Windows XP, VMware Fusion 4.1.4, Mavericks, Microsoft Security Essentials pain?

I'm currently frustrated with my machine. I've been e-mailing back and forth with VMware.  I know that Windows XP is not supported anymore.  I also know that VMware Fusion has a version 6 but I'm having to move to Parallels for work. 

The application that I mess with for work that runs on Windows XP may be migrated to Windows 7. I've not done much programming on Windows in the past 14 years, so I'm leaving it up to the owner of the application to decide about the upgrade path.

I wish I had the time(to learn), existing expertise, and energy to think of porting this somewhere else but I've not written drivers for cards before, and I'm responsible for other parts of the platform which also need work.

I'm just writing this up because I installed Microsoft Security Essentials sometime just before Windows XP became unsupported.  After that everything seemed fine though I can't recall testing if my network (mac to VMware) was working.

THEN I installed Mavericks, and THEN VMware has not been able to get to the network.

So I reinstalled VMware Fusion and I still couldn't get to the world from VMware Fusion (Windows XP). 

I also could not see a settings screen in VMware Fusion.  When I went to settings, the main window of Windows XP would grey out (suspended or live) and yet no other window would appear.

I reinstalled the VMware Tools.  Still no joy.

Finally I did get through the internet just by using the "quick" buttons for settings to go between NAT and Bridged, which I had been doing before but to no avail. At this point the network was excruciatingly slow. 

I still could not get to a settings screen so I've given up on that.

Ok, long story... Basically now that I've uninstalled Microsoft Security Essentials the network runs much faster.  I'm going to try to get AVG for XP and hope that will be protection enough for long enough that I don't compromise my Windows XP.

For anyone who cares, when I test with this software, I run the user interface side on Mac OS (Java based), similar to as we do with the real hardware, and run the C/C++ part on Windows XP (again, as with the real hardware). 

The GUI commands the C/C++ on some ports and the C/C++ additionally can initiate connections to another system on other ports.  We issue commands to that third system via the C/C++ system.  For pure simulation that 3rd system is s dumb echo on my mac side.  For testing with a more authentic simulator, that 3rd system is remote, so the Windows XP needs to get out to the rest of the world for that kind of testing.

Woke up, saw a bulging iPhone 3GS. Wow!

I hadn't looked at my iPhone 3GS 32G in a while.  I was thinking of updating my music then using it at the gym so there'd be no phone interruptions.  Instead, I found this!

I have other cell phones, much older, that we occasionally power up and try to charge for a visiting friend and get a SIM card for them to use while in the US.  These phones are not kept charged either and they don't do this.

Anyway, here is a long bunch of commentary on the Apple web site.  I'm thinking of walking in to an Apple Store as some people mention, to see if I can at least get them to dispose of the device properly.

If I dispose of it I want to make sure my data is deleted. I can't recall what all I have on it, but I'd just rather not have anything out there.

Post upgrade summary

Work ordered me a new drive (512 GB SSD) and 16 GB RAM kit to upgrade my 13-inch, Late 2011 Macbook Pro from 256 GB/8GB.  I have too much that I keep running at the same time, such as, migrating from VMWare Fusion (Windows XP) to Parallels (Windows 7) on the C/C++ side and  Netbeans 8.1 for the Java development.  When I want to run both applications (which talk to each other and accomplish one task) I'll have a lot of memory in use at one time... although, right now, I'm only running at 4.something GB real memory used.  So here is the upgrade summary. Pretty easy ... after all my worry.

I put the new drive

In a case I got cheap (like $6 for 5) on Amazon ,

and slid it into the Seagate tray.  Actually, I had to trim part of the opening using an box-cutter (do this at your own risk) as I mentioned here before.  I trimmed the top (thicker, nearer the lid of the box) this time.  These trays were meant for a different drive tray but they work, so I'm happy.

Then I used Carbon Copy Cloner to clone the existing 256GB SSD internal to the new drive.  It allowed me to also copy the hidden volume on the original Apple drive, which was important.  I will buy this product although just the try-me version was great, I really liked it, so I'm paying for it.

The clone didn't take that long, then I cracked the case carefully following these instructions at Apple. I also had peeked at these at iFixit earlier so knew about the drive removal and necessary tools.  I put in my 16 GB RAM and the new 512 GB SSD and it worked!

I am happy I also cloned the hidden partition.  Prior to the install, I booted holding down the D key and ran diagnostics on the hardware to find no problems.  This was when trouble-shooting with Apple about why the machine was re-booting for no apparent reason. The current suspected reason is a bad USB cable. More on that later, maybe.

In any case, after the upgrade I again booted holding down the D key and ran diagnostics with the new drive and RAM in and once again, no errors.  So I'm pretty confident right now.

Well, that's it.