Avast WEBforum
Other => General Topics => Topic started by: bender01 on January 24, 2014, 09:04:17 PM
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In april Windows XP support is going to stop, but for me it would be quite a problem to change OS, so I would like to know if it's going to be dangerous and I really need to change OS, or if the risk is not going to be much higher if I have Avast up-to-date.
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You will no longer get Windows Updates. As far security goes you will be able to use and receive vps updates from avast.
We have an Uberevangelist who doesn't seem to be overly concerned.
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MS have been spreading doom and gloom and immediate vulnerability, had they not been trying for the last two years to abandon XP with all sorts of cr4p such as the site with a countdown clock to the end of support for XP.
I'm in no rush, but I guess I'm not you average user, I have had a robust backup and recovery strategy for more years than I care to remember. If you haven't got drive imaging software to make exact copies of partitions/drives and do backup images weekly. This can get you out of all sorts of trouble and I'm not just talking about virus/malware here.
I also have many proactive measures in place all Internet facing applications (browsers, email applications, etc.) run under DropMyRights to limit the potential for escalation of right to malware.
Above all else use common sense and a healthy degree of suspicion in your internet activity.
Whilst I'm in the area to upgrade this system (over 5 years old), I'm not rushing as I'm in no hurry to go to Win8.1 and I don't particularly like win7 on my other netbook system. Perhaps with MS already finding win8 isn't being picked in the numbers they hoped for, still only 9% OS market share for 8.0 & 8.1 combined (still 30% market share for XP). Rumours abound about win8.2 released next year and possibly even being called win9 to avoid the bad feeling for win8. How knows what OS I will be using on my main Desktop by then.
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But are Avast updates going to help with the new XP weaknesses?
If now my risk of being infected is, let's say, 1%, how much is it going to be afterwards (more or less)?
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if the bad guys find a new security weaknes in XP .... and release a new malware to exploit that it will not be fixed by MS
the only thing protectiong you will be your AV....when they detect that new exploit, so you have to hope that your antivirus release signature for it before that exploit find your computer ;)
http://www.technibble.com/windows-xp-support-ends-in-april-2014-what-technicians-need-to-know/
https://blogs.technet.com/b/security/archive/2013/08/15/the-risk-of-running-windows-xp-after-support-ends.aspx
http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2014/01/15/microsoft-extends-updates-windows-xp-security-products-july-14-2015/#!tgxXN
http://www.brianmadden.com/blogs/gabeknuth/archive/2013/08/21/antivirus-in-xp-won-t-matter-in-2014-if-you-don-t-have-support-how-will-you-manage-xp-for-those-situation-where-you-just-have-to-have-it.aspx
What we're really worried about with regards to XP security are zero-day exploits that occur before anyone has a chance to recognize that a hole existed in the first place. An article at IT World mentions that one of the tactics used by hackers is to watch for updates to Windows 7 and 8, then go back and look for whatever exploit those fixes address in Windows XP. Since MS moves major blocks of code around between OS versions, it stands to reason this approach could have a lot of success. And, since these are fundamental issues with the OS, antivirus providers will be only able to provide reactionary support at best. They're limited because they don't actually modify the source code to eliminate the vulnerabilities.
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But are Avast updates going to help with the new XP weaknesses?
No one can say what the future holds, but avast will continue to offer protection wherever possible. But the user also has to take some responsibility for their protection also (as I have mentioned earlier) or you are forced to upgrade your OS.
If now my risk of being infected is, let's say, 1%, how much is it going to be afterwards (more or less)?
Again no one can say in terms of percentage risk, some people, because of poor security practices are more prone to malware than others. We don't know your security practices or what proactive measures you might already have in place over and above what security applications you have installed.
In all honesty I don't think it will be as bad as the doom-sayers are suggesting, after all there are people still using XP SP2, having elected not to install SP3. This means that security updates stopped some time ago as they didn't have SP3.
But as I keep banging on, users have to take some responsibility too. If you don't want to lose it back it up, have a recovery strategy and apply it regularly.
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But are Avast updates going to help with the new XP weaknesses?
If now my risk of being infected is, let's say, 1%, how much is it going to be afterwards (more or less)?
You can also follow this kind of discussion here: http://www.msfn.org/board/forum/34-windows-xp/ (http://www.msfn.org/board/forum/34-windows-xp/) :)