Windows XP-ires

On April 8th Windows XP officially expires.

Are you ready?

Yes, the death knell for Windows XP has been tolling for quite some time now.  And from April 8th, Microsoft will no longer support Windows XP with updates… security updates most particularly.

Expr3ss! of course, being cloud software is unaffected.   Use any operating system, on any platform, with any mainstream^* web browser and Expr3ss! just works.   So Expr3ss! will continue to work with or without Windows XP.

 

 

Trained Cyber-criminals are just waiting for you…

Informed opinion is that “the bad guys” have been stockpiling vulnerabilities for a year or so, just waiting for this moment.  And this applies to MS Office 2003 too… instant double whammy!  Are you at risk?  If you are planning on using Windows XP after April 8th, you will be.

Giancarlo Carraro from Microsoft writes in the latest edition of Australian Retailer Association “Retailer” magazine..

“With Microsoft officially retiring support for Windows XP and Office 2003 on April 8th 2014, the risks will be exacerbated because users will be more susceptible.  PC’s running Windows XP with Office 2003 are 2.5 times more vulnerable than Windows 7 and 14 times more vulnerable than Windows 8.”

Oops!  I’m not ready for this… what should I do?

The most important thing you mustn’t do is fail to act!

Lots of home computers, small business PCs and POS systems and even industrial control systems are still running WinXP.

Worse, the hardware that is running XP is often outdated and unsuitable for running Windows 7 or 8.  Lack of memory, lack of processor speed or even lack of disk space often precludes upgrading without first upgrading the hardware.  Catch 22.

Q:  “OK… I’ll change my password regularly, and be very careful browsing the Internet… will that help?”

A:  “That’s like re-arranging only one of the deckchairs on the Titanic”.

Q:  “Alright smarty… so what’s the very best thing to do, then?”

The best solution

Buy new, up-to-date hardware and gracefully retire that old machine and Windows XP too.

Of course there are costs involved but, candidly, both the operating system and the hardware will have seen long service.  So there have been no costs for quite a long time either.  The machine and the software can’t owe you much.

This cycle is inevitable for any technology and good forward planning dictates that businesses and individuals need to budget for this, just as you have to do for a car.

The cleverest solution

Your old Win XP machine could easily be refurbished and running Linux at no cost.  Free open-source distributions of Linux are easily available [Ubuntu, for example].  Your old XP box or laptop will be faster, safer and still productive.

Of course there is a learning curve for Linux which is a Geek’s paradise but not exactly a consumer item… then again it is free!

You or your business may have software that won’t run on Linux … but web and cloud-based software like Expr3ss! will.  All you need is a web browser for that.

The “nearly worst” solution

Shoehorn Windows 7 into your old WinXP box and be driven crazy by slowness and running out of disk space.  Yech!

“That’s all too much bother, I’ll just hang on and hope”

That’s the one!… that’s “the very worst solution”!

If you’re talking home computer here, I guess that’s your choice.  But that’s what the cyber-mafia is hoping for.

If you think that replacing that old laptop or PC with a new one running the latest and most secure operating system is too costly and too time-consuming just think of the costs of having your internet banking compromised, your credit cards hacked and your identity stolen.  Ouch!

Businesses at Risk

Businesses, are in another riskcategory altogether, especially with the new privacy legislation that came into effect this month.  My belief is that there will be zero sympathy from the Privacy Commissioner for a company relying upon superceded, insecure software (a.k.a. Windows XP, post April 8th).

We do suggest that your company secretary should review your security posture vis-a-vis privacy and data security, as it’s his or her responsibility under the Act.

We recently heard an example of this, where a company was collecting job applications on an insecure web page.  Such pages (http://) are not encrypted and you have no certainty that you are actually connected to the site you think you are.

Confidential and private data like job applications should always be collected using a properly certificated SSL (https:// Secure Sockets Layer), fully-encrypted connection) just like your banking connection.

When the company secretary realised, the plug was pulled in a heartbeat!

From April 8th Windows XP is in the same boat… don’t delay!

Thanks for dropping by

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* Expr3ss! supports (Mac, PC, Linux. Chrome OS, iOS and Android):

• Internet Explorer 7 and above
• Firefox
• Chrome
• Safari
• Opera