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Windows XP holdouts are even more danger than ever after Microsoft abandoned anti-malware support for the ancient platform.
Redmond overnight stopped providing XP support for new and existing installs of its Security Essentials package.
The run-as-needed Malicious Software Removal Tool has also been axed, while support for patching ended in April last year for those who aren't paying large wads of cash to stave off an upgrade.
"Please note that since the above real-time protection products have limited effectiveness on PCs that do not have the latest security updates, your PC will still be at risk for infection," Redmond says.
"We strongly recommend that you complete your migration to a supported operating system as soon as possible so that you can receive regular security updates to help protect your computer from malicious attacks."
Netmarketshare.com data shows XP is alive and kicking
Windows XP's market share still beats its loathed successor Windows Vista, MacOS and Linux on the desktop.
The operating has a 12 percent market share or 180 million users, according to netmarketshare.com , putting it in third spot just behind version 8.1 representing 13 percent of installs, and version 7 with a whopping 61 percent of installs.
Are you still running Windows XP? What about your company?
Original Submission
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Thursday July 16 2015, @03:21PM
Some of us are running industrial/business software that WILL NOT WORK on anything >XP. Sometimes upgrades are available but for outrageous fees. Sometimes the vendor is long gone and you might need to invest tens to hundreds of thousands to upgrade entire systems that work just fine as they are. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!
I still have Windows 98 running in DOS mode for a glove box controller and a few machine controllers running Win 2k. As long as I can emulate and keep a stock of old hardware (dell dimension 4700's, pretty robust), I am happy to keep DOS, 9x, 2k and XP machines running. Hell, all of our desktops and a few new machine controllers are Windows 7 based and are already out of mainstream support (7 is in maintenance). And some 7 software, especially if it had special hardware or software subsystems, won't run on 8.x or 10. So it's going to be XP all over again. Thankfully we have about 5 years to worry until 7 is completely EOL'd.
(Score: 2) by K_benzoate on Thursday July 16 2015, @05:42PM
Windows XP is fine to use forever as long as the machine is properly isolated on the network, or airgapped entirely. I wouldn't trust it with Internet access. If the industrial equipment it's driving still works, why replace it?
I like products that last, but those grey box Dells are a blessing as well as a curse. Any of them that were going to die of things like bad caps or overheating, have. The ones that are still around are going to be running (Windows XP) forever. I have one of those long duty cycle Optiplex computers with a Pentium Dual Core running pfSense. The HDDs are both from identical Optiplexs and are running in mirrored RAID. SMART is lit up with "pre-fail" and "old age" warnings but they are still performing at spec. It's all original equipment that shows no signs of being in danger. I wouldn't be surprised if it went on working another ten years. I'm only considering replacing it soon because I can get something that does the same job but uses 1/10 the electricity.
But similar machines out there running XP...yikes. Most have always-on broadband connections, because most people have that these days, and they're going to continue spewing spam and malware onto the Internet forever.
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