016 17:29

ratbert:

<snip> Back in reality though, I've had my old lappie for nearly ten years and by having a good firewall and antivirus, plus not being stupid, I've never had an infection of any kind. So currently security is 100%. <snip>

I bought XP in 2001 on the day of it's release. It was really, really good in its day - which was a long time ago.

The fact that you've "never had an infection of any kind" tells me that that you are both careful and lucky - it does not mean that you are "100% secure".

I have never heard of a lappie that lasted 10 years with real-world use - what do you have?

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ratbert

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#1544945 1-May-2016 17:45

You can argue semantics all day, but how many millions of Win 7, Vista, 8 and 10 PCs have been infected around the world while my old beast has remained as clean as a whistle? I'm happy calling it secure.

It's a Thinkpad T60. You can't kill these things with a brick.

darylblake

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#1544971 1-May-2016 18:21

There are other 3rd party dropbox clients that will probably run on windows XP. I would start there. But it seems they are telling you something. (don't use xp they are not interested in supporting it).

What is wrong with google drive? It doesn't support Linux Natively? But can you not use a 3rd party linux client? You can always access the files via chrome. Then there are 3rd party clients that work with linux.

Hell you could even rock Amazon S3 if you find the right client software.

XP is seriously a bad idea. Especially if you are running a business. I would only use XP to run legacy software or old hardware and only if i needed it. And I would probably run it on an internal private network with no public internet access.

1) You will get hacked sooner or later.

2) You wont be able to fix it when you do.

3) Dropbox is only the start of your line of issues. You will soon find out that loads of applications have an will drop support for windows xp.

4) Its 2016 now. This software came out in October 2001. So if my maths serves me correctly that is about 15 years ago. XP probably can't understand any device that was made in the last few years. So you are going to have to upgrade some day it may as well be sooner than later. Manufacturers of pretty much any new electronic product are NOT going to develop drivers for whatever you buy to work with windows xp.

Rikkitic

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#1544987 1-May-2016 19:38

ratbert:

Microsoft have created the rather lucrative fantasy that once they stop support for something it will immediately fall victim to every virus, trojan, exploit and bug in the world and crash horribly, taking the entire internet with it.

Back in reality though, I've had my old lappie for nearly ten years and by having a good firewall and antivirus, plus not being stupid, I've never had an infection of any kind. So currently security is 100%.

As for support, I've never had to ask Microsoft for help, so that's not a problem. And since they stopped doing security updates not a single bad thing has happened. So currently my need for support is zero.

When the day eventually comes when XP or the hardware finally can't do the job, then I'll buy a new one and put on an OS with proper security and support like Linux or FreeBSD. Until then I'll carry on with what I've got. It just works.

I have to say I agree with you on this. I retired my last XP machine a few months ago for other reasons but I never had a single problem with it, never an infection of any kind, never any other issues. It was and is a good OS and it did the job I needed it to. I would have no problem going back to it now if there was a good reason to. (A good reason might be the problems I keep running into with Win 10, 8.1 and 7).

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k1w1k1d

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#1544988 1-May-2016 19:41

I work for a national company with about a dozen or so branches covering both islands. We still have some PC's and laptops that run XP. They all connect to our server and to the internet. All are supposed to be replaced this financial year.

My PC is one of them. It is a Dell GX520 with a huge 1GB of DDR2 RAM, but I do have a flash 24" monitor. Will be great when I get a new PC and a second screen. I think the hold up at the moment is sorting out a few problems with W10 on our server.

I also have a Toshiba laptop that HAS TO RUN XP because of some of the equipment diagnostic programs on it. These programs and/or their interfaces won't run on later versions of Windows. We have tried many times but can't get all of them to run successfully.

davidknz

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#1544993 1-May-2016 19:52

One of the "special" hazards of XP is that it runs off the same code base

as Wiin7, which IS still supported. So when MS issues a security update for

Win 7, they are advertising that same vulnerability exists, unpatched, in XP.

An open invitation for the Dark SIde to which they are quick to respond :-)

ratbert

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#1545004 1-May-2016 20:06

Good to know I'm not the only hold-out here Rikkitic and k1w1k1d!

davidknz:

One of the "special" hazards of XP is that it runs off the same code base

as Wiin7, which IS still supported. So when MS issues a security update for

Win 7, they are advertising that same vulnerability exists, unpatched, in XP.

An open invitation for the Dark SIde to which they are quick to respond :-)

Every day I hear about people with Win 7 or later, presumably with all the updates, getting infected with malware of some sort, yet us XP old-timers keep trucking along without any problems.
To be honest it seems like an upgrade would only make things worse

blakamin

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#1545009 1-May-2016 20:16

ratbert:

Every day I hear about people with Win 7 or later, presumably with all the updates, getting infected with malware of some sort, yet us XP old-timers keep trucking along without any problems.

Every day I hear about xp being used in botnets...

So obviously all you XP old-timers aren't trucking along without any problems...

Pretty silly statement really.

I used win3.1 with no issues too... and 95... 98se... nt... xp...

I'm also happy to move with the times and use 10

jnimmo

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#1545088 1-May-2016 22:39

ratbert:

Wrong question. Why would I upgrade?

XP does everything I need it to (except run Dropbox) so what's the point?

So you don't have to worry about finding an alternative to Dropbox & a growing list of applications, protocols, etc :)

Win 10 is a great OS, or at least 7

jarledb

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#1545093 1-May-2016 23:03

You can look forward to the internet going dark for you on XP. Google Chrome and Firefox are working towards warning users about unencrypted web sites, and a lot of sites will probably start using encryption using SNI - which is not supported on XP - which in turn means you won't be able to access the sites. Its probably happening already, and will happen more and more frequently as the browsers make people more security aware (and thereby pushing site owners to add encryption).

Using an operating system with known and un-patched vulnerabilities are never a good idea, and especially not when its a well known and (previously) well distributed OS. I find it baffling that you don't realise that.

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ratbert

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#1545099 1-May-2016 23:56

Well it's been fun kiddywinks, but it's beddybyes time for me. I was a bit disappointed at the boring and repetitive arguments, especially after I had answered them all, but I guess if I wanted imagination and creativity I should have gone to a Linux forum.
For all of those predicting my inevitable digital demise, that dark day when I'm plunged into virtual darkness alone, infected and app-less, all is not lost. Take heart, kiddies, for I will have already been using my Linux desktop box to shop for a shiny new laptop that will become home to Tux the penguin or Beastie the daemon, and will never be tainted by the oily stench of Redmond.

Until that distant time, XP and my Thinkpad just keep chugging along faultlessly.

Breaking news, SpiderOak did work in the end. I thought it's automatic sync feature wasn't working but it's just a bit slower than Dropbox's is all. (Scheduled backups are a separate function).

Now that was a lot easier than installing a new operating system, wasnt it? Plus now I get automatic encryption of my files. It's even better than before! Yes folks, it's another great day to be an XP user!

Thanks for the suggestions for Dropbox alternatives though, all of you who managed to stay on topic. I'll keep them in mind for the future.

Incidentally I discovered a useful trick with SpiderOak One. It's sync folder is called the Hive, and it can only exist in your Documents folder, it can't be moved. I wanted to sync a data folder on my D: drive instead. Putting a shortcut to the data folder in the Hive didn't work, but creating a junction to the data folder in the Hive instead worked perfectly. I can continue to use the D: drive for my work and still have it synced.

So how do you create a junction? There's the hard way, the Sysinternals junction app way, or using a file manager called XYplorer which has it as an option in the right-click context menu for file operations.

You're welcome.

tdgeek

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#1545112 2-May-2016 07:22

ratbert:

Well it's been fun kiddywinks, but it's beddybyes time for me. I was a bit disappointed at the boring and repetitive arguments, especially after I had answered them all, but I guess if I wanted imagination and creativity I should have gone to a Linux forum.
For all of those predicting my inevitable digital demise, that dark day when I'm plunged into virtual darkness alone, infected and app-less, all is not lost. Take heart, kiddies, for I will have already been using my Linux desktop box to shop for a shiny new laptop that will become home to Tux the penguin or Beastie the daemon, and will never be tainted by the oily stench of Redmond.

Until that distant time, XP and my Thinkpad just keep chugging along faultlessly.

Breaking news, SpiderOak did work in the end. I thought it's automatic sync feature wasn't working but it's just a bit slower than Dropbox's is all. (Scheduled backups are a separate function).

Now that was a lot easier than installing a new operating system, wasnt it? Plus now I get automatic encryption of my files. It's even better than before! Yes folks, it's another great day to be an XP user!

Thanks for the suggestions for Dropbox alternatives though, all of you who managed to stay on topic. I'll keep them in mind for the future.

Incidentally I discovered a useful trick with SpiderOak One. It's sync folder is called the Hive, and it can only exist in your Documents folder, it can't be moved. I wanted to sync a data folder on my D: drive instead. Putting a shortcut to the data folder in the Hive didn't work, but creating a junction to the data folder in the Hive instead worked perfectly. I can continue to use the D: drive for my work and still have it synced.

So how do you create a junction? There's the hard way, the Sysinternals junction app way, or using a file manager called XYplorer which has it as an option in the right-click context menu for file operations.

You're welcome.

Well, the responses you got were informed and helpful responses, I am very surprised that you cannot see that. Both the Dropbox and move off XP ones. To top it off with kiddywinks and other snide responses in your last post, was well, pretty poor.

JamesL

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#1545113 2-May-2016 07:29

all I got from the OP is ignorance is bliss

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