20130812
http://membrane.com/security/secure/Microsoft_Is_Unscrupulous.html
Microsoft Has Hidden Files on Your Computer
http://www.astalavista.com/library/os/win95-98/mshidden.txt
of course there are More Things To Know with new windows releases...
Microsoft's Really Hidden Files:
A New Look At Forensics. (v2.5b)
By The Riddler
October 14, 2001 (v2.0 finished May 16, 2001; v1.0 finished June 11, 2000)
Written with Windows 9x in mind, but not limited to. 


20140119
http://www.infoworld.com/d/consumerization-of-it/dont-believe-the-lies-about-windows-xps-imminent-death-233815
Don't believe the lies about Windows XP's imminent death
I understand why Microsoft, PC vendors, and IT consultants are screaming over the "death of XP": They want to scare XP-using companies and individuals -- who comprise a whopping 30 percent of the customer base seven years after its successor's debut -- into buying new PCs, or at least getting new licenses and consulting gigs. FUD is the unfortunately common MO for tech companies' sales staffs. But I'm not certain why so many tech writers repeat this foolishness.


20150403
http://hothardware.com/News/14-year-old-windows-xp-still-has-more-users-than-windows-8x
14-Year-Old Windows XP Still Has More Users Than Windows 8.x

Fix XP's update issue with this:   (32 bit systems only)
http://www.zdnet.com/article/registry-hack-enables-continued-updates-for-windows-xp/

  For 64 bit systems:
https://www.sebijk.com/community/board9-community/board5-pc/2985-getting-xp-updates/?s=c21c458bfadab20afc53141e61e69ad3e566f0df
Getting XP updates - Friday, May 23rd 2014, 9:35pm


20160414
http://www.techradar.com/us/news/software/operating-systems/windows-xp-still-the-third-most-popular-os-two-years-after-end-of-life-1318572
Windows XP still the third most popular OS two years after end-of-life

My comment
http://www.techradar.com/us/news/software/operating-systems/windows-xp-still-the-third-most-popular-os-two-years-after-end-of-life-1318572#comment-2622853261

The further Microsoft moves away from XP, the more I like XP. Which is still not much, but I find 7, 8 and 10 unacceptable for multiple reasons. No MS, it's my machine not yours. I will not submit to your rapacious App-rental model, your closed hardware box concept, your outrageous remote monitoring and logging, your control-freak enforcement of DRM/copyright stupidity, your constant User Interface churn (designed to secure MS income via continually obsoleting 'MS certified professional' qualifications), your extreme abstraction and obfuscation of every basic system feature so users interact only with an imaginary system image, not the real machine, your deliberate bloatware designed to force people to continually buy new hardware just to get a machine that runs acceptably, your OS architecture carefully crafted to eliminate the ability to easily clone and back up systems (The Registry, and intermingling utility installs and the OS, are you serious?), and so on.

As far as I'm concerned, MS is and always has been an enemy of human society and advancement. Every MS OS has been awful, they just keep getting worse and worse, and 10 is such an evil Elitist monstrosity of control and spying that those responsible for it should be shot. The crimes of Romania's Ceausescu were trivial compared to the harm Gates and Balmer have done to the world.

This Techradar article may try to make XP holdouts look like fools, but I suspect a time may come when those who refused to follow MS down their dictatorial garden path will be seen as visionaries.