From now on, there will be no more "security patches" for XP, so it's possible that attackers will release a swarm of .
"The hackers must have been holding onto some exploits while waiting for support to end," said Chris Sherman, an analyst at Forrester Research. “Having discovered any new vulnerabilities, they were most likely in no hurry to exploit them ahead of time.”
Attackers can also look into the new Windows Vista and Windows 7 security updates to try and find similar holes in XP.
End of Service for Windows XP, because there are still a lot of computers with this OS. Forrester estimates that around 20% of enterprise PCs run XP, with the public sector and healthcare as high as 23%; The system is widely used in retail trade. Researchers at Fiberlink, IBM's MMS subsidiary, found similar results: up to 20% of enterprise PCs run XP, with several large financial services companies using the OS particularly heavily.
Why XP is still used in companies
Why do all these computers still exist? After all, Microsoft announced the end of support for Windows XP back in April 2012.
“Some organizations misjudged how long it would take to migrate, some decided they didn't care about dropping support for XP, and it's possible that some IT departments didn't get the funds to upgrade,” says Michael Silver, VP president of research at Gartner. Some organizations may have underestimated the severity of the end-of-support announcement, he said, or delayed moving to a new version of Windows until the next hardware upgrade.
In addition, many organizations use older applications that may run on XP but are not compatible with newer versions of Windows. Others cannot upgrade because newer versions of the OS do not have drivers for some expensive hardware, such as medical equipment.
Departure from XP will speed up automation
Any migration takes a lot of time, but how much it will be spent depends on the amount of resources available to the company. “You can upgrade 20,000 machines over the weekend if you have the same number of support specialists,” Silver believes. It is possible to carry out migration faster, without having huge personnel reserves, with the help of automation.
The French Higher School of Health (EHESP) upgraded systems in exactly this way: in just one month, 600 PCs were upgraded from Windows XP to Windows 7 with just three IT staff and a consultant. To make this possible, the process has been partially automated using the Dell Migration Fast Forward service, a preconfigured environment image, and the Dell KACE imaging appliance.
“After testing our software for compatibility with the new version of Windows, we started updating computers and the operating system at a rate of about 30 machines a day,” says Gwendal Rosjo, manager of EHESP's IT and telecommunications department. “I am absolutely confident that we were able to make the transition faster and cheaper than if we had not resorted to automation.”
Individual support for Windows XP
In fact, Microsoft will still release security patches for XP after April 8, but only for those who are willing to pay. There is no official price list for this service, however, according to some reports, in the first year, individual support will cost $ 200 per PC per year, and in each subsequent year the price will double.
Due to high costs, many organizations do not consider this option, but Silver still advises not to discard it: “We have heard different versions about prices, including that the total cost of individual support will be lower than in the past, so Microsoft is definitely worth a try."
Companies in regulated industries that do not take advantage of this opportunity risk compliance issues by running an OS that is no longer patched. "Ultimately the decision will depend on the auditors, but in any case, it would be risky to hope that the system is protected when it is not patched," says Silver.
Chuck Brown, director of Fiberlink, agrees: “Under US federal law, PCs running XP will be considered unprotected. And I'm surprised that anyone in the financial services industry could ever decide that XP-powered machines would meet the international rules that govern the industry."
You can protect XP with third-party tools
There are other ways to protect XP machines besides signing a support deal with Microsoft. One option is to install security tools that will not let exploits on the PC. In particular, a similar security service called ExtendedXP is offered by the French company Arkoon+Netasq. An agent program is installed on each serviced PC that interacts with an online service that collects information about threats for XP and issues protection recommendations.
Another option is to use virtualization tools that isolate individual applications. This method is used by Bromium, a security software company. Its vSentry system creates hardware isolated virtual micromachines for every end user task. If such a VM is attacked, it remains isolated from the CPU, memory, storage devices and does not have direct access to peripherals and the network. If the corresponding user task crashes, the malware is automatically destroyed, according to Bromium.
"About 60% of malware uses PDF files as an attack vector, so these isolation systems can provide good protection," Sherman said. "But the problem is that they only support a limited range of applications."
You could also try using whitelisting technology for applications, which prevents unknown code from executing, he says. True, a program from the white list can still be compromised.
Privilege management and "zero option"
Since most malware requires administrative rights to work, solutions that only allow users to use accounts with standard rights and elevate privileges to administrative only when certain tasks need to be performed can reduce the risk.
A study conducted by Avecto, a privilege management company, showed that 92% of critical vulnerabilities in Microsoft software found in 2013 can be "covered up" with a simple blocking of administrative rights. These vulnerabilities include 96% of those found in Windows and 91% of those found in Office.
Simple tricks - such as disabling Java and Flash support and using third-party upgradable browsers like Chrome - can also increase the security of an XP machine.
There is also a "zero option": completely disconnecting XP computers from the Internet to isolate them from external threats. But, as Silver notes, in this case, there will still be a risk of catching an infection through the USB drive, like ransomware that encrypts drives.
Over time, the risk will decrease.
The risk of exploiting XP machines in the next 12 months is likely to increase as new vulnerabilities that are patched in Vista and 7 are exploited in XP. But in the end, Silver is sure, the risk will come to naught.
This will happen because the fleet of XP PCs in use will sooner or later become so small that they will simply cease to be of interest to malware developers in the same way that Linux and Mac OS X machines are of little interest to them.
"Over the coming year, the risk of using XP will be high," says Silver. “But in two or three years the danger will be less. However, during this time, organizations that still use XP, and themselves, most likely, have already abandoned it. ”
- Paul Rubens. How to Support Windows XP Now That Microsoft Isn "t. CIO Magazine. April 07, 2014
On a business trip, I got a computer on which Windows XP was installed with a set of necessary programs. My first thought was to tear it down and install Windows 7, but time is money. And I decided that I had a great opportunity to go back in time and experience all the delights of the old Microsoft OS.
My full time job at XP ended 5.5 years ago with the release of Windows Vista RTM in November 2006. I've used XP from time to time in a virtual machine, but that doesn't count. I would never have returned to her at home, but then the cards were already dealt, and I decided to play.
1. Inconvenient order of open windows on the taskbar
This is perhaps the most annoying thing. Indeed, in Windows 7, pinned applications have permanent positions on the taskbar, and the order is changed by dragging.
Often you just need to look where the recent document is in order to navigate to its folder. And for this, just hover over its name. Moreover, from the context menu of the document, you can instantly go to its location!
4. Unusual to minimize all windows with the mouse
I had no idea that I got so used to the fact that in Windows 7 the button is in the lower right corner!
In XP, I now move my mouse there all the time, and then across the wide screen to the left - to the quick launch bar, where the shortcut is located. Yes, I know that there are two ways to minimize windows from the keyboard, but I often do it with the mouse. And you?
Of course, after a couple of weeks I would get used to it. But I no longer want to see a shortcut in a completely unnecessary quick launch bar that takes up space on the taskbar.
5. You cannot select a window with the mouse in the Alt + Tab dialog
I often use this feature, especially with a large number of open windows.
Due to the well-coordinated work of two hands, the switching is very fast and accurate, without misses.
6. Limited explorer options
Explorer in XP is terrible, especially when compared to the handy ribbon in Windows 8. In the XP days, Total Commander was my main file manager, but in Windows 7 it's almost gone.
In Windows 7, I very often open folders in a new window from , which can't be done in XP. Another regularly used menu item is "Copy as Path" (yes, you can turn it on in XP, but 7 has it out of the box).
In addition, the loss of two keyboard shortcuts is strongly felt:
- Ctrl + N - window duplication
- Ctrl + Shift + N - new folder
7. Inconvenient Favorites in File Explorer
In Windows XP, Explorer shares favorites with IE, and in Windows 7, it's a separate folder with shortcuts that conveniently appear in the Navigation Pane.
To open favorites in XP, you have to make an extra click of the mouse. I'm not talking about the fact that it's impossible to assign your own icons.
I am also silent about the possibility of adding saved searches to favorites ...
8. No search for programs and control panel items
It's just trouble. In Windows XP, I spend a lot of time trying to find the programs and standard utilities I need in the Start menu. In Windows 7, I instantly open the applications and system controls I want with just a few keystrokes.
It's good that I know from memory the names of a lot of standard executable files. This allows you to run them from the "Run" window, otherwise I would just shoot myself ...
9. No Aero Snap
On widescreen monitors, the Aero Snap feature is incredibly useful. I use it regularly, throwing windows on different sides of the screen.
Sometimes I do it from the keyboard, sometimes I throw windows with the mouse, but in XP the function is not available at all and is available by installing AquaSnap (free for non-commercial use).
10. No Internet Explorer 9
IE is not my main browser due to the lack of flexibility in the settings and add-ons I need. However, I sometimes use it, and for work it is absolutely necessary.
The IE9 engine is much faster than its predecessors, so I'm wasting my time on IE8.
In a word, discomfort!
For three days, I regularly encountered inconvenience in Windows XP. I constantly feel that I perform routine tasks more slowly than in Windows 7. And this inefficiency completely discourages the desire to work in XP!
Yes, you can compensate for some of the shortcomings I have noted with third-party programs, while others you won’t notice at all. But often third-party software is not a full-fledged replacement for built-in capabilities, nor is it always possible to use it in a corporate environment.
One way or another, I present my real experience, there is nothing far-fetched here. Note that I didn't even mention some of the fundamental features of the Windows platform upon which Vista, 7, and 8 are built.
The vast majority of shortcomings were revealed in the work with windows.
In other words, it is only about the convenience and speed of performing routine actions in Windows.
Are you still on Windows XP or working on Windows 7?
For me, Windows XP died a long time ago, and in three days I was convinced of this once again. But I know that some regular readers still use this system. Today in this blog you have rare opportunity - tell us about the reasons for your commitment to Windows XP, which will no longer be supported in two years.
If you have upgraded to Windows 7, write in the comments about what features of the old OS you missed and how you coped with it! Whoever writes about the "Up" button in the explorer first will get a lot of pluses :) I will also be interested to know what features of Windows 7 make your daily work faster, more convenient and more efficient.
Yes, active users with special needs need , not XP. It is safer, more modern and better compatible with the latest technologies. But for a significant portion of Windows 7 users, it's still not an option.
Those who will continue to use XP in the future fall into two main groups. The biggest one is business users who depend on certain hardware or software that needs XP or the XP version of Internet Explorer. This category includes both specific proprietary applications and highly specialized solutions - from optometry to industrial controllers, proprietary equipment, etc.
In many cases, the developers of the original software no longer exist, or the cost of new versions is prohibitive (I hear such complaints especially from municipalities and hospitals). As for equipment, it is most often devices with an embedded operating system designed for decades of stable operation - electron microscopes, medical equipment, ATMs, pump regulators, etc. Here the situation is the same as with Cobol-based mainframes: replace they are too expensive and risky, so no one replaces them.
Another large group of XP users are those who generally use a computer little and are not very friendly with modern technologies. My mother, for example, still didn't fully understand what happens when you click the right mouse button, and at this venerable age, people no longer have much desire to master computer innovations to perform familiar tasks: reading mail, searching the Internet, and paying bills. There are many such users, and for them Windows XP is like a 15-year-old car and a 40-year-old house: an old thing, but quite working. With a good antivirus, these people will use XP until the end of time.
There is also a third group of XP users that is often mentioned: low-income people who cannot afford to buy a new computer. However, this group is not at all large, as evidenced by various studies by Pew Research. Firstly, low-income people rarely have their own PC, even old or new - they often use computers in schools and libraries. Second, low-income people often buy mobile devices instead of computers. So they do not depend on XP as much as it is commonly believed. Yes, some people really can't buy a new PC and use their old one with XP, but XP's huge user base is not made up of them.
The first group is the most important: these users work in organizations where Windows 7 is (or will soon become) the main operating system, and XP serves a small number of employees who are firmly attached to it. This separation creates a lot of difficulties for both users and administrators. But the only thing a company can do in such a situation is to use XP only where it can't be avoided, and isolate those systems whenever possible to prevent accidental updates to IE and drivers that could disrupt stability.
These special XP use cases aren't going anywhere—there's simply nothing to translate them into, and that's a major oversight on Microsoft's part. Yes, the company has provided in, MED-V and other ingenious solutions, but they are too complicated and often do not work. In addition, they are not scalable, so they are not suitable for mass migration and do not solve the fundamental problem of users of highly specialized applications. Those who are quite satisfied with XP for everyday tasks will not go anywhere either. So for the foreseeable future, XP will continue to be very active, even despite the formal termination of support.
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The Windows XP operating system was released on October 25, 2001, that is, thirteen years ago. Think about this number. During this time, new technologies have been born and died, private spaceships and artificial organisms have appeared, but she still lives and, it seems, is not going to give up.
Windows XP users today resemble the Old Believers who went into the deep forests and hid there from civilization and progress. They jealously keep their ancient customs and faith in the most correct operating system. They believe that Windows XP is great and no one can replace it. Let's try to convince them.
My Windows XP computer works great
My system still works great. Why upgrade to a modern version of Windows when I can just as well surf the web, use Office, and do everything else I need to? After all, almost all software supports Windows XP, one way or another. And even hardware devices have drivers for Windows XP.
Unfortunately, this is not entirely true. Microsoft's support for your operating system is ending in just a few days, and this will send a signal to all manufacturers that Windows XP is dead. Some a little earlier, some a little later, but all of them will stop providing support for their products for this operating system.
A separate line should be mentioned security. The XP architecture is not a standard of security by default, and with the end of the process of eternal patching of holes, this system will turn into a sieve. Do you need it?
I'm used to XP and don't understand Windows 8
I have been using Windows XP for so long that I feel very comfortable here. It's like a well-worn favorite pair of shoes. And this figure eight of yours generally leads me to a stupor - there is not even a Start button there!
Yes, the interface of Windows 8 is ambiguous. Here, indeed, much is implemented too differently, and one cannot say that it is very successful.
But there is also Windows 7! It will be supported until 2020 and is a modern, secure and user-friendly operating system. In addition, there are no touch-related innovations, and you will feel no less comfortable than in XP. In addition, you can set, for example, such a visual style, and you will not notice at all that something has changed.
Update takes too long
Upgrading your operating system is like moving into a new apartment. I have everything so conveniently laid out here, but I have to save everything, reinstall, transfer my data, what if something gets lost? In addition, settling in a new place will take more than one day, I just can't afford it.
Yes, it's all true. Updating the system can take time even if you know exactly what to do and how to do it. If you cannot boast of such knowledge, then you will have to turn to specialists, so, in addition to time, you will also have to lose money.
However, there are other ways as well. For example, Microsoft offers a free tool, Laplink PCmover Express, with which you can save all the files, settings, and accounts from your old Windows XP computer for later use on your new computer. Using it is very easy, practically, you only need to follow the instructions of the step-by-step wizard for a quick migration to a new system.
Reverse software and hardware compatibility
My favorite old scanner works fine on Windows XP, but I'm not sure I can find drivers for other systems. The same applies to specific software and some games.
If you're using Windows XP for personal purposes, you can be sure that you can find a suitable replacement for almost any application. And old printers and scanners that have served their time almost certainly ask for a landfill.
Things are much worse in the corporate sector. There may indeed be special software or hardware that is incompatible with new versions of operating systems. In this case, the update threatens with serious financial expenses or is impossible at all. The only way out that can be suggested here is to use Windows XP in a virtual machine, which, however, is also not always appropriate.
As you can see, among all the reasons for Windows XP loyalty, only one is really serious. And then, it concerns more the corporate sector. So, the Old Believers have no excuses and cannot be. It's time to say thank you to the veteran and let him rest.
Sleep well, dear friend!
In the list of IT miracles, there is one that surpasses any others in its size. This is Windows XP. Formerly the most popular PC operating system for over 6 years. O most of the 21st century, it seems to have begun to yield to Windows 7 two years ago: observers, although giving different numbers, agreed then that the curve depicting the percentage share of XP fell into a tailspin, while the curve for the "Seven" was just as rapidly gained height (see "Decade of XP"). However, the situation improved a year later. Today, different researchers are still voicing different numbers: StatCounter estimates the share of XP at 20 percent with a penny, and Sevens at 52 percent; NetApplications (whose methodology I personally trust more) says about 32 and 38%, respectively. But those and others again agree on one thing: from the middle of last year to the present, the market for PC operating systems has been stagnating, so the shares of participants have not fundamentally changed during this time.
It is not difficult to guess what the sudden stagnation is connected with: new personal computers diverge unprecedentedly badly (see ""). But for us now another fact is more important. A twelve-year-old system inexplicably continues to play the second most important role on the global computer scene! She manages every third or fifth personal on earth and seems to completely ignore the imminent full end of support. Indeed, already in April 2014, Microsoft promises to stop issuing patches for XP. Stop completely!
Counting on their heads, from three hundred million to half a billion users will be left to the mercy of fate. Of course, the situation is not the same in all regions of the planet. XP has the largest share in China: it is still among the absolute leaders there, servicing about three-quarters of the computer park. But the West is also subject to the problem. Even in the most economically prosperous areas like the US, XP manages one in six PCs. The differences between the two are no longer numerical, but qualitative: while in China, XP works mainly on desktops, in the West, it has supposedly become a workhorse, pulling embedded and special systems - like digital kiosks, ATMs, cash registers, movies, medical, aircraft equipment and other similar.
Use in places invisible to the naked eye at least partly explains its enigmatic, illogical popularity. After all, let's be honest! - no one knows for sure why the IT world is so stubbornly unwilling to part with XP. ATMs and similar systems are closed in on themselves, they can work without upgrades and updates for years and decades (Diebold estimates the share of XP ATMs in the States at 75%, and before that the vast majority of such machines worked under OS / 2: wow, jump, really ?), and this circumstance, apparently, determines the "love" of the West. And for those who cling to XP on desktops, acceptable speed and functionality are obviously important (including on old hardware).
Works - do not touch? All this was generally known before, but over the past year, another, third version has appeared that explains the survivability of Windows XP. The bottom line: everyone who could upgrade did it, and the rest consider the upgrade and upgrade either too expensive (the order of expenses here, by the way, is not a secret; Microsoft itself explains to partners how much the average workplace spends on moving from XP to more recent versions of Windows: about $ 200), or unnecessary (because they lost interest in the PC and This their last personalka; they already have smartphones and tablets and will not upgrade the computer they replace).
Thus, the third group of candidates for renewal is excluded. But, unfortunately, both the first and the second move out of Windows XP will not be easy either. It is unrealistic for a business to move a computer system to a new OS in six months (the costs here grow in direct proportion to the speed of migration). Experts recommend urgently starting to isolate outdated systems, protecting them from the network or, better, placing XP complexes in virtual machines in order to protect against external risks without losing functionality - but this recipe, alas, is not cheap. As for ordinary users who are content with XP today, then - since the G8 has obviously not “lit up” - for them, even a year later, XP will remain the most functionally and financially acceptable option.
As a result, April (and May, and June) of the next year we will meet with approximately the same proportions: XP will still manage, on average, every fourth personal computer on Earth. Unless the end of support will give impetus to some unique phenomena, which some people, summarizing, call the "XP apocalypse".
The script for this “end of the world” has also been written long ago. Since neither the prosperous West nor the poor China will be able to recover from XP addiction, the world will have several hundred million machines controlled by a system for which security updates are no longer issued by next summer. Simply put, opening "holes" will not patch. And a surge in virus epidemics, spam mailings, an increase in the intensity of DDoS attacks, cyber fraud - this is the least that you should count on. Not all experts agree to consider the consequences catastrophic - after all, after all, not every XP-personalka is even connected to the Web. But in any case, this is a great idea for business, and suitable for those who intend to protect XP, and for those who are going to look for vulnerabilities in it.
As for the former, they will be needed, because someone has to maintain these hundreds of millions of computers, disinfect them from viruses, protect them from Internet attacks, and solve compatibility problems. As for the latter, the demand for their services is predetermined by a simple fact: already today, for a good zero-day vulnerability for Windows XP, you can get over one hundred thousand dollars, but when Microsoft "disconnects" XP from the life support apparatus, prices will soar even higher (someone is waiting double growth, someone - tenfold), because there will be no one to patch holes.
Of course, the day will come when the share of Windows XP will shrink to an imperceptible few percent (Vista is in such a state today). Banks will go to G8 or Linux, spurred on by fines for using an unsupported OS. Shops will change beat-up cash registers under XP for cheap modern android ones. Poor Chinese, fascinated by the brilliance of mobile touchscreens, will simply put dusty PCs in the trash.
The question to which no one has been able to give an exact answer for several years is only when this will happen. Any ideas?