On 4/8/14, 1:11 PM, wrote:
On Tue, 08 Apr 2014 10:35:19 -0400, F*O*A*D wrote:

Windows XP: Chronicle of a death foretold
Juan Carlos Perez, IDG News Service @JuanCPerezIDG


When Microsoft ends support for Windows XP on Tuesday, a security
sinkhole will likely open and gradually widen, threatening hundreds of
millions of PCs worldwide in homes, companies, government agencies and
schools.

Along with the Y2K bug, Windows XP’s support termination is one of the
computer industry’s most publicized—and most ignored—deadlines, toward
which many business and IT managers have taken a curiously casual attitude.

The implications could be dire for those organizations that continue to
use Windows XP, a decrepit OS Microsoft launched in 2001, and whose bugs
and security vulnerabilities it will no longer patch.

Microsoft hasn’t minced words painting doomsday scenarios of malicious
hackers and cybercriminals having a field day with Windows XP PCs,
unleashing a barrage of malware, carrying out ransomware attacks, and
stealing sensitive personal and financial data stored in those machines.

“Once support ends and the OS is no longer patched, the PC is at risk,”
said Tom Murphy, Microsoft’s director of communications for Windows.

http://tinyurl.com/lum9pmr


snerk

It’s the end of the world, especially for Gregg, whose array of
computers will blow up one by one. Whatever you do, don't accept
any emails from folks running XP.

If I really thought that was true, the W/98 machines I have running
would have the Ebola virus by now.
The "vulnerabilities" are usually in new code, not old code.

Bear in mind the updates are coming fast and furious on the newer
windows platforms too and these only come after there was an attack.

If enough people had apples to attract hackers, they would be attacked
too.

I don't really trust microshaft for my security anyway. There are far
more robust protection packages out there.



My wife runs a freebie anti-vi package on her Win 7 home desktop. It
might be AVG. My server's modules include anti-vi, which updates itself
from time to time and allegedly will send me a message if it finds
anything malicious. I've never gotten a “Danger, Will Robinson!” message
on any of my Apple devices. That Apple's computers are not "attractive"
to hackers is yet another reason to use them.