This article is more than 1 year old

Super-antique-fragile-and-it's-XP-alidocious, even though the sight of it is something quite atrocious

A most uneXPected visitor: Windows cling-on spotted by Reg reader Discovery crew member

Bork!Bork!Bork! What is the name of that thing that keeps clinging on even when everyone seems to agree that the time for it to go has long past? Today, Bork brings you the return of Windows XP.

Like a villain in a shlock horror flick, Windows XP has returned from the grave time and time again. The monster to Microsoft's Frankenstein, the dreadful thing simply refuses to die.

Spotted by Register reader "Phoenix" on the mean streets of Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, in the UK, Windows XP sits snuggled between signs notifying catalogue retailer Argos's customers that systems are available (hopefully not powered by Microsoft's less-than-finest) to order online and collect in person.

bork argos tu

Click to enlarge

It's a shame. We miss the days of fiddling with pens and paper in this particular high street retailer as well as its "Book of Dreams" catalogue, the pages of which this hack's excited (and probably sticky) childhood fingers would turn in search of Sinclair or Commodore computers back in the day. Sadly, the glossy Christmas gift suggestions inevitably became sensible outdoor clothing.

While the catalogue and its colourful yet molecule-thick pages look set to join the toll of 2020, it is somehow reassuring to know that another throwback from years past still lingers on, even if a copy of Windows XP is something that a child is unlikely to want to find under the Christmas tree.

Our reader noted that the poor thing had been stalled on its boot screen for over 10 minutes. Support for the operating system has long since been yanked by Microsoft, so we can only assume that the determined display of the creature running the show behind the scenes amounts to a cry for help from the hardware within.

Have you spotted a computer behaving badly? Or do you have a story of breath-taking incompetence on your or another's part? Send an email to The Register for inclusion in our antidote to the 12 Days of Christmas, kicking off next month. ®

More about

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like