XP. Is There Life After The End Of Support?

At the end of 2012, we thought were about to observe the End of the world. In 2013, the end of Futurama was gravely approaching. 2014 will bring us the

At the end of 2012, we thought were about to observe the End of the world. In 2013, the end of Futurama was gravely approaching. 2014 will bring us the end of support for the Microsoft operating system, Windows XP. This ‘catastrophe’, as stated by Windows representatives, is scheduled for April, 8. However, you can bet that users around the world will continue to use their preferred OS after this date. It goes beyond its usability, but also to users’ habits. It’s been 12 years since its introduction to the public, many PC users got used to the system launch notification sound, standard screen saver, and the enormous ‘Start’ button. I myself still use Windows XP on my home computer.

Check out the graph below: it depicts the changes in different OS use throughout 2013, as seen by NetMarketShare:

netmarketshare

Over the latest 12 months, the number of XP users went down just 10% and now contribute to one-third of global IT users. And moreover, two new Windows operational systems have been developed since then. Regardless of the fact that not all of them use Kaspersky Lab products to protect their PCs against threats, the portion of XP users for the total number of our customers is still quite high. According to our stats, about 20% of our user base still run Windows XP.

With the end support date for XP approaching, questions have arisen on user forums: “What will happen to Kaspersky security products once this has happened? Will your products be compatible with legacy services and mechanics? Is it feasible to use outdated antivirus versions to protect our preferable OS?”

The burden of Windows XP protection will be upon security vendors from now on. Only new antiviral databases and extensive use of advanced protection technologies like Automatic Exploit Prevention, Application Control and Default Deny can sufficiently protect XP computers. Sergey Lozhkin, Kaspersky Lab security researcher.

In order to calm down the XP users, I should plainly state: there will be support! Current versions of our consumer products and at least two next generations will be installed and correctly function on the XP platform. Eugene Kaspersky has already announced this news on the Company’s fan club page. That means all who have not been able to compromise between their OS of choice and the preferable antivirus protection of Kaspersky Lab can, without concerns about purchasing the license renewal. That said, the question we kept as the title of this article, can be answered as “Yes, there is life after the end of support!”

It is even more important, in light of the fact that regular updates are key in efficient protection when it comes to malware. Microsoft claims that the XP user base gest infected up to 3 times more often than Vista or Windows 7 users and 10 times more often than Windows 8 users. This is because of outdated XP protection mechanisms and possibly a lack of updates. Attackers often target well-known vulnerabilities, which were not patched with updates on the computer. In order to protect the system against intrusion, all XP users will need a powerful protection suite providing reliable protection from unknown threats and preventing vulnerability exploits. That is why we recommend all XP users to take advantage of Kaspersky Internet Security, which lives up to all expectations.

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