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Subject:Re: Problem with my XP system - Question From:Chris Morton <salt -dot- morton -at- gmail -dot- com> To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Date:Fri, 27 Dec 2013 13:59:52 -0800
See* Securing XP PCs after Microsoft drops support* at Windows Secrets
(dot) com.
> Chris
On Fri, Dec 27, 2013 at 1:16 PM, Fred Ridder <docudoc -at- hotmail -dot- com> wrote:
> Al Geist wrote:
>
> > Final end-of-life for XP only means that Microsoft will no longer support
> > this operating system. It doesn't mean that everything stops on systems
> that
> > have it installed.
>
> Well, that's mostly true, but it's only part of the story. The
> consequences of end of support are quite different for an OS than for
> application software.
>
> You can continue to use an application well past its EOL as long as long
> as it is compatible with the OS you are running and nothing disastrous will
> happen.
>
> But the OS has the primary responsibility for system security, and when
> the security patches for Windows XP stop in April no more vulnerabilities
> will get fixed via patches because there are no more patches. When new
> exploits are let loose to take advantage of XP's inherently lower level of
> security (Windows 7 and 8 have major improvements in preventing intrusion),
> those exploits will be unanswered. It's not a matter of _if_ new exploits
> are unleashed, it's _when_. Security experts supposedly have seen some
> indication that hackers have been "saving up" exploits that target XP
> vulnerabilities until there will be no more security patches coming from
> Microsoft. This is the real deal, folks.
>
> Personally, I would not invest any time in trying to resuscitate a Windows
> XP installation that has gone sour. I'd bite the bullet and do a clean
> install of Windows 7 (if I could find a legitimate license to buy) or of
> Windows 8/8.1. The gotcha, though, is that a lot of older applications have
> compatibility issues with post-XP Windows versions and and a lot of older
> peripherals do not have drivers that are fully compatible. A lot of users
> are going to find that putting off OS upgrades for 6 or 7 years means that
> they have a lot more upgrading and replacing to do now.
>
> -Fred Ridder
>
>
>
>
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