Happy That You’re Still Running Windows XP? So Are the Hackers.

Despite being two generations old (an eternity in software time), Windows XP continues to be the most popular operating system in the world.  According to security guru Mikko Hypponen, lead researcher at Finland’s F-Secure, more than 50% of all machines connected to the Internet run XP.

Why so popular? First of all, its successor, Windows Vista, was an utter flop. As grumblings from users and tech media grew, the business community dug in their collective heels and stuck with the tried and true XP (it didn’t help that several popular business apps initially didn’t run well or at all on Vista, either). Many of those that had already switched to Vista sought to return to XP (in fact, a Google search for “downgrade from Vista to XP” still returns about 130,000 hits). So, when Windows 7 finally rolled out a few years later, many users viewed it with healthy skepticism, even though it has since proven itself a worthy successor to XP.

Whatever the reasons for not upgrading, if you’re still running XP, you may want to consider the following:

• Hackers tend to write malware with the intent of getting it onto the most computers possible. Because of its large installed user base and less-than-cutting-edge technology, machines running XP are a prime target.
• Microsoft has a habit of outing its own security exploits. Hackers pay close attention to security fixes released by Microsoft and note what holes the patches are intended to fix, many of which are not widely known. This makes any machine that is not immediately patched and updated very vulnerable.
• Windows 7 was built with multiple, robust layers of security. It will run on all but the most outdated of machines.
• Even Microsoft thinks you’d be a fool to keep running XP. Though they’ve caved to user demands to continue extended support (i.e., patching) for XP through 2014, they went through the trouble to produce an hour-long video with some of their top engineers discussing the pitfalls of continuing to use XP. See the video here.