PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: Do you run Windows XP? Are you wondering about the strange dialog box that has or will soon pop up on your machine, saying that the end is near and you need to upgrade? Think its a joke or that its a lie? Dont. WinXP is going the way of the dodo bird in just over a month. What does that mean? It means Microsoft is about to pull the plug on support for this now 12 year old OS, an end that has been creeping up on us for many years. MS pushed back against this deadline at the insistence of numerous people who insisted they couldnt move from XP. Well, that pushback ends now. By this time in May, Windows XP joins the ranks of other ancient OSes, including Win2K, Win98, and of course WinME, and becomes unsupported. What does that mean for you? It means that come April 9th, any new exploits released for Windows XP will no longer be patched. It means that from that day on, all exploits are technically zero-day. XP becomes completely and totally vulnerable. Your only solution is to *completely disconnect your Windows XP machine from the internet*. Let me emphasize that. There will be no Microsoft knights on white horses to save you from the resulting ownage that will occur after the last Patch Tuesday for Windows XP. Once the last batch of patches are rolled out, anything new the hackers find for Windows will _remain unpatched_ unless you cough up huge bucks for a Microsoft extended support contract. Short? If youre using XP, stop. Get Windows 7. Even if this means new hardware, get Windows 7. Realistically, you need Windows 8, actually. Dont like Modern, let me suggest you get ClassicShell or Start8. Regardless, any XP machines you still have need to be retired and decommissioned. Please dont ignore this or downplay it. Any flaws found in the OS _will not be fixed_, and theres concern that bad actors are hanging on to their bugs so they can exploit them after the last patch. If you know any of your family still using Windows XP (and theres an awful lot of them out there: 1 out of every 5 machines on the internet, at least, is using XP), pass this on to them and GET THEM OFF XP. This is one of the few times that I ask you to like and share this post. Expecially share it with XP users.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 05:16:03 +0000
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