Japan’s XP migration solution: Remove network cable
A Japanese local government has come up with a rather unusual solution to the problem of Windows XP migration – keep the venerable OS but disconnect the remaining PCs running it from the internet.
In around a year’s time, April 8 2014 to be precise, Microsoft will end free support for the operating system which is still installed on around a third of machines in the Land of the Rising Sun.
This will mean an end to free security patches and fixes for knackered code – exposing organisations to a host of potential info-security risks. Read more...
Tick-tock! 40% of PCs start Windows XP malware meltdown countdown
With one year to go until Microsoft kills free support for Windows XP, if you haven’t got a migration plan in place it’s time to start doing something about it... but don't panic, say the migration experts.
One year from today, on 8 April 2014, Microsoft will stop fixing broken code and no longer release security patches for free for an operating system that is still used by a staggering 40 per cent of PCs.
From that date on, you’ll either have to face hackers and malware writers on your own or you’ll be hiding behind the skirts of some premium-level paid Microsoft support instead. Gartner reckons Microsoft will charge you $200,000 if you have a Software Assurance contract and $500,000 without a SA agreement. Read more...
Symantec confirms blue-screening Windows XP PCs
Symantec last week crippled a large number of Windows XP machines when it shipped customers a defective update to its antivirus software, the company acknowledged Friday.
"After a full evaluation and root cause analysis ... we have determined that the issue was limited to machines running a combination of Windows XP, the latest version of the SONAR technology, the July 11th rev11 SONAR signature set, and certain third-party software," said Orla Cox, of the company's security response team in a July 14 blog post.
SONAR, for "Symantec Online Network for Advanced Response," is an anti-malware technology that spots suspicious, and possibly malicious, files by monitoring software behavior.
Symantec did not identify the "certain third party software" that contributed to the problem, which caused Windows XP PCs to show the notorious "Blue Screen of Death" error display, then reboot, only to endlessly repeat the cycle. Read more...
Microsoft remains mum on Windows 8 upgrades from Vista, XP
Microsoft today declined to confirm whether users of Windows XP and Vista will be able to upgrade their PCs to Windows 8 when the latter launches later this year.
On Monday, Microsoft spelled out the editions it would offer customers working with 32- and 64-bit Intel and AMD processor-powered PCs and tablets.
In that blog post, the company also noted the upgrade paths to Windows 8 for existing machines, saying that people now running Windows 7 Starter, Home Basic or Home Premium could upgrade to the consumer-oriented Windows 8. Systems running Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate will be upgradable to Windows 8 Pro. Read more...
Microsoft starts XP retirement countdown
Microsoft yesterday kicked off what it called a "two-year countdown" to the death of Windows XP, its longest-lived operating system.
Windows XP and the business productivity suite Office 2003 both exit all support on April 8, 2014, a company spokeswoman said in a Monday blog post.
On that date, Microsoft will stop shipping security updates for XP and Office 2003.
XP went on sale in October 2001 while Office 2003 launched October 2003. Read more...
Windows XP support ends two years from now
Support for Windows XP will end two years from today, on April 8th, 2014*.
XP was shipped to OEMs on August 24th, 2001 and reached average punters on October 25th.
Plenty bought it and plenty still run it: Gartner's July 2011 assessment of the global OS population suggested "Windows XP Home and Follow-Ons" had 68 million users, while XP Professional ran on 144 million machines.
A more recent Gartner study, the March 2012 Client OS and Office Survey reported 79% of business desktops and 45% of notebooks ran XP, based on responses from a 147-strong, self-selecting, group at its October 2011 US Symposium event. While the analyst firm notes that's not the most scientific of samples, the respondents represented organisations with a combined three million PCs in service. Read more...
Users desert Windows XP in near-record numbers
Microsoft's Windows XP shed a large amount of usage share again last month as users continued to desert the decade-old operating system for Windows 7.
Windows XP lost 2.4 percentage points of share to post a December average of 46.5%, a new low for the aged OS in the tracking of Web metrics firm Net Applications. The month's fall nearly matched the record 2.5-point drop of October.
In the four months from September to December, XP jettisoned more than 11% of its share as of Sept. 1, falling by nearly six percentage points during the period.
The four months prior to that -- May through August -- XP lost only 3.4 points, or about 8.5% of the share it owned as of May 1. Read more...
Is the bell tolling for Windows XP?
Microsoft's Windows XP has slipped under the 50 percent share mark for the first time since Web measurement co
mpany Net Applications began tracking operating system usage.
The decade-old XP closed July with 49.8 percent, a 1.3-percentage point drop from June, Net Applications said today. Although XP still powers a majority of Windows machines, July's decline means it has lost its majority status among all operating systems.
Other metrics firms marked an earlier fall for XP. The Irish company StatCounter, for instance, said that the OS slipped under 50 percent last January. But unlike that rival, Net Applications' methodology weights its data by country to more accurately reflect use in countries like China, which produces relatively little data for Western measurements but has a huge pool of PC users. Read more...
Windows 7 posts enterprise gains, but XP retains 60% share
Although enterprises are in the midst of migrating more machines to Microsoft's Windows 7, the aged Windows XP still accounts for nearly 6-in-10 PCs in corporations, according to a recent report by research firm Forrester.
Windows 7 powered nearly 21% of all business PCs used to reach Forrester's Web site in March, the most recent month for which the firm has data.
While that's more than double the 9.5% logged by Windows 7 a year before, the 10-year-old Windows XP remains the most widely-used enterprise operating system by a wide margin: In March, systems running XP accounted for 59.9% of the 400,000 machines that visited Forrester.com.
Ben Gray, a Forrester analyst who co-authored the report on operating system and browser trends, called Windows 7's adoption "accelerating," but at the same time noted that XP retains a majority. Read more...
Windows XP, Vista AutoRun update reduces malware infections by 82 percent
Microsoft today credited a February security update for lowering AutoRun-abusing malware infection rates on Windows XP and Vista by as much as 82 percent since the start of the year.
Four months ago, Microsoft offered XP and Vista users an optional update -- which was later changed to automatically download and install -- that disabled AutoRun.
Microsoft changed AutoRun's behavior in Windows 7 to block automatic execution of files on a USB drive. It first backported the modifications to Windows XP and Vista in 2009. Until February, however, users had to manually seek out the update. Read more...
Windows forecast shows XP’s one-of-a-kind dominance
Windows XP may be the last Microsoft operating system to hold a majority share, according to data from Web metrics company Net Applications.
At its peak, Windows XP powered more than eight out of every 10 computers worldwide. In November 2007, the earliest month for which Computerworld has Net Applications' data, XP accounted for 83.6% of all operating systems.
Although Windows XP's share has gradually declined since then, it still enjoys a slight majority: Last month, XP owned a 52.4% share.
The long lag time between Windows XP's release in 2001 and Vista's debut in late 2006 -- combined with Vista's stumble in the marketplace -- are the factors usually cited to explain XP's large-scale and long-term dominance. Read more...