XP updates until 2019/ good idea or bad ?

[xgsound]

This article says there is a hack to allow embedded POS XP updates for XP. http://betanews.com/2014/05/26/how-...e-security-updates-for-windows-xp-until-2019/ Updates intended for your exact system can break it, so how well will this work out?

I can't help but wonder if this is an underhanded plan to disable XP systems or a way to get real updates. After seeing the XP MSE update that disables autostart (surely not more safe) and displays an "unsupported" warning in red I wouldn't be surprised either way.

Jim

 

[nemesismk2]

windows xp patches from microsoft have a nasty habit of breaking software so i will not be installing anything i don't know is safe.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Interesting. I wonder which would be the biggest risk. An exploit / virus, or a bad / wrong-version patch hosing the OS.

 

[WT]

Interesting. I wonder which would be the biggest risk. An exploit / virus, or a bad / wrong-version patch hosing the OS.

Flip a coin I say. All I know is that XP's end of support has been an absolute boon for me, with some days bringing me 3 PCs to upgrade or replace lately. I wouldn't advocate this to any customers still running XP - they can screw up their PC without Microsoft's help already !

 

[ViRGE]

Three thoughts:

1) That is almost certainly theft of service. Since Microsoft charges for security updates, misrepresenting your system to get free updates is accessing a service you don't have the right to access.

2) The stripped down nature of Windows XP for Point of Sale means that you almost certainly won't be getting patches for the stuff that has been removed, which is just as likely (if not more so) to be the parts that really need patching when the next 0-day comes along. Also, unless all the system files present truly are identical, then replacing random system files on a desktop XP system for a "stripped down" version might, and probably will, cause some functions to stop working.

3) For the love of Mike, just get off of XP already. The other meaning of POS is a very good description for that junker of an OS.

 

[Hugh Jass]

"We recently became aware of a hack that purportedly aims to provide security updates to Windows XP customers. The security updates that could be installed are intended for Windows Embedded and Windows Server 2003 customers and do not fully protect Windows XP customers," a Microsoft spokesperson told ZDNet. "Windows XP customers also run a significant risk of functionality issues with their machines if they install these updates, as they are not tested against Windows XP. The best way for Windows XP customers to protect their systems is to upgrade to a more modern operating system, like Windows 7 or Windows 8.1."

http://www.maximumpc.com/microsoft_...wing_windows_xp_receive_security_updates_2014

 

[Maximilian]

I think its a stunning idea! Good to know I will be safe on all my computers through to 2019 :thumbsup:

 

[Charlie98]

3) For the love of Mike, just get off of XP already. The other meaning of POS is a very good description for that junker of an OS.

Kind of my thought, too. If people would just spend their effort to just learn a new OS (W7, W8, etc...) rather than trying to prop up an unsupported OS with clever hacks...

 

[gmaster456]

Is all of the effort really worth it? Windows 7 isn't hard to get your hands on and you can get machines running it for less than $100. There really is no excuse in my opinion. If you need it for specific software, at least use it offline and in the meantime look for an alternative.

 

[nemesismk2]

I will just be using one windows xp computer always offline from this point onwards because all but one of my windows xp (i retired my windows 7 computer too) computers have been upgraded to ubuntu 14.04. i feel safer already getting rid of microsoft windows.

 

[corkyg]

Bad idea. Same topic exists in Security:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2384943

 

[ChuckFx]

I see alot of people saying ''just learn the new OS, it's not hard!''. For a ton of buisness changing OS is not about people learning the system but software compatibilty. A huge amount of buisness run 32 bits with 10 year old rigs with a single 1.5 core with 1 or 2 gb of ram. It's also a heavy process, you have to have techs coordonating the transition, synching the software, hardware and employess. Add to that countless hours of beta testing apps and then the nights to do the actual transition.

To top it all off, add the hours of slowed production due to actual learning and all the ''i lost my new password'' or ''how do I open outlook now''.

This ends up being one hell of a burden for a buisness and also factor that this may be the first and/or most significant upgrade a buisness has known. Alot only ever ran XP and just finished 10 years of peace, they are not ''armed'' to ''fight'' that ''war''.

 

[nemesismk2]

I have used this information above with a new copy of windows xp, i first updated all of the microsoft patches and activated the copy of windows. i then did a full scan with malwarebytes premium to make sure that everything was 100% virus free which it was.

I then used the information above and made changes to the registery.

I then ran my windows update which downloaded the following:-

Windows XP Embedded Security Update for Internet Explorer 8 for WEPOS and POSReady 2009 (KB2953522) 29 May 2014 Microsoft Update

Windows XP Embedded Security Update for Microsoft .NET Framework 4 on Windows Server 2003, Vista, Windows 7, Server 2008 x86 (KB2931365) 29 May 2014 Microsoft Update

Windows XP Embedded Security Update for WEPOS and POSReady 2009 (KB2926765) 29 May 2014 Microsoft Update

Windows XP Embedded Security Update for Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 SP2 on Windows Server 2003 (KB2932079) 29 May 2014 Microsoft Update

I then rebooted and i did another malwarebytes premium scan which didn't detect anything wrong.

 

[Mushkins]

I see alot of people saying ''just learn the new OS, it's not hard!''. For a ton of buisness changing OS is not about people learning the system but software compatibilty. A huge amount of buisness run 32 bits with 10 year old rigs with a single 1.5 core with 1 or 2 gb of ram. It's also a heavy process, you have to have techs coordonating the transition, synching the software, hardware and employess. Add to that countless hours of beta testing apps and then the nights to do the actual transition.

To top it all off, add the hours of slowed production due to actual learning and all the ''i lost my new password'' or ''how do I open outlook now''.

This ends up being one hell of a burden for a buisness and also factor that this may be the first and/or most significant upgrade a buisness has known. Alot only ever ran XP and just finished 10 years of peace, they are not ''armed'' to ''fight'' that ''war''.

Software compatibility is definitely a concern, but when talking enterprise transitions you plan *years* in advance. This is where extended paid support from Microsoft comes in, it's a program designed to let enterprises pay to continue selective support as a stop-gap until they can finish up that testing and migration that's been in the works for years already and didn't quite make the deadline. It's not intended as a "use it forever" service so they simply don't have to bother with the hassle of updating technology. For the really unique use-cases, there are plenty of workarounds such as secure virtual machine environments. The last company I worked for (a multinational fortune 500 player) still had some people running apps in OS/2 VMs Those VMs were configured behind a secure citrix portal and never touched the internet. They accessed an internal database and a handful of network printers, nobody was browsing amazon on their OS/2 VM.

If you're an enterprise that didn't take XP EOL seriously and didn't make any plans to migrate, you deserve what you get IMO. It's not like you didn't have a decade of lead time to start that ship turning. Technology is an ever-changing field, if you put the blinders on and dig your heels in, your business is going to crash and burn. User training and adapting to changes in workflow are key parts of managing a business, they can't just be ignored.

 

[gmaster456]

I see alot of people saying ''just learn the new OS, it's not hard!''. For a ton of buisness changing OS is not about people learning the system but software compatibilty. A huge amount of buisness run 32 bits with 10 year old rigs with a single 1.5 core with 1 or 2 gb of ram. It's also a heavy process, you have to have techs coordonating the transition, synching the software, hardware and employess. Add to that countless hours of beta testing apps and then the nights to do the actual transition.

To top it all off, add the hours of slowed production due to actual learning and all the ''i lost my new password'' or ''how do I open outlook now''.

This ends up being one hell of a burden for a buisness and also factor that this may be the first and/or most significant upgrade a buisness has known. Alot only ever ran XP and just finished 10 years of peace, they are not ''armed'' to ''fight'' that ''war''.

This is why Microsoft warned businesses literally years in advance.

 

[3spooky5u]

I'd say no at least not by mcrosoft

Most modern programs don't support Windows XP anymore.
I think the XP community could keep it up and running.

 

[Leyawiin]

Three thoughts:

1) That is almost certainly theft of service. Since Microsoft charges for security updates, misrepresenting your system to get free updates is accessing a service you don't have the right to access.

2) The stripped down nature of Windows XP for Point of Sale means that you almost certainly won't be getting patches for the stuff that has been removed, which is just as likely (if not more so) to be the parts that really need patching when the next 0-day comes along. Also, unless all the system files present truly are identical, then replacing random system files on a desktop XP system for a "stripped down" version might, and probably will, cause some functions to stop working.

3) For the love of Mike, just get off of XP already. The other meaning of POS is a very good description for that junker of an OS.

You know the nature of PC/software tinkerers. They've been doing this sort of thing for unsupported hardware (especially old video cards) for years. I'm sure everyone was expecting it for Windows Update (surprised it took this long to come to light). I think this is more their attempt at poking the bear with a stick than anything.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

I see alot of people saying ''just learn the new OS, it's not hard!''. For a ton of buisness changing OS is not about people learning the system but software compatibilty. A huge amount of buisness run 32 bits with 10 year old rigs with a single 1.5 core with 1 or 2 gb of ram. It's also a heavy process, you have to have techs coordonating the transition, synching the software, hardware and employess. Add to that countless hours of beta testing apps and then the nights to do the actual transition.

To top it all off, add the hours of slowed production due to actual learning and all the ''i lost my new password'' or ''how do I open outlook now''.

This ends up being one hell of a burden for a buisness and also factor that this may be the first and/or most significant upgrade a buisness has known. Alot only ever ran XP and just finished 10 years of peace, they are not ''armed'' to ''fight'' that ''war''.

I'm not buying this at all. If this is the case then businesses are running their business poorly.

Fifteen years ago I was in corporate sales and the trend even then was to lease hardware instead of owning it. They usually would do 2-3 year leases and not have to deal with aging equipment at the desktop, or continue to support legacy operating systems.

Most larger companies, including the one I work for now, have been doing this for years and don't buy into the software snare of not being able to run on tomorrow's operating systems. They either buy/develop robust software for long-term use or insure the future OS has some sort of backward capability or an exit plan.

My employer has >200K employees with at least half of them on desktops. They didn't wait all that long on Windows 7 adoption because the 2 and 3 year technology lease at the desktop made it easy for them, and this is with a plethora of retail and custom software still being used across generations of operating systems (e.g. XP>Vista>W7).

As a business, it is like operating a motor vehicle. Never change the oil and suffer the consequences.

 

[Virgorising]

3) For the love of Mike, just get off of XP already. The other meaning of POS is a very good description for that junker of an OS.

I agree, upgrade!....cept I have very happy memories re XP and would never call it a junker.

 

[Virgorising]

Kind of my thought, too. If people would just spend their effort to just learn a new OS (W7, W8, etc...) rather than trying to prop up an unsupported OS with clever hacks...

I think we should be sensitive to sometimes it's about MONEY...now, more than ever.

 

[mikeyJo]

not a good ideas. XP has lots of bug and can be easily exploit.

 

[postmortemIA]

I'd say no at least not by mcrosoft

Most modern programs don't support Windows XP anymore.
I think the XP community could keep it up and running.

Some is not most.

Pretty much what is not supported for sure is games that are DX10+ only.

Yes running XP at this point is poor choice, but for many many it is the only choice.

 

[nemesismk2]

not a good ideas. XP has lots of bug and can be easily exploit.

I personally think that anything with microsoft windows in the name can be easily exploited or microsoft wouldn't be doing so many patches and updates for every type of windows every month.

 

[lenjack]

I'm following this in several forums.

 

[Engineer]

Three thoughts:

3) For the love of Mike, just get off of XP already. The other meaning of POS is a very good description for that junker of an OS.

Tell that to automation software makers then as they refuse to upgrade many of their products (or are so slow that it's not funny). Many are finally moving to Windows 7 and Windows 8 is a pipe dream at this point.

I could run 'some' of them in a VM but VM's tend to require a lot of hardware power meaning a more expensive laptop.

As for home, I do have one XP PC that I need to get rid of but it's hardly used now anyway so not too worried about it.