This post will not be entirely about information leaks, but information security is fighting not only with them, right? We will talk about the common problem of using obsolete software, which will only get worse in difficult times for the economy. This text is a compilation of opinions from the Web and my own on this issue.
Is there any risk in working with Windows XP after the end of support for this OS? Yes, there is, and above all, crackers will have an advantage over defenders running Windows XP. After all, most likely, crackers will have more data about the vulnerabilities of this OS than defenders. Below we will explain why this is so.
When Microsoft releases a security update, it's common for both attackers and security researchers to quickly decompile the security updates in order to recognize the piece of code that contains the vulnerability that the update fixes. When a vulnerability is discovered, they will try to write code that allows it to be used on systems that, for some reason, are not equipped with this security update. In addition, they will try to find out if this vulnerability exists in other software products, which have the same or similar functionality.
For example, if a vulnerability is discovered in one of the Windows versions, the researchers are trying to determine whether the same vulnerability exists in other versions of the operating system. To ensure that users are protected from those crackers that use these practices, there is a robust principle used by the Microsoft Security Center to control releases of security updates. According to this principle, all security updates for absolutely all products of the company appear on the Internet at the same time. This practice gives users an advantage over crackers because they can get security updates for absolutely all of their products before crackers can decompile them.
However, after April 8, 2014 (it was then that Piggy support officially ended), organizations that continue to use Windows XP at work can no longer have this advantage. Immediately after Microsoft once again introduces security updates for various versions Windows, hackers decompile these updates, find vulnerabilities, and "test" Windows XP for their presence - and, as we remember, this OS will not receive security updates. And if these vulnerabilities are present in Windows XP, then crackers will try to create an exploit that allows you to use these vulnerabilities. The security update will not be available for Windows XP, and will not help fix these vulnerabilities - the system will have a "zero-day vulnerability". It is worth recalling that from July 2012 to July 2013, Windows XP was marked as a system with found vulnerabilities in forty-five bulletins. Microsoft Security. Thirty of them also mentioned Windows 7 and 8 versions.
Some analysts believe that Windows 8 provides special services for protection, which make it difficult to carry out attacks using such exploits. In addition, there are special antivirus programs, whose purpose is to block attacks and neutralize viruses. However, you cannot be 100% sure that you can completely trust the computing base of the OS, because crackers can certainly get data on zero-day exploits in the Windows XP operating system. And this will give them the opportunity to disable, as well as execute the code they need. Also, can you fully trust the system APIs that are used in the antivirus software of such a system? It is possible that some users will find it normal given level confidence in the integrity of the OS, and yet for most users it will be unacceptable.
If we talk about the protections provided in Windows XP service pack 3, they were created many years ago - and then they were, of course, very modern. But on Microsoft information Security Intelligence Report, today they can no longer be called effective in confronting modern computer threats. Data for Windows infections XP malware claims that the risk for infection for Windows XP is much higher than the risk for infection for modern Windows 7 and Windows 8.
Conclusion? Since everyone will save on updating both software and hardware, the infection rate corporate computers in Russia will increase markedly. And, unfortunately, there will be much more work for information security services.
Back in 2001, the most "long-playing" operating system in the world, Windows XP, appeared. According to Net Applications as of February 2014, it was still installed on 29.53% of computers, being the second most common after Windows 7. Many owners are still happy with the OS and do not seek to change it to something newer. However, on April 8, Microsoft is ending its extended support. We decided to talk about this and seven more reasons to stop using an outdated operating system.
1. XP is no longer supported
Main term Windows support XP expired back in 2009. April 8 ends the extended support period - after that, Microsoft will finally stop releasing updates and "patches" for the outdated operating system. Given that new vulnerabilities in the OS are discovered with enviable regularity, using XP will simply be unsafe. Even knowing about the problem, Microsoft will not close the "holes" that attackers can use to steal your personal information. In particular, this poses a huge threat to ATMs around the world, many of which are .
2. XP Can't Take Full Advantage of Modern Hardware
Windows XP was developed at a time when computers were even weaker than today's budget smartphones. On the Microsoft website, you can easily find system requirements Windows XP. By modern standards, they look just ridiculous - you need a processor with a frequency of 233 megahertz, 64 megabytes random access memory and 1.5 gigabytes of hard disk space. XP is simply not able to take full advantage of modern hardware, as it was sharpened for older computers.
3. Compatibility issues
Already a significant number computer games do not support work in Windows XP, because DirectX 10 and higher cannot be installed on the OS. The further, the stronger this trend will grow. Accordingly, even if you run modern game it will work on an outdated OS, the graphics on it, quite possibly, will look worse than on newer systems.
Moreover, over time, many software and driver manufacturers will no longer want to support the outdated OS, leaving XP users without their products. Of course, this is unlikely to happen all at once. Nevertheless, almost every third PC user still "sits" on XP. However, compatibility issues are definitely inevitable for XP fans.
At the same time, more modern Windows 7 has an XP compatibility mode that allows you to run virtual version the old OS on which all applications written for it will run.
4. Outdated design
Windows XP is outdated not only mentally, but also outwardly. The appearance of the system was developed with an eye on the power of computers thirteen years ago. beautiful animation and other effects in those days were considered too resource-intensive. Using the same "seven" is not an example more pleasant.
Of course, XP can be "dressed" in new clothes with the help of various third-party software, which sometimes radically changes the appearance of the system - even under the "seven", even under OS X, even under Ubuntu. Nevertheless, you still can't escape from a lot of interface elements traced "the old fashioned way". In addition, such embellishments reduce the stability of the system.
5. XP lacks a full-fledged app store
XP users do not have the ability to visually view the applications available to them and update them centrally. Similar stores exist, in particular, in Windows 8, OS X and Ubuntu, not to mention all modern mobile operating systems.
6. Uncomfortable and slow search according to the system
In more modern versions Windows is better system search implemented. In the same "eight" you can access the search from anywhere in the OS, while not only files are indexed, but also various items settings.
Search in XP vs. over fresh versions The OS is very long and non-universal. Because of this, most people use it only as a last resort, if some important file is lost.
7. Limited performance
Despite the fact that XP consumes less resources, on modern computers, newer versions of the OS from Microsoft allow for faster system performance. Recording information on HDD, transferring data or, for example, unpacking an archive will take significantly less time on modern hardware under Windows 7 or G8 than under XP.
8. Lack of full cloud sync
Windows XP was developed at a time when no one thought about "cloud" technology. Modern versions Windows are sharpened for proprietary Microsoft OneDrive storage. Saving files to the "cloud" is very convenient, it allows you to easily transfer from computer to computer, while all documents remain at hand.
Nevertheless, it is impossible not to admit that Windows XP also has important benefits before newer OS versions from Microsoft. You can read more about them in our material "".
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Windows XP can still be installed and activated after the end of support. Computers running Windows XP will remain functional but will not receive Microsoft updates, and technical support will not be provided for them. In addition, retail installations of Windows XP will still need to be activated after this date.
Will it be possible to use Windows XP mode in Windows 7?
To Windows mode XP applies the same life cycle support as for Windows XP. Extended support ended April 8, 2014.
Which PCs will be notified that support for Windows XP has ended?
A notification will be sent to Windows XP Home and Windows XP Professional users who have chosen to receive updates through the Center windows updates. Users in organizations where they are used windows services server update Services (WSUS), System Center Configuration Manager, or Microsoft Intune will not receive notification that support for Windows XP has ended.
Many users find that installing operating systems on a computer is the prerogative of specialists. But is it really so? Learn how to install and reinstall Windows XP on your own.
It is no secret that human communication with a computer is carried out using the operating system installed on your PC. This is the primary and fundamental software component without which it is impossible to imagine a modern computer. Unfortunately, like any other program, the operating system is imperfect, and over time, almost any user encounters a violation of its normal functionality. This can be expressed in a significant increase in the time of loading the computer and opening applications, freezes during operation, the occurrence of various kinds of errors when performing certain actions, or even in complete failure system performance. These consequences can be incorrect actions the user himself, as well as the impact of various malware, available in excess in global network Internet.
According to statistics, even if you carefully exploited your OS and reliably protected it from viral infections, after 3-4 years, 80% of users have significant reasons for reinstalling the system. And if you still decide to do it yourself, without contacting all kinds of paid technical services, this article is for you. In it, we will consider not only complete installation operating system WindowsXPSP3, but we will try to analyze all the main nuances that arise during the installation process. This approach will allow not only to more flexibly configure the new OS already at the reinstallation stage, but also to avoid possible loss of important data.
Naturally, before starting the installation, you need to have an installation disk with the system. Moreover, this disk must be bootable, i.e. the computer must be able to boot from it. As a rule, everything original discs with the system or their images are bootable by default. Generally Windows installation XP can be started in two ways - directly from an already installed system or by booting from a disk. The second method is preferred, but if you have old system not loading or you are installing on new computer, then the only possible one.
In order for the computer to boot from installation disk You may need to make some simple settings in the BIOS. The point is that your optical drive should be first on the list boot devices, which is not always set up that way. To check this, you need to insert the Windows CD into the drive and restart the computer. If during the download process you see the inscription: “Press any key to download”, then everything is in order and you can proceed with the installation. Otherwise, you need to go to the BIOS setup.
SETTING UP YOUR COMPUTER TO BOOT FROM THE CD
When you turn on the computer, as a rule, appears short message, indicating the key with which you can enter the BIOS settings menu. Be careful, because this inscription disappears from the screen quickly enough, especially for laptops. If you couldn't see it the first time, immediately restart your computer using the Reset button and try again. When the download starts, a large screen may appear on the screen. graphic image, covering the service labels on the screen. To remove it, press the Esc key.
List of the most commonly used keys:
- Desktop computers - Del (almost always), F1
- Laptops - F1, F2, F3, Del, Ctrl + Alt + Esc. In the case of laptops, keyboard shortcuts can be very diverse, depending on its model. You can find this information either via the Internet or by calling the service. technical support.
Having found out the key responsible for calling the BIOS settings menu, restart the computer again and at the very beginning of the boot, press it several times (once is enough, but to accurately catch right moment, repeated pressing will not hurt). If everything is done correctly, the settings window should open.
As a rule, two types of BIOS are most common:
If your window looks like this, then you need to select a section here Advanced BIOS Features, and in it the paragraph First boot device assign the value to CDROM. Then press the F10 key and select Yes in the dialog box that appears.
American Megatrends BIOS
Or if your window has grey background, as in this screenshot, then select the top section Boot and in the subsection Bootdevicepriority in step 1stBootdevice set the name of your optical drive. Then press the F10 key and select Yes in the dialog box that appears.
At mobile devices(laptops), BIOS programs can vary greatly, and it is not possible to give all their possible options within the framework of this article. In any case, you should find in the settings window an item whose name is associated with boot (Boot) and set the optical drive (CDROM) as the first device in it.
START INSTALLATION
After turning on / restarting the computer, if any Windows operating system is already installed on your computer at that moment, then after some time you will see the message “Press any key to boot from CD” on the screen (Press any key to boot from CD) which you should do.
Be careful, as you will only have 5 seconds to enter the system installation. If the current operating system starts loading, then the opportunity to start the installation was missed and you should restart the computer again for the next attempt.
Then the basic setup screen will appear. software Windows XP, which requires your intervention only if you plan to install the system on hard array drives (RAID) or a high-grade SCSI drive.
This is where you should press the key to install additional drivers these devices, guided by the messages on the bottom line of the screen. In most cases, this intervention is not required and you should just wait for the welcome screen.
On the welcome screen, you will be prompted to:
- Install Windows XP. Should be selected by pressing the ENTER key, in case new installation or restore a previous copy of Windows using the GUI.
- Windows recovery using the recovery console. Should choose advanced users to restore the system using DOS commands run from command line. Allows you to fix minor system errors without going through the full installation procedure. Most commonly used for recovery boot sector file system and main boot record(MBR); spot copying, renaming or deleting folders and files of the operating system; creating and formatting disk partitions. The recovery console is invoked by pressing the R key.
- Exit. If you refuse to install, press the F3 key.
We select the first item "Proceed to install Windows XP" (even if you are going to reinstall the system) by pressing the ENTER key, after which a window will appear with license agreement, which must be accepted in order to continue the installation by pressing F8 .
If any are found, you will see a screen with a list of these systems and a menu that will prompt:
- Restore the found copy of Windows by pressing the R key. By choosing this item, you will have to go through complete procedure installation of the system, during which all the system files of the old copy will be replaced with new ones from the CD. All your data, settings and installed programs will be saved. Recovery helps in case of damage, deletion or replacement by infected files, system files Windows.
- Install a new copy Windows by pressing ESC key.
List box installed systems you will not see if you are installing the system on a new computer / hard drive, as well as if previous copy Windows has a different edition or service pack.
The next step in the installation is distribution disk space under the operating system. This is very important point and it should be treated carefully, and all actions should be performed very carefully.
HARD DISK ALLOCATION RULES
At this point, I would like to make a small digression and give some useful advice by partition hard drive:
- Do not allocate all hard disk space for one single partition. This is considered bad form and can cause you a lot of trouble in the future.
- Modern hard drives have sufficiently large capacities for data storage and therefore it is advisable to divide them into several thematic sections.
- It is recommended to allocate a separate section for installing the operating system and the necessary software and not fill it with your personal data.
- choose size system partition follows with a margin, given that for the correct Windows work, 15% of the space in this section must remain free.
- Don't create too many sections. This will complicate navigation and reduce the efficiency of distributing large files and folders.
DEFINITION OF THE SYSTEM PARTITION
Now, let's get back to the installation. From this point on, the installation process can go two ways:
Option 1: You have a new computer and the hard drive has never been partitioned. In this case, the following window will appear in front of you:
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The size of the unallocated area is the size of your hard disk and of course it should absolutely not match the one indicated in the screenshot. To continue the installation, you need to create a partition on the disk (system partition) into which the OS will be installed later, and specify its size. As a rule, for Windows XP and related software, 40 - 60 GB is enough, but not less than 20 GB. By pressing the C key in the window that appears, enter the required size of the partition to be created.
The size must be specified in megabytes. Calculate it based on the fact that 1 GB = 1024 MB. Thus, if you want to allocate 60 GB for the system partition, you must enter the number 61440 in the size field.
By pressing the ENTER key you will return to the hard disk partitioning window, where the created partition will be highlighted on a separate line indicating the assigned letter from Latin alphabet(usually "C"), the file system - in our case "new (unformatted)" and its size. Below there will be a line with the remaining unallocated area, which in exactly the same way you can split into the number of sections you need. True, it is not at all necessary to do this here, since after installation it can be done using Windows tools.
Having created the system partition, select it using the arrows on your keyboard and press the Enter key, after which you will see the last dialog box in which you will be asked to format it.
Feel free to choose an option quick format, by pressing ENTER, as in the second case, a check is made physical surface disk that takes quite long time especially if the partition is large.
After selecting the file system, Windows installation will begin directly.
Option 2 - If a system was installed on your computer. Then your hard drive has already been partitioned into logical areas, and you will see a window listing all found partitions.
Attention! All further manipulations with the partitions found can lead to the loss of your data, so be very careful in your actions. If the current splitting hard disk does not suit you, then you can delete existing sections in whole or in part by pressing the D key. Choice desired section is done using the up and down arrow keys. After deleting a partition, the area that it occupied becomes unallocated, and all the data that was on this logical drive are removed. When deleting several sections, they turn into a single unallocated area, which you can later distribute as you wish. The principle of distribution of the unallocated area of the hard disk is described above.
After all the redistributions, or if the existing hard disk structure suits you, you just have to select the desired partition into which you plan to install the system and press the ENTER key.
If you selected a pre-existing hard disk partition with existing data on it to install the OS, you will be prompted to choose from several options on how to proceed. Be careful, formatting a partition in any file system will result in the loss of the data that was in it! FAT system is obsolete and it makes sense to format only in NTFS (fast is preferable). Once you have made your selection, press ENTER to start formatting and copying system files.
If for some reason you still want to save the information in the section you have chosen, then you should select the “Keep current file system without changes". In this case, all the data on it will not be touched. Moreover, if it was in this partition that the previous copy of Windows was installed (the most likely option), then in this case the installer will give you a warning that the “Windows” folder already exists, suggesting either to overwrite the existing copy by clicking or select new folder for installation. Here, definitely click, because anyway, the old folder with the system will be renamed automatically and saved.
It should be noted that after such an installation, it is strongly recommended to manually clean your system partition, namely the removal a large number duplicate files. The fact is that windows installer, not only save old copy system, but also all the files of accounts that existed in it. Of all this goodness, the folders "My Documents", "Favorites" and "Desktop" may be useful for you. Everything else will turn out to be useless garbage, taking up gigabytes of hard drive space. That is why it is preferable to take care of saving your data in advance, and new system install in a clean partition, previously formatted.
This completes the installer branches, and further installation proceeds linearly. After selection partition hard disk to install a new operating system begins copying the main system files of Windows.
Upon completion of copying, the computer will restart, where you do not need to do anything, but just wait for the installer screen to appear already with a graphical shell.
DEFINITION OF INITIAL WINDOWS PARAMETERS
In this window, you can change the regional settings and input language. By default, Russia and the Russian language are already set as the location. So without the need to change nothing, click "Next".
In the next window, you must enter your username (your name) and organization (optional). We press "Next".
To continue the installation in the key entry window, you must enter serial number Windowsc license sticker.
In the time and date settings window, most likely you won’t have to change anything either, since the correct data will be entered automatically, and you just have to click on the “Next” button.
You will only see the following two windows if your WindowsXP distribution contains a driver for your network card.
You should not change anything here, leaving the "Normal settings" option selected, however, as well as in the next one, where it is more expedient to choose the name of the workgroup / domain after installation.
After clicking the "Next" button, the final phase of the installation will begin, and you just have to wait for it to finish. Will happen in a few minutes automatic reboot computer, after which the first launch of the new operating system will begin.
COMPLETE INSTALLATION
At the initial start of Windows, you will see a few more dialog boxes. The first of these will be "Display Options", where you just need to click "OK".
After auto tuning screen resolution, Windows will ask you to confirm them, which you should do by clicking "OK":
There is nothing to configure on the welcome screen, so just click "Next":
The next step is to select options. automatic update Windows, designed to regularly check via the Internet for all kinds of system security patches, critical updates and service packs on the official technical support website. Enabling automatic updates is desirable, but optional at this stage, since you can configure this setting more flexibly after installation from the control panel.
If network card drivers were installed during installation, then you will see two more windows: the first - checking and setting up an Internet connection, which should be skipped, and the second - registering the system, which is also better to postpone for later.
The last parameter that you will have to enter for the final Windows boot, will be the name account the user under which you will work in the system.
At the end, you will see a window informing you that the installation of the operating system is complete.
A complete installation of Windows XP can take anywhere from 15 to 35 minutes, depending on the power of your computer. Immediately after its completion, you should install all necessary drivers installed devices, after which you can proceed to install the software.
Microsoft has officially announced that support for Windows XP SP2 has ended. For those who need further receipt free updates for this version of this software need to put last package updates - SP3. User support with installed Windows XP SP3 will be available until April 2014.
The corporation has officially announced that the support period has ended Windows XP SP2. For those who need further free updates for this version of the operating system, you need to install the latest service pack - SP3. Support for users with installed Windows XP SP3 will be provided until April 2014.
However, if necessary, install Windows XP SP3 Professional will be available for much longer, and quite officially. Despite the completion of various support cycles (including extended ones) and the fact that this version of the OS has long been out of retail, it will be possible to install it for another 10 years, until 2020. To do this, you just need to use the downgrade option. All owners of pre-installed operating systems and will be able to use this function completely free of charge. Wherein Windows 7 The Professional is expected to be available by 2020, while the Ultimate will be discontinued five years before that date.
It should be noted that this is not the first time the corporation has made such concessions. However, it is safe to assume that this will be the last concession to users.
Recall that initially the transition time from Windows XP on the Windows 7 limited to six months from October 22, 2009, sales date latest version OS from . However, in June 2010, six months was an increase to eighteen, thus the right to rollback was maintained until approximately April 2011. It was assumed that users of "older" versions Windows 7, as well as Windows Vista if desired, can use the operating system Windows XP Professional until it comes out Windows 7 Service Pack 1 or before January 22, 2011, whichever comes first. However, now this restriction has been lifted, the downgrade period has been extended until 2020.
To take this unusual step was forced by the fact that released in 2001 Windows XP continues to enjoy high popularity. Although Windows 7 became the most popular version in the history of the family of corporate operating systems: it continues to be sold at a speed of 7 copies per second (as of June 23, 2010, 150 million licensed copies have been sold Windows 7 and CEO Corporation Steve Ballmer suggested that this trend remain until the end of this year). However, at the Worldwide Partner Conference 2010, USA, Washington DC, it was announced that currently Windows XP still stands on 74% of corporate computers, and the average age of computers in use in business is 4.4 years, the highest in the last decade. In this regard, the representative Brandon LeBlanc (Brandon LeBlanc) noted that "customers would not want to lose the right to roll back the version" and the corporation is going to meet them.
Sources: www.cnews.ru, www.zdnet.com
