When does Windows XP stop working? What threatens the end of support for Windows XP

April 8, 2014 End of support and updates for . Just during the life of this version operating system there was a rapid increase in the acquisition of personal computers by the population. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why some are throwing a tantrum over the end of support. What to do in this situation? How to behave? Let's stop panicking and think soberly.

Let me start by emphasizing: Windows XP will continue to work! They just stop releasing updates and fixes for the vulnerabilities found. Therefore, panic can only be related to security. So let's talk about her.

In this situation, we distinguish a couple of categories.

Unofficial build user. This category of people initially puts themselves at risk, so talking about security in connection with the end of support is simply ridiculous, even if this assembly accepted updates without problems.

Official distribution user. This category may feel left out. However, consider how many years have passed since Windows release XP? Over 12 years! Few? Maybe. But, for example, red hat provides commercial support for 10 years, renewable up to 13 years. Those. other companies also understand that it is not cost-effective to maintain old versions forever, even for a fee.

What to do? There are several options here too.

Continue to use Windows XP. Few people, taking care of security, do not install additional protection tools in the form of antiviruses and firewalls. They will continue to work and ensure the security of your computer. In addition, not using untrusted and suspicious files and resources significantly reduces the risk of exploiting vulnerabilities. Therefore, you should not think that on April 9, you will immediately be naked in front of all conceivable threats.

Go to new version Windows. This entails material costs, in the case of using a legal distribution. But the main remark I hear is that old computers are weak and will not withstand the load of new versions. There is some truth in this. But only partially. Why? I will give an example of my old PC, which is 10 years old. Single-core Celeron D 2.4 GHz (478 socket), 1.5 GB of RAM and a Radeon 512 MB video card (replaced because the first one died under load). On this old 10-year-old hardware, Windows 7 feels great. Therefore, for most fears are groundless.

If you have an older configuration, then you can look towards light versions of Linux. And you can continue to use Windows XP, following the safety rules, until a physical replacement is required. personal computer. In my opinion, there is no point in panicking.

At the end of the article I will add a remarkable thought. The official end is April 8, 2014, and on computers under Windows control XP displays a message about the end of April 18, 2014. For confirmation, I give a picture. It is possible that this is a typo. But it's worth capturing.

Windows XP- the next, after Windows 2000 and Windows Millennium, version of the Microsoft operating system, released on October 25, 2001. According to users, the most successful and stable operating system in the Windows family.

Windows XP integrates Windows 2000 with Windows 98 and Windows Me. Windows XP was built on improvements to the Windows 2000 code, with various versions for home computer users and business users. Unlike Windows 2000, which came in both server and client versions, Windows XP is a client-only system. Its server version is the later released Windows Server 2003 system.

Effective June 30, 2008, Microsoft stopped shipping Windows XP to major PC manufacturers and retailers. The exception is small companies that will receive licenses for XP until the end of January 2009. The same applies to manufacturers of ultra-cheap PCs, which will be able to install the system until mid-2010.

The OS ended its main support cycle in April 2009, since then an extended support cycle has been in place until April 2014. In 2010, Microsoft stated that the ability to downgrade from Windows 7 to Windows XP would be maintained until 2020, explaining this by the high popularity of the system. As of July 2010, this OS was used on 74% of corporate PCs worldwide.

Innovations

• Fast user switching feature. The switch does not require the user who was previously working on the computer to log off while keeping the files they have open. Windows XP uses Terminal Services technologies to start each new user session as a separate Terminal Services session, with each user's data completely separate from each other. Each such session requires an additional 2 MB of RAM (excluding the amount of memory used by applications running in each session).

• New design style. Windows XP has new skins and themes that use 24-bit color icons and colors. Changed the appearance of the start menu. The five most frequently used user programs are displayed at the beginning of the menu, as well as the default program. Email and web browser.

• Search Companion bar. Windows XP makes searching easier by grouping performance-related search tasks into a dedicated Search Companion

• Grouping files. Windows XP introduces a new way of organizing the taskbar, which consists of grouping multiple documents for the same application. For example, instead of placing several Microsoft Word documents on the taskbar in Windows XP, these documents are combined into a group that can be viewed with the click of a single button on the taskbar. Moreover, only this button with information about the number of open documents this application. When the button is pressed, it displays vertical list with the names of all documents.

• Support for new multimedia technologies.
  • player Windows Media 8 . Windows XP uses version 8 Windows Player Media, which combines the basic operations related to the processing of multimedia materials, including playing CDs and DVDs, controlling the media player, creating multimedia files and CDs, playing Internet radio, and burning multimedia files to portable devices.
  • Windows Movie Maker. Windows Movie Maker version 1.1 supports basic Windows Media recording and creation, as well as video and audio editing, saving and publishing Windows files media. Although the utility you use only provides Windows Media format, it can import files in any format and with any type of compression supported by the DirectShow architecture.
  • Support for digital still images. Windows XP makes it easier to use digital devices and provides advanced image manipulation capabilities, such as publishing them on the Internet, sending photos by e-mail (including in compressed form), including pictures in an automatic slide show, and zooming in on image display.

• Improved app and device compatibility. Windows XP includes Plug and Play support for hundreds of devices that were not included in Windows 2000, and improved support for the USB (Universal Serial Bus), IEEE 1394 standard, PCI interface(Peripheral Component Interface) and many other standards and bus types.

• Native CD and DVD support. Windows XP includes native read/write support optical discs DVD-RAM and the ability to read UDF 2.01 (Universal Disk Format). In addition, using the IMAPI (Image Mastering API) interface, a Windows XP user can create CDs in formats that allow for writing once or repeatedly (CD-R or CD-RW), using the usual drag-and-drop method or the corresponding wizards. When you save or copy a file to a CD, the operating system first creates it full image on your computer's hard drive, and then transfers the data to a CD burner for final burning.

• Application compatibility mode. To use applications that were originally developed for previous versions of Windows and do not work on Windows environment XP, you can use Application Compatibility Mode. This mode emulates the environment of previous operating systems, starting with Windows 95.

• Improved network and communication services
  • Support for Universal Plug and Play. The Universal Plug and Play standard allows devices to dynamically connect to a network, obtain an IP address, advertise their capabilities, and detect the presence and capabilities of other devices on the network.
  • Master home network . The Home Network Wizard automates network setup and Internet sharing. Its work is carried out in the bridge mode (bridging mode), which allows you to install local network without requiring the user to have any knowledge regarding network protocols and physical features custom network.

• Integrated help and support. Microsoft has merged Help Desk and technical support, so you can now access Remote Assistance, automatic updates, built-in help, and more from within single center help and support (Help and Support Center).

• Innovations that improve the mobile experience
  • Power management. Like Windows 2000, power management in Windows XP is based on the ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface) specification. Windows XP uses the ACPI specification that was introduced in Windows 2000. This makes available additional features that the operating system uses to manage power for the computer and other hardware.
  • Improvements for mobile users
    • Support for ClearType technology. clear type is new technology display text available in software products, which triples the horizontal resolution. This greatly improves the display of text on standard digital LCD monitors.
    • Automatic setup for multiple networks. This feature provides easy access to network devices and the Internet, allowing you to connect your laptop to both corporate and home networks.
  • Remote desktop control. The ability to use Remote Desktop is based on Terminal Services technology. Thanks to this feature, the user can from any client running the operating system Microsoft systems Windows, run applications on remote computer running under Windows XP Professional.

• Reliability improvement
  • Driver rollback. When updating a driver, a copy of the previous driver package is automatically saved in a special subdirectory system files. If a new driver will not work satisfactorily, the user can restore previous version drivers.
  • System Restore. Functionality System Restore allows you to return your computer to the state it was in before the problem occurred. There is no loss of personal data files, which may contain, for example, documents, images or e-mail messages.
  • System disaster recovery. The Automated System Recovery (ASR) feature allows you to save and restore applications. This feature provides a Plug and Play mechanism that is used to back up the relevant registry keys and restore that information to the registry

• Security improvements
  • Firewall. Windows XP provides Internet security with a built-in feature called a firewall. The firewall is a dynamic packet filter. It provides protection for computers connected directly to the Internet or connected through a computer that is an Internet Connection Sharing (ICS - Internet Connection Sharing) host that hosts a firewall. Enabling the firewall ensures that all connection attempts from the Internet that are not requested by local users are blocked.
  • Controlled network access. Windows XP has a built-in security feature that prevents intruders from gaining access by restricting the privileges granted to a user attempting to access your computer from the network to the privilege set of the Guest account.
  • Encrypted File System. The Encrypting File System (EFS) is based on public key encryption; it uses the CryptoAPI architecture used in the operating room Windows system xp. Encryption in the EFS system uses the extended DESX (Data Encryption Standard) algorithm or the 3DES (Triple-DES) algorithm. The encryption procedure can be performed from Windows Explorer.

Editions

• Windows XP Professional Edition- an operating system designed for business users, contains features such as remote access desktop, file encryption, central access control and support for multiprocessor systems.

• Windows XP Home Edition- a system for users of home computers. It is released as an inexpensive "stripped down" version of Professional Editon, but is based on the same kernel and, with the help of some tricks, allows you to upgrade to an almost full-fledged one. professional version edition.

• Windows XP Starter Edition- a system specially designed for novice users. Distributed only with new computers entry level. Windows XP Starter Edition includes only the core features of Windows XP.

• Windows XP 64-bit Edition- The 64-bit edition was created to take advantage of the capabilities of the Intel Itanium 64-bit (IA-64) processor. Windows XP 64-Bit Edition supports up to 16 gigabytes of RAM and up to 8 terabytes virtual memory. The system has not been developed since 2005, as HP stopped developing workstations with Itanium microprocessors.

• Windows XP Media Center Edition- operating system based on Windows base XP Professional with a slightly reduced set of networking features and containing additional multimedia features.

• Windows XP Professional x64 Edition- a special 64-bit version designed for AMD64 Opteron and Athlon 64 processors from AMD and processors with EM64T technology from Intel

• Windows XP Embedded is a component version of Microsoft Windows XP Professional c additional features for embedding and tools that support the process of developing custom operating system images.

• Windows Embedded for Point of Service- a specialized software platform focused on retail chains and service companies. Based on the technologies of Windows XP Embedded Service Pack 2, Windows Embedded for Point of Service allows retailers, hotels, and system integrators simplify the installation, use and management of terminal systems.

• Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs- operating system for legacy PCs, created on Microsoft base Windows XP Embedded Service Pack 2.

Updates

Service Pack 1

The first service pack for Windows XP - Service Pack 1 (SP1) was released on September 9, 2002. Among the innovations that appeared in it should be noted:

• USB 2.0 support
• Ability to select programs used by default for different operations
• The Encrypting File System (EFS) has received support for AES encryption with a 256-bit key.
• Support hard drives over 137 GB

Service Pack 2

The second Service Pack 2 (SP2) was released on August 6, 2004 and added the following features and capabilities to the operating system:

• The new Windows Security Center component, designed to monitor computer security: view the status of the firewall (firewall), settings automatic update and antivirus.
• Updated windows firewall.
• Pop-up blocker in Internet browser explorer.
• Improved Outlook Express, with a new Attachment Manager that isolates attachments when they are opened. This prevents potentially dangerous attachments from being opened that could infect the system with a virus or other dangerous code.
• Improved support for wireless networks
• New drivers and updates
• Improved autorun features and more.

Service Pack 3

Own Microsoft solution changed after a massive epidemic of WannaCry ransomware, which used the EternalBlue exploit to infect computers. This is one of the tools stolen from the cyber group Equation, which is believed to be affiliated with the US National Security Agency. The distribution of these tools - exploits, backdoors, etc. - the group The Shadow Brokers was engaged.

EternalBlue was published by The Shadow Brokers in mid-April 2017. A few days earlier, Microsoft released a number of emergency patches for their developments. As it turned out after the release from Shadow Brokers, these patches just closed the multiple vulnerabilities used by the Equation hackers. Apparently, someone warned Microsoft in advance.

At the same time, Microsoft management refused to release updates for operating systems Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, citing the fact that they had long since been withdrawn from technical support.

The new patches fix vulnerabilities attacked by exploits codenamed ENGLISHMANDENTIST (to a vulnerability in Outlook), ESTEEMAUDIT (IIS 6.0) and EXPLODINGCAN (RDP).

Windows XP ranks fourth in the world in terms of prevalence: the share of the operating system is 5.66%. In China, some countries in Asia and Africa, Windows XP is still very widespread. Also, hundreds of thousands of ATMs around the world are still running specialized versions of this operating system. Support for two of them - Windows Embedded POSReady 2009 and Standard 2009 - will continue until 2019.

Already after graduation Windows support XP, Microsoft was forced to release an emergency patch for newly discovered vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer (versions 6-11) on all versions of Windows, including XP.

Microsoft initially did not intend to release patches for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 against vulnerabilities exploited by Equation / NSA, citing the fact that these systems were removed from support and that users should switch to newer ones a long time ago software products. However, shortly after the WannaCry outbreak, Microsoft changed its mind, citing the general state of the "threat landscape."

In reviewing this month's updates, we have identified a number of vulnerabilities that are highly likely to be attacked by government organizations... or their imitators, Microsoft said in a statement. – To reduce the threat, we publish additional updates security, beyond what will be released as part of the regular Update Tuesday program. These updates will be available to all users, including those using older versions of Windows. Due to the increased threat of destructive cyber attacks, we have decided to take this step because these updates will provide additional protection against possible attacks similar in their characteristics to WannaCry

Microsoft calls this move "rare" and urges not to consider it as a departure from their technical support standards. Experts tend to believe that such "rare steps" will be repeated from time to time.

In this case, the situation could hardly have been resolved in any other way, - says Ksenia Shilak, Sales Director of Sec-Consult. - On the one hand, Windows XP is outdated in all respects, on the other hand, millions of users continue to use it, sometimes forcedly. Choosing whether to leave these users unprotected against a possible new cyber epidemic or to sacrifice some business principles, Microsoft settled on the second option. This is a rather risky move, but from an ethical point of view, it seems to be more correct.

System requirements

Minimum hardware requirements for installing Windows XP:

• 233 MHz Pentium processor or faster (300 MHz minimum recommended)
• At least 64 MB of RAM (at least 128 MB recommended)
• At least 1.5 GB free space on hard drive
• CD or DVD drive
• Keyboard, Microsoft Mouse, or compatible pointing device
• Video card and monitor that support Super VGA mode with a resolution of at least 800x600 pixels
• Sound card, speakers or headphones (optional)

Problems

Installing the third service pack (SP3) for Windows XP, more than once led to problems in the PC. So the press described cases of endless reboots of some PCs after installing SP3. It became inaccessible safe mode A that provides the ability to roll back the operating system to a previous state. On the forums dedicated to this topic, users noted that after installing the third service pack, their system rebooted, but could not start Windows, each time sending the computer to reboot again.

Former director of product security at Microsoft, Jesper Johansson, analyzed forum posts and concluded that this problem arose for two independent reasons. The first thing Johansson noted was that in many cases the problem occurred on Hewlett-Packard (HP) computers. According to the specialist, this could be due to the fact that HP, and possibly other computer manufacturers, during the factory installation of the operating system used the same image for computers with Intel processors and AMD. As a result, the intelppm.sys driver was responsible for power management on all PCs, although systems with AMD processors have their own amdk8.sys driver. According to Johansson, running the intelppm.sys driver on a computer with AMD processor under normal conditions, it did not lead to a failure, however, with the installation of the third service pack, this led to the inability to boot the operating system, or an independent reboot immediately upon its start. Another reason, according to the expert, was related to motherboard BIOS asus boards A8N32-SLI Deluxe and probably other boards with AMD processors.

The problem was solved by disabling the intelppm.sys driver or connecting a USB flash drive or any other secondary drive to the computer.

In addition, some users complained that after installing Service Pack 3, a large number of corrupted entries appeared in the registry of their system, and from the folder network connections disappeared network cards. Other users have reported the same issues after updating on computers running Norton products. Dave Cole, senior director of product at Symantec, acknowledged that a number of users of the Norton series had problems, but the number was small. According to him, Symantec tested its products with Windows XP SP3, but found no errors. Cole blamed Microsoft for all the trouble, saying that it was due to XP SP3, which had already caused problems for users of some computers.

Microsoft responded to this situation as follows: "Customers experiencing installation problems should contact Microsoft Support, who can provide free help and troubleshooting tips.

Some time later, Symantec nevertheless took on some of the responsibility and released a special free utility SymRegFix, which allows you to clean the registry from corrupted entries. In addition, Symantec has advised Norton users who have not yet installed Windows XP Service Pack 3 to disable the SymProtect feature before upgrading the OS to avoid the risk of registry corruption.

Support for Windows XP

Support for Windows XP Service Pack 2 will continue until 2020

After the announcement of the end official support Windows XP Service Pack 2 has announced that users of certain editions of Windows 7 will continue to use Windows XP for another 10 years. Such a solution is quite rare for Microsoft.

So far, it has been reported that Microsoft plans to set a Windows XP rollback deadline of six months from Windows startup 7. A little later, Microsoft extended the period to one and a half years, and the date the first Windows 7 SP1 fix pack was posted was assigned the "x" number for Windows XP.

Microsoft can't ignore that Windows XP is still popular. Microsoft management admits that 74% of corporate computers are still running Windows XP. And now the company's managers announced a change in their plans. According to them, owners of Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate will have the opportunity to return to Windows XP Professional as long as the "seven" lives, and it has a deadline until January 2020. Windows XP Ultimate Edition will run until January 2015.

It's worth noting that this decision only applies to OEM copies of Windows 7 installed by PC manufacturers on new machines. "Organizations and individuals buying new PCs will be able to exercise their right to return to Windows XP and Vista until they decide to upgrade to Windows 7," Microsoft manager Brandon LeBlanc said on the company's official blog.

As for other dates, installed by Microsoft for Windows, they will remain in effect. Equipment manufacturers will complete Windows installation XP Home on netbooks by the end of 2010. A year later, the showcases will stop delivering computers with Vista installed.

Microsoft will be forced to continue support for Windows XP for a long time to come

2014: End of technical support for Windows XP and Office 2003

On April 8, 2014 the Microsoft company announced the termination of technical support of the operating system Windows XP and office suite Office 2003.

Effective April 8, 2014, devices running Windows XP will no longer receive security updates, automatic non-security fixes, paid or free services support, updating technical documentation on the Internet. Windows XP End of Support dates are consistent with Microsoft's guaranteed product support policy announced by the company in 2002.

Telecom Daily research confirms the interest of companies in the transition to new versions of the OS. The information-analytical agency interviewed representatives of more than three thousand companies in all federal districts of the Russian Federation. It has been established that Russian companies and organizations are still actively using Windows XP. About 42% of work computers are running this OS. Among the companies surveyed as part of the study, the Windows OS family accounts for more than 95% of the market in the “companies and organizations” segment.

The study also showed that nearly 63% of Windows XP users are aware of the end of support. At the same time, more than 40% of respondents plan to switch to modern licensed operating systems of the Windows family this year, and another 28% are going to do this within the next 2-3 years. It also turned out that the main problem of switching to the current Windows OS is the fear of incompatibility of programs and applications, as well as lack of funds.

“Windows XP was released more than 12 years ago, so today it is three generations behind the new OS versions and can no longer fully protect your data from security threats. In addition, over the years, modern technologies have stepped far forward: they have learned to store data in the cloud, leaving floppy disks and disks in the past. Concepts such as BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) and . Obviously, when creating Windows XP, all this could not be taken into account, so today the old OS does not allow you to follow current IT trends. It may not be compatible with many modern hardware and applications, said Sergey Martsinkyan, Windows promotion manager for Microsoft Russia. “To meet the new needs and expectations of our customers, we create modern technologies and products.”

“The confrontation between those who attack and those who defend, operating systems does not stop for a second. Let's not forget that since 2001, when Windows XP was introduced, cyber-fraud has evolved from the pranks of a few advanced amateur hackers into a multibillion-dollar international business. Attackers make huge profits by exploiting unprotected PCs. By not updating their operating systems and applications, and also thinking about using pirated versions of software, enterprises and private users are at risk of becoming a victim of cybercriminals, putting their own and corporate data, financial resources and reputation at risk,” said Andrey Beshkov, program manager information security in the CIS countries Microsoft in Russia.

Using an outdated operating system can also become an obstacle when connecting new or upgrading existing equipment. Windows XP does not support a number of features that are highly requested by users and are available in modern operating systems. So, for example, at the time of the release of Windows XP, such features as support for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, monitors and high resolution and touch screens.

“According to our estimates, companies that use Windows XP as a corporate standard are becoming less and less. Transition to new versions of operating systems guarantees the organizations regular reception of updates of security systems, reduction of costs for support of IT infrastructure, work with modern applications and the equipment, - Denis Kuskov noted

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 explore new updates Windows Security Vista and Windows 7 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. Similar results were obtained by study organizers from Fiberlink, a subsidiary of IBM for control systems. mobile devices: Up to 20% of enterprise PCs run XP, and a few large financial services companies use XP particularly widely.

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. According to him, some organizations may have underestimated the seriousness of the news about the end of support or postponed the transition to a new one. Windows version 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, EHESP's IT and Telecommunications Manager. “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.

because of high prices in many organizations this option is not considered, but Silver still advises not to discard it: “We heard different versions about pricing, including saying that the total cost of individual support will be lower than in the past, so it's definitely worth trying to negotiate with Microsoft."

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 protective service called ExtendedXP offers 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. Indeed, the program 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 company that develops privilege management tools, showed that 92% of critical vulnerabilities in Microsoft software found in 2013 can be "covered up" with a simple blocking administrative rights. These vulnerabilities include 96% of those found in Windows and 91% of those found in Office.

Simple tricks - for example, turning off Java support and Flash and the use of third-party updatable browsers like Chrome are also ways to increase the security of an XP machine.

There is also a "zero option": complete shutdown computers with XP from the Internet to isolate 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 used XP PCs will sooner or later become so small that it will simply cease to interest developers. malware similar to how they have little interest in Linux and Mac OS X machines.

"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

As of early April 2014, between 20 and 30 percent of Windows users worldwide still use XP, and many of them have no plans to switch to another operating system. If you are among those who hold on to XP, then take the following steps to protect it from the upcoming massive attacks and waves of malware.

1 rule. Completely update the system. Make sure all system updates are installed and Windows fixes xp. You must have Service Pack 3 (SP3) or, in the case of 64-bit Windows XP Professional, Service Pack 2. To find out what system you currently have, simultaneously press Windows buttons and Pause/Break on the keyboard; laptop users will also have to press the Fn button.

Go to the Start menu, select All Programs, then Windows update. Select Check for Updates and install everything that Microsoft marks as "important". In the Configure settings window, set automatic installation Windows updates.

2 rule. Give up Internet Explorer. Like Windows XP, Internet Explorer 6 ended its lifespan on April 8th. But if you have IE 7 or 8 installed on XP, those editions of Explorer won't get further updates either. To make matters worse, IE is closely related to the Windows operating system, and attacks against it will succeed.

To protect yourself, go to a third-party browser - Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox(With installed plugin NoScript) or Opera, all of which will continue to receive updates and vulnerability fixes for at least another year.

3 rule. Use webmail instead of Outlook Express. After April 8, it is safer to open emails in third party browser than in Outlook Express. Register for free mailbox in Gmail and make it your primary email address.

4 rule. Get rid of Microsoft Office. Microsoft is also ending support for 11 year old Office 2003 (its predecessor, Office XP, died in 2004). But do not upgrade to or use Office 2007 as it may no longer receive updates on Windows XP.

Switch to alternative office suite like LibreOffice or OpenOffice; both of them are free and work great with office documents, spreadsheets and presentations. Or use Google Docs in the cloud.

Rule 5. Install antivirus software and pay for it. Every Windows PC should have an antivirus running. Paid antiviruses provide stronger protection by filtering website links and automatically scanning email attachments, and free programs do not compare with them.

If you're worried about the dozens of dollars worth of annual antivirus subscriptions, don't forget that you're already saving money by not upgrading to a newer operating system. Most antivirus vendors will support Windows XP until at least April 2016.

6 rule. Create and use restricted accounts. Windows has two types of user accounts: Administrators, who are allowed to install, update, and remove programs; and restricted users, who are prohibited from modifying programs (excluding user-specific applications like Google Chrome). Most malware "borrows" the privileges of the user account it infects; A Trojan that infects a restricted user account will do much less harm than one that infects an administrator account.

To minimize the effects of a malware infection, create a restricted user account for every user of a Windows XP computer, including yourself, and use these accounts for all purposes - internet, office work, photoshop - except for changing software. Under account administrator, you can only install, remove, or update programs, and log out of this account when you're done.

7 rule. Turn on the system firewall. Go to Control Panel, select Windows Firewall, select Turn Windows Firewall on or off, then select Turn Windows Firewall on for all options.

Rule 8. Disable automatic opening of files from flash drives. A flash drive is a typical way for malware to spread, especially in Windows XP, which opens files on a flash drive as soon as it is connected. Disable this behavior using the Group Policy Editor. From the Start menu, select Run, type "gpedit.msc" and press OK or press enter. A pop-up window will appear with two sections: in the left section, select Administrative Templates below Computer Configuration (not User Configuration). then in the right section, double-click on System.

Scroll down to Disable Autoplay and double click on it. Another pop-up window will appear; below Disable AutoPlay, select the Enabled radio button, select All Drives from the "Turn AutoPlay On or Off" menu, and close the window.

Rule 9. Set code execution prevention (DEP) to maximum. DEP protects against malware attacks on RAM. It is enabled by default in Windows XP Service Pack 2 and 3, but can be increased.

From the Control Panel, select System, then the Advanced tab. In the Performance section of the pop-up window that appears, click the Settings button. In the next pop-up window, select the Code Execution Prevention tab. Select "Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those I select." Click Apply, then OK, and restart your computer.
If you find that DEP interferes too much with certain applications, return to the Code Execution Prevention tab and select Add to create exceptions for those programs (you will have to review file system to select them).

rule 10. Install the Enhanced Exploitation Mitigation Toolkit (EMET) from Microsoft. EMET strengthens installed applications one by one. It is difficult to set up, but EMET includes a user manual. This toolkit is available from the Microsoft Download Center.

Microsoft issued a notice to XP users announcing the end of support for the system. Fortunately, nothing prevented these notifications from being turned off.

Windows XP will still live on the computers of companies, government organizations, banks and other structures that have high inertia and cannot upgrade equipment overnight, but nothing prevents home users from switching to more modern versions. And there are more than enough such users, since the share of XP at the beginning of April was almost 28%. What options do they have now?

Interestingly, the date in the message is wrong...

Upgrade to a new version of Windows

Perhaps this is the easiest way to keep up with modern realities. However, some computers running Windows XP may not meet the minimum system requirements, available with Windows 7 or Windows 8.1. Check that the hardware capabilities of your PC match the requirements of the system you are installing.

Upgrading to Windows 7 Pro brings one benefit for businesses running their own applications designed for Windows XP, which is especially important for small businesses. Windows 7 Pro includes XP Mode, which launches virtual machine from Windows XP to a Windows 7 computer, allowing users to use legacy apps on a new system (Windows 8 does not have this mode). However, with the end of support for Windows XP, Microsoft advises that you only use Windows XP Compatibility Mode if your computer is disconnected from the Internet.

Many businesses have delayed upgrading their computers due to high cost upgrades to critical business applications. XP Mode isn't a practical long-term solution to the transition to new standards, but it will at least smooth out the complexity of the transition.

Buying a new PC with a new Windows

Since the advent of Windows XP, Microsoft has released three more versions of the operating system (Vista, 7 and 8), which gives us some idea of ​​how much the world has changed since then. The performance of computers has grown significantly since the beginning of sales of systems with pre-installed XP.

Therefore, now is the right time to consider buying a new computer. Naturally, Microsoft would like you to buy Windows 8.1, as well as an all-in-one computer with more touch screen and other "bells and whistles" about which old computer on XP could not even dream of.

Also released on April 8, Windows 8.1 Update brings even more features designed to make life easier for keyboard and mouse users. Perhaps now the process of adapting to a new OS will not be so traumatic for those who prefer to work on a PC in the usual way.

Try something new

You can take advantage of this opportunity and move to one of the new platforms that are not related to Windows in any way. The last decade has seen a shift in how we use devices, moving away from the confines of the desktop to more mobile solutions.

Among available options there are computers on OS X, iPad tablets and Android Samsung strives to offer its own solutions for professional applications by working on the Android KNOX platform and releasing Galaxy tablets Pro. Those who prefer more familiar form factors may want to look into Chromebooks powered by Google's Chrome system. They cost from $200, but before you buy, try to work with them, because not everyone will like the stripped-down functionality.

Stay on Windows XP

If you are not afraid of viruses and hackers, you can simply stay on Windows XP indefinitely. Microsoft will continue to offer basic Windows XP security protection through Security Essentials and Malicious Software Removal Tool; both will continue to update until July 14, 2015. But more fundamental protections in the form of system vulnerabilities are becoming a thing of the past once and for all, opening computers to relentless attack.