Windows XP Could Be Infected Within 10 Minutes Support End

[rwinches]

@elusion11
Yeah, just show yourself to be lame and unable to read for comprehension.I have plenty of 'New' systems running 7 and 8 fool! I keep the older systems running because I can.

@tului
All my systems have internet access they also have protection and I have a standalone firewall.

I started fighting virus infections professionally before McAfee, working in New York's financial district. Dial-up Bulletin Boards with doors to the internet were what most used to 'surf'. Direct dial-up access to the internet was available but pricey with CompuServe being the popular destination. Collage computer labs were the source of many outbreaks back then, later places like Internet cafes and Kinkos ramped it up.


If XP were sooo vulnerable why would 30% on the systems out there still run it? As it has been pointed out above , the focus will be on the majority of systems.

Only as Apple gained market did it receive more 'attention', not that there OS was impervious to attack, Mac's had antivirus SW way-back.

 

[knowom]

If the XP OS apocalypse does come I'll just switch over to Crunchbang Linux problem solved secure plus minimalism.

 

[Ephebus]

Mr. Kevin Parrish and his weekly Microsoft sponsored FUD scare-tactics-for-noobs article.

 

[therealduckofdeath]

Well, those who insist on keeping XP, something like 10 years after the first announcement of its retirement really only have themselves to blame...

 

[therealduckofdeath]

OSes and software get infected even while still under on-going maintenance from the original writer/vendor so Windows XP is not going to magically become several times more infection-prone than it already is overnight just because official support has ended.

That isn't what this is about. Running a completely unsupported operating system means, you really don't know if or when you're infected, as there is no one with access to the source code there to check for any issues.

 

[chicofehr]

Most of the gov't computers in my town are still using XP SP2 LOL

 

[assasin32]

I actually winder how much did M$ pay $$$ for this commercial? If you won't to be relatively safe use Linux & if you want to be 99% safe use BSD!

I rather be 100% safe so I practice computer abstinence and refuse to even touch a computer in fear of getting infected with some nasty virus.

 

[somebodyspecial]

Rubbish. I haven't installed a security patch on XP in years, and my machine is virus free.I just practice safe surfing. I also don't waste money on Internet Security software, but that's because it slows everything down.

Yeah, you aren't allowed to say that with certainty since you aren't certain. Did you know that some viruses show absolutely no signs and that those are the worst ones and did you know that with unpatched vulnerabilities it is possible to control your computer without you even knowing? There is a reason those patches are released and it isn't because of viruses that shoot off fireworks letting you know they are there, it is to fix the problems that allow hackers to use your computer as a zombie without you even knowing about it.

I'd argue with this. I left a machine untouched for 2yrs just to test the theory. I DO NOT run around on SAFE sites 😉 Threatfire and Comodo Internet Security kept me safe the entire time. Do I update my main PC? HECK YES. But you are fear mongering here based on my own testing. After 2yrs I tossed it onto an external sata port on another PC and tested it with multiple virus scanners. I got nothing. I stuck it back into the "dangerous" pc and updated it (a few hundred security updates...LOL). The only thing updated for the 2yrs was Comodo and Threatfire which were always on auto update. I purposely did my most dangerous crap to that PC.

And before you say I'm not allowed to say that, I'm in IT with multiple certs and in a support role for 15+yrs (rolling up on 20yrs soon). Would I try that on my server? No that's just stupid. But do I think that you'll be infected in 10minutes? Don't make me laugh.

Will you be infected if you have ZERO protection on XP after there are no updates? I bet yes, you'll get infected probably. But with an updated virus scanner/firewall and threatfire? I don't think so. Are you wading into more risky waters running with no patches? OF course. But are you guaranteed to be infected without patches? Not if you're protected by OTHER means which also are used to stop people from taking advantage of unprotected windows HOLES.

Do I EVER run MS defender or any MS related virus/firewall. NOPE. I frequent what I'd call possibly NUCLEAR websites regularly...ROFL. I've never been infected. I've cleaned a lot of other people's PC's but almost all had out of date protection and ZERO of them had threatfire. I'm not talking patches, I mean the person let the scanner (whatever brand it was) go way past renewal etc.

Everyone who has any worries about XP should clearly get the latest updates before it expires (I'm not advocating running patch free here), but you'll be safe if you run threatfire+ even something FREE like Comodo. Threatfire is FREE also and it's results add a huge layer on top of regular AV/Firewall software. This combo of these two FREE apps is pretty dang bulletproof. Everyone should add threatfire to their systems. I can't believe it's still free and doesn't piss off my software, with regular updates too. I will state I'm not a fan of the latest rev of comodo and on my main PC I'm still on v5.12.xx. I don't like 6 and hope it's fixed before they kill v5 revs. I'm not saying I couldn't get used to 6, just like knowing v5 inside out as v6 seems to get in my way more often. It seems dumbed down for newbs or something, kind of like they "windows 8'ed" it which makes it less functional to me...LOL did I just coin a new term?

*runs of to trademark it before apple does and claims they own my round edges*

http://www.threatfire.com/download/
It asks to be UPGRADED monthly but you just close the window and ignore the scare popup. It's pitching their AV etc products. Not sure if anyone has reviewed the 4.0+ versions of threatfire but I have no issues for years with it. It's a simple program that does it's particular job (identifying bad program behavior) VERY well. It's just another layer though, not meant to replace your AV, just meant to ADD to it. It rarely pops up with false alarms also, heck it rarely speaks at all. I still have a dual boot's of xp64 which still is fully supported by vid cards, network cards (even my Edimax Wireless N card), my sound card (creative Audigy2-4) etc. I haven't been in it for a while, but I'd still be running it every day if it wasn't for work using win7. It's just faster with far less hidden from me with far fewer clicks vs. win7 for almost anything I do. Win9 better have a check box for techs who want NOTHING hidden and reduced clicks and for god's sake buy Total Commander or xyplorer or something and replace windows explorer with it! IF the OS doesn't make me faster what is the point? It's pretty? Go fly a kite, I have work to do and your junk OS is in my way. I'd like Win7 a lot more if they replaced explorer (where I spend a lot of my time daily) as it does have some things I really like. Never mind win8/8.1 junk. Synofsky clearly got fired for a reason 😉

 

[eriko]

I'd agree there are going to be more problems than some here believe.About 3yrs ago, I reinstalled an XP machine clean. I walked over to the patch panel to plug my machine in, so I could grab Comodo Firewall, and some antivirus, and then got distracted by another task.60 mins later, to my surprise, I returned and saw the XP machine with much disk activity going on, and discovered I had plugged in the wrong machine to the patch panel - the XP machine had obtained a public address via DHCP (normal), and was likely port-scanned, and compromised. There was much crapware installed, all sh1te, opening IE, there were pop-ups, toolbars, redirects etc. So someone somewhere is very busy attacking XP, as I saw with my own eyes.Hate to say it, but likely wouldn't see that with Ubuntu..nor 7, nor 8.

 

[cats_Paw]

Marketing in the 21th Century: Grab a phrase out of context and use it to scare people.So Windows Vista/7/8 Are Virus Free?So The most important componenet in software Security is Microsoft Security (Yeah, Microsoft and Security in the same phrase is simply funny)?And I guess I could go on but I assume Toms users know better.

 

[ianpac]

PLEASE DON'T PANIC!. Life as we know it will end in 10 minutes. Just sit back and watch the fireworks. No point trying to do anything else. Just acknowledge you have no control over anything. You could pray to Uncle Bill for salvation but he is probably too busy saving the poor and disadvantaged to listen to anything you have to say. Too bad.

 

[beetlejuicegr]

It could be a way to make companies switch 100% to windows 7 or 8. The whole 10minute panic. However many companies use software , customized for their business so there is no way to go up on windows generation if the software isnt updated for it no matter what Microsoft will say.

 

[salgado18]

Why is it that, everytime someone recommends a product from a big company, people start saying the news was bought, the guy was bought, etc.? Can't specialists make predictions and recommend software anymore? What if the guy is right? Sure, using an up-to-date anti-virus and firewall keeps you out of every kind of trouble, but regular users don't use it properly. A friend of mine got a virus last week, and he is by no means a noob, but what if no serious damage was caused because he is using 7 instead of XP? Specialists advocate better and safer products all the time, just let them make their predictions. Not everyone is bought by evil corporations, you know.

 

[InvalidError]

That isn't what this is about. Running a completely unsupported operating system means, you really don't know if or when you're infected, as there is no one with access to the source code there to check for any issues.

With fully supported OSes, people still get infected without noticing it all the time and as long as there is demand for anti-virus software, nothing stops anti-virus companies from continuing to provide their own third-party protection software if they want to.

People who have poor basic safety practices manage to get infected even with full protection enabled on a fully supported OS and people who do stick to safe browsing practices can go for years without infections even with no protections whatsoever.

Unless the computer has a naked internet connection, infection almost always requires some form of user intervention and people have full control over that much regardless of the rest of their OS and protection status.

 

[therealduckofdeath]

That isn't what this is about. Running a completely unsupported operating system means, you really don't know if or when you're infected, as there is no one with access to the source code there to check for any issues.

With fully supported OSes, people still get infected without noticing it all the time and as long as there is demand for anti-virus software, nothing stops anti-virus companies from continuing to provide their own third-party protection software if they want to.

People who have poor basic safety practices manage to get infected even with full protection enabled on a fully supported OS and people who do stick to safe browsing practices can go for years without infections even with no protections whatsoever.

Unless the computer has a naked internet connection, infection almost always requires some form of user intervention and people have full control over that much regardless of the rest of their OS and protection status.

Not really. That was in the good old days, before web 2.0. Today, a web page is so much more than plain HTML, leaving you vulnerable in so many ways if your system isn't bug fixed. Especially considering that the basic design of Windows XP, with no proper sandboxing of software, like the newer editions of Windows.

 

[Daniel Revas]

A Grocer near my house just did a major upgrade which included 6 brand new self checkout scanners. the other day while I was in there one of them rebooted and it was running...Windows XP.No matter what Microsoft does, or after April doesn't do, seems to make much of a difference. XP is not going away anytime soon.

 

[Tuishimi]

Rubbish. I haven't installed a security patch on XP in years, and my machine is virus free.I just practice safe surfing. I also don't waste money on Internet Security software, but that's because it slows everything down.

Yeah, you aren't allowed to say that with certainty since you aren't certain. Did you know that some viruses show absolutely no signs and that those are the worst ones and did you know that with unpatched vulnerabilities it is possible to control your computer without you even knowing? There is a reason those patches are released and it isn't because of viruses that shoot off fireworks letting you know they are there, it is to fix the problems that allow hackers to use your computer as a zombie without you even knowing about it.

How do we know he hasn't already been hacked and that really was the hacker writing that to simply distract us... hmmmmmm.

 

[InvalidError]

Not really. That was in the good old days, before web 2.0. Today, a web page is so much more than plain HTML, leaving you vulnerable in so many ways if your system isn't bug fixed. Especially considering that the basic design of Windows XP, with no proper sandboxing of software, like the newer editions of Windows.

Most of the web-based exploits can be avoided by keeping your BROWSER and associated plugins up to date. Use a non-Microsoft browser (IE is down to only 8-9% market share anyway) and that solves most of your potential browsing exploit issues as long as your replacement browser remains supported. Exploits embedded in advertisements and flash can also be mitigated for the most part by using adblock and flashblock to prevent them from ever getting loaded even on an otherwise vulnerable browser, same goes with Java/Javascript by disabling those too when not required.

 

[therealduckofdeath]

A Grocer near my house just did a major upgrade which included 6 brand new self checkout scanners. the other day while I was in there one of them rebooted and it was running...Windows XP.No matter what Microsoft does, or after April doesn't do, seems to make much of a difference. XP is not going away anytime soon.

Those are embedded systems, which really aren't relevant in the discussion. Many ATM's and cash registers used Windows NT 4.0 up until a few years ago. They're designed with one single purpose, could just as well use MS-DOS 1.0, if hardware still supported that operating system.

 

[InvalidError]

Those are embedded systems, which really aren't relevant in the discussion. Many ATM's and cash registers used Windows NT 4.0 up until a few years ago. They're designed with one single purpose, could just as well use MS-DOS 1.0, if hardware still supported that operating system.

You actually got that backwards: current hardware technically still supports DOS 1.0 but DOS 1.0 does not support current hardware - if you could stick a floppy controller in a modern PC, you would likely be able to boot DOS 1.0 unless it has some form of overflow bug preventing that. But IIRC, DOS 1.0 only supports HDD sizes up to 32MB so you would not be able to do anything useful with it unless you happened to still have HDDs that small lying around.

As for "being designed for a single purpose", they are still full-blown mobile PCs with a full-blown desktop OS so they are still capable of all the usual desktop stuff ON TOP of their special extra purposes.

Few moderately complex devices are truly single-purpose these days since people expect so many features crammed in everything that it becomes simpler to use a full-blown OS as the base than write bare-metal firmware or use a lightweight OS: in the "good old days", a handheld scanner would have an optical assembly, a microcontroller and EEPROM to store scan codes until they can be downloaded on a PC or a serial connection so the scanner could send codes directly to the PC. Today, a handheld scanner is expected to work over LAN, WiFi, Bluetooth, store codes to SD card, USB key, LAN shares, export to Excel, intranet or online stock-keeping form, etc. and the simplest way to do all that is simply use an embedded PC, Android device or similar, a camera and a bit of proprietary software to take images, extract data and send it wherever it needs to go.

 

[Achaios-1328513]

Who cares? Who would want to break into my Pentium 4 Northwood@2.8 GHz laptop with a Nvidia GeForce4 460 Go 64MB AGP GPU and 512KB DDR Memory? What is the hacker going to do with my laptop?What kind of hacker wastes his time with breaking into 2002 PC's? My laptop is a late 2002 model.

 

[therealduckofdeath]

Those are embedded systems, which really aren't relevant in the discussion. Many ATM's and cash registers used Windows NT 4.0 up until a few years ago. They're designed with one single purpose, could just as well use MS-DOS 1.0, if hardware still supported that operating system.

You actually got that backwards: current hardware technically still supports DOS 1.0 but DOS 1.0 does not support current hardware - if you could stick a floppy controller in a modern PC, you would likely be able to boot DOS 1.0 unless it has some form of overflow bug preventing that. But IIRC, DOS 1.0 only supports HDD sizes up to 32MB so you would not be able to do anything useful with it unless you happened to still have HDDs that small lying around.

As for "being designed for a single purpose", they are still full-blown mobile PCs with a full-blown desktop OS so they are still capable of all the usual desktop stuff ON TOP of their special extra purposes.

Few moderately complex devices are truly single-purpose these days since people expect so many features crammed in everything that it becomes simpler to use a full-blown OS as the base than write bare-metal firmware or use a lightweight OS: in the "good old days", a handheld scanner would have an optical assembly, a microcontroller and EEPROM to store scan codes until they can be downloaded on a PC or a serial connection so the scanner could send codes directly to the PC. Today, a handheld scanner is expected to work over LAN, WiFi, Bluetooth, store codes to SD card, USB key, LAN shares, export to Excel, intranet or online stock-keeping form, etc. and the simplest way to do all that is simply use an embedded PC, Android device or similar, a camera and a bit of proprietary software to take images, extract data and send it wherever it needs to go.

Windows XPe is not a full-blown Professional installation. Sure, you can install it on any PC, as the core is a regular XP core, but, it's a stripped down edition (much like the command-line version of current server editions), simply to reduce the need for maintenance, as you drastically reduce any potential attack surface and being less likely to present unexpected bugs later on. This, mostly because they are in systems that are supposed to run with minimal network interaction.

 

[MrW187]

Rubbish. I haven't installed a security patch on XP in years, and my machine is virus free.I just practice safe surfing. I also don't waste money on Internet Security software, but that's because it slows everything down.

Yeah, you aren't allowed to say that with certainty since you aren't certain. Did you know that some viruses show absolutely no signs and that those are the worst ones and did you know that with unpatched vulnerabilities it is possible to control your computer without you even knowing? There is a reason those patches are released and it isn't because of viruses that shoot off fireworks letting you know they are there, it is to fix the problems that allow hackers to use your computer as a zombie without you even knowing about it.

viruses don't just magically appear on your computer, you have to let them in. there are a myriad of third-party security programs that shore up computer protection. besides, it's not like microsoft's patches get rid of malware and viruses, you have to use security programs to protect yourself anyway. if a malware dev find a security weakness in windows XP, a security dev will make a program to plug it up and remove the malware.

WRONG. Viruses/Exploits can magically appear. re: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaster_(computer_worm)"This allowed the worm to spread without users opening attachments simply by spamming itself to large numbers of random IP addresses. "Just by being on the internet you most definitely can be infected through an exploit etc.Just might happen again in April. Infact they might have one built already and waiting to release it then like the article said.So laugh all you like thinking haha im safe my XP is l33t.

 

[InvalidError]

WRONG. Viruses/Exploits can magically appear. re: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaster_(computer_worm)"This allowed the worm to spread without users opening attachments simply by spamming itself to large numbers of random IP addresses. "Just by being on the internet you most definitely can be infected through an exploit etc.

Getting infected by scanner worms over the internet requires having a naked connection between the PC and the internet. Anyone remotely concerned about security or who just happens to have multiple IP devices sharing the internet connection would at the very least have a basic NAT router between their LAN and modem which would prevent such attacks unless the router itself is compromised first or someone brings an infected PC on your LAN.

Basic precautions go a long way.

 

[Duckhunt]

why within 10 minutes? why not 30 minutes . What is so special about 10 minutes? It takes 30 seconds to download some xxx movies and get a virus with it? Are they trying to say that we only use the computer for upto 10 minutes? and we get the tissue paper out? As we get older?