The final deadline for Windows XP support will act as a starting pistol for hackers, as they target hundreds of millions of users on unpatched systems.
Microsoft has already granted the 12-year-old OS several stays of execution, but the firm has said it will finally end extended support on 8 April 2014 – despite the fact that XP remains the second-most popular OS, with almost a third of PCs running it.
These hundreds of millions of desktops and laptops will be vulnerable to hackers once XP stops receiving security updates.The very first month that Microsoft releases security updates for supported versions of Windows, attackers will reverse-engineer those updates, find the vulnerabilities and test Windows XP to see if it shares [them]. If it does, attackers will attempt to develop exploit code that can take advantage of those vulnerabilities on Windows XP. Since a security update will never become available for Windows XP to address these vulnerabilities, Windows XP will essentially have a zero-day vulnerability forever.
SO WHAT ARE YOUR OPTIONS?
- Well, you can purchase a new computer that has Windows 7 or 8 and transfer all your data, and re-install all your software on it (we can do that for you).
- Don’t do anything and have faith that you will not become a victim of being hacked.
- Upgrade to Windows 7 or 8 (this option has minimum PC specifications)
- Schedule an appointment with us to install anti-virus software to continue protecting your system.
