Newly discovered Internet Explorer security hole won’t be patched for Window XP

Posted by David Bernstein

As you may or may not know, Microsoft has stopped supporting Windows XP in regards to patches and other updates. So if you are still running Windows XP then you should be looking into upgrading for the sake of security along with the millions of other people still using Windows XP.

It was just a matter of time before there was a newly discovered security hole that would require fixing my Microsoft and that time has come. But since XP is not supported anymore those computers will not be getting patched. Security company FireEye said it has found a hole in the Internet Explorer web browser that can allow attacks which can let a computer run code which can collect personal data or send spam.

These vulnerabilities are not uncommon and usually get patched fairly quickly but since Microsoft won’t be patching Windows XP this will be a potential problem for a lot of people. But since this issue involves a web browser and not the operating system itself there are ways to protect yourself. You can switch to a different browser such as Firefox or Chrome which still has updated version available for Windows XP for now. You should also make sure your antivirus and firewall software are up to date to help protect your computer from malicious websites.

* UPDATE

Microsoft has now said that they will be patching Internet Explorer for Windows XP as well.

The end of Windows XP is finally here

Posted by David Bernstein

If it seems like Windows XP has been around forever, it’s because it has. It was released in August of 2001 and has been going strong ever since. In fact out of all the Windows powered desktops, 44% of them are still running Windows XP. Many people keep their Windows XP computers simply because they work or because the hardware may not be sufficient to run Windows 7 or Windows 8. Plus many corporations don’t want to spend the money to upgrade all the computers in their organization.

Microsoft has decided to pull the plug on Windows XP support on April 8^th since its past its life expectancy and the want to focus more on Windows 7 and Windows 8. Plus they want consumers to upgrade and therefore spend their money on the newer versions of Windows. Also this will mean they won’t have to put in the time or effort to patch Windows XP if it’s not supported anymore.

Just because XP won’t be supported doesn’t mean you will have to stop using the operating system. What it will mean is that there will not be any more updates or more importantly security patches which will leave XP users more vulnerable to attacks as security holes are discovered in the OS. Windows XP was developed at a time when internet security was not as big of an issue as it is today. Windows 7 and 8 were designed with security in mind so overall they are much more secure operating systems. Plus Windows XP doesn’t support newer versions of Internet Explorer which are more secure than the older versions. In fact Avast Chief Operating Officer Ondřej Vlček says Windows XP users are "six times more likely to get hacked than Windows 7 users”.

So now the question is, will you be updating?