Just installed Mint 17 onto an old pc primarily for learning about linux and to see how far it has come. I am quite impressed on how easy the installation was and how things work right out of the box. I could have formatted the pc beforehand to only run Mint but I also wanted to check a dual boot up operation. In principle I don't need this xp anymore and don't intend to run it, though there are still some data records on it. What is the security situation in such a case - assuming this computer is only run in Mint but also has a dormant XP version that never goes online. Assuming this xp has security vulnerabilities, can these be exploited somehow while the pc is operated (in Mint )?
In the words of Blackadder III, when the Prince asks him: Blackadder, are you the Scarlet Pimpernel? And he answers: Absolutely not! Mrk