Microsoft Extends Updates for Windows XP Security Products until July 14, 2015

[Amaury]

Good news for Windows XP users.

Microsoft Extends Updates for Windows XP Security Products until July 14, 2015
Source: The Next Web
Published: January 15, 2014

Microsoft today announced it will continue to provide updates to its security products (antimalware engine and signatures) for Windows XP users through July 14, 2015. Previously, the company said it would halt all updates on the same day as the end of support date for Windows XP: April 8, 2014.

For consumers, this means Microsoft Security Essentials will continue to get updates after support ends for Windows XP. For enterprise customers, the same goes for System Center Endpoint Protection, Forefront Client Security, Forefront Endpoint Protection, and Windows Intune running on Windows XP.

Here is the previous guidance from a page Microsoft had set up specifically to discuss Windows XP end of support:

As a result, after April 8, 2014, technical assistance for Windows XP will no longer be available, including automatic updates that help protect your PC. Microsoft will also stop providing Microsoft Security Essentials for download on Windows XP on this date.

The company is thus providing updates to its security products for an additional 15 months. In other words, while Windows XP will no longer be a supported operating system come April, companies will be at least partially protected (the actual OS still won’t get security updates) until next July.

Microsoft is in a tricky situation. On the one hand, it needs to push consumers and businesses off of Windows XP to more secure products, and the best way to do that is to stick to its end of support date. On the other hand, there are still so many millions of Windows XP users out there that leaving them completely vulnerable could cause more harm than good.

The company thus says its research shows “that the effectiveness of antimalware solutions on out-of-support operating systems is limited” and offers the following advice:

• Use modern software that has advanced security technologies and is supported with regular security updates.
• Regularly apply security updates for all software installed.
• Run up-to-date anti-virus software.

Windows XP is over 12 years old so if you’re still on it, only the third point still applies, and that’s just because Microsoft is bending over backwards for you. It’s time to move on.

 

[AdamD]

I must admit, I kinda miss XP, heh.

 

[jmurrayhead]

I must admit, I kinda miss XP, heh.

Me too. Good product. I'm happy with 7, though, as well.

 

[Amaury]

I must admit, I kinda miss XP, heh.

I was on Windows XP for a long time.

I finally ordered Windows 7 on November 15, 2011 with the birthday money I got for my 20th birthday on November 8, 2011. It arrived on November 25, 2011 and was installed that same day.

 

[ManagerJosh]

Note: This is extension does not apply to security updates and patches to the code. It just updates basic signatures for malware (and that doesn't really do any good in the long run)

 

[EQnoble]

I would still use windows xp if I were to build another emulation station for someone, while you can still run emulators on windows 7 with many of the more powerful consoles in fact running better on 7, XP had the capability to really really strip the os down and with the ability to boot it to a different shell quite easily windows xp made the perfect platform to build a machine that boots as a custom arcade machine. I can run everything on that machine from odyssey and coleco, to ps1 and n64 on a machine with a p4 and 2 or 3 gb of ram with no problems.

In cases such as this where there is no internet connection needed windows xp is just fine. I don't really care if they do or don't apply updates, my discs still work and they don't give me problems and there is still hardware out there compatible with xp that allows you to build your own marquees, joystick panels and other interface objects so in a closed environment the operating system can still have viable use in applications like this and many others.

On the flip, I will hang with windows 7 until they either make a new os that is not reminiscent of an early life play-date over duplo blocks, or until they force me to really consider choosing a distro, making it my main flavor and just running with that.

 

[feldon30]

I know people will say it's the fault of millions of users that there are so many XP machines out there (some 29% of Windows PCs are running XP as of last month), but I blame Microsoft for experimenting with their OSes, rather than continuous logical improvement.

• Vista was a UAC experiment gone wrong, and a huge pig as far as hardware requirements. It was not -- in any measurable way -- an upgrade from Windows XP.
• Windows 8 is a UI nightmare of conflicting paradigms and mystery meat navigation. 8.1 improved it some, but it won't be til 9 til we get a truly intuitive Windows OS again.

If Microsoft had gone straight from Windows XP to 7, and then released Windows 8 as "Windows Tablet", then the market wouldn't be sitting on the sidelines saying "I'll wait til Microsoft quits screwing around". Instead, they'd be on the upgrade train like you see in the Mac OS X and Linux worlds.

Personally, if Microsoft really wants to drop all support for XP, they need to release the source code. Otherwise, they're going to be indirectly responsible for crippling swarms of infected PCs running as massive botnets, and nobody will be able to fix it. The only answer I can give anyone why they should upgrade a perfectly good computer from XP to 7 these days is "because you have to".

I've been on Windows 7 (w/ ClassicShell) since launch day, and I'm very happy with it. It will last me til Windows 9 or 10.

 

[Amaury]

Vista was a UAC experiment gone wrong, and a huge pig as far as hardware requirements. It was not -- in any measurable way -- an upgrade from Windows XP.

If I recall, Windows 7 is what Windows Vista was supposed to be and it's why it was released not long after Windows Vista was released.

 

[feldon30]

If I recall, Windows 7 is what Windows Vista was supposed to be and it's why it was released not long after Windows Vista was released.

Yeah Windows 7 was just a big Service Pack for Windows Vista, with the memory management and CPU/HD racing brought under control, UAC dialed down, and some UI bugaboos sorted out. It's what we would have gotten if someone in charge of QA had looked at Vista and said "we can't ship this".

My biggest issue with Vista is, there was never a XP -> 7 upgrade path provided. This kept millions of people from upgrading because they had to buy two OSes instead of one, and there was no direct migration path. If Microsoft had allowed Windows 7 Upgrades to work on top of XP, and migrate all the data, then adoption would have brisk instead of tepid.

 

[Amaury]

My biggest issue with Vista is, there was never a XP -> 7 upgrade path provided.

An upgrade path from Windows XP to Windows 7 does exist, doesn't it?

I was on Windows XP for a long time.

I finally ordered Windows 7 on November 15, 2011 with the birthday money I got for my 20th birthday on November 8, 2011. It arrived on November 25, 2011 and was installed that same day.

I should have said upgraded, but yeah. I didn't lose any data or anything.

 

[feldon30]

An upgrade path from Windows XP to Windows 7 does exist, doesn't it?

To my knowledge, no migration tool was ever released.

 

[Moshe1010]

Probably because of this:
http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/20/5326772/windows-xp-powers-95-percent-of-atms-worldwide

 

[0ptima]

I've been on Windows 7 (w/ ClassicShell) since launch day, and I'm very happy with it. It will last me til Windows 9 or 10.

Just bought a new computer with Windows 7 Pro