The beginning of this year was riddled with all kinds of threats by security experts that when XP was retired you were most certainly going to be hacked. I am here to say that all the drama that was drummed up never happened. In fact, we are seeing very few problems with any of our XP customers. If anything, the only issues we are really seeing are some of the machines dying a natural death as the older hardware fails.

 

Personally, I still have a couple well running XP machines and I have been carefully monitoring the operating system for any issues. Most hardware, even if XP is not listed as a supported OS, is still working fine with the operating system. There are also still many video cards that are still backwards compatible with XP even though XP is not always listed on the box.

 

Of course Microsoft was one of the main driving forces behind the XP retirement. That is understandable since as a company it is their best interest to sell you the newest and shiniest operating system that they have to offer.

 

 

One of the biggest issues that many of us were worried about was if anti-virus programs were going to work with XP. Almost every security choice will still work with XP. I do recommend hardening your system by adding Malwarebytes Anti Malware and also Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit to your existing security solution. In fact, adding these two tools is a great idea no matter what operating you might be using.

 

In addition to security, there is actually a way to get updates to your XP operating system. There is a program called Cachman that actually has an option to add security updates to XP for 5 years. Whet this option does is changes a registry entry that makes your system appear to be a POS system. The updates will not install as usual. I have been testing all the updates and they all have installed perfectly without any issues what so ever. The small price for the software is worth the extra piece of mind.

 

This does not mean that you will be able to use XP indefinitely but it does give you some time to decide what solution you might want in the future.It is not a new fact that Windows 8 has not been one of the most popular operating systems around. That is a big reason why many folks are not upgrading their XP systems. Windows 9 promises to make that all better.
It appears that Microsoft is starting to listen to the consumers as the new OS is supposed to bring back the start menu and allow users to completely turn off the Apps screen if they are using a mouse and keyboard. If you still have an XP operating system and it is working fine, you might want to hold out until Windows 9 is released. With the lack of security issues on XP at the moment, you should be safe holding out a bit longer.

 

Even though the security front involving XP has been quiet, that does not mean that something could change in the future. Right now, you still have to be careful with your e-mails and websites just as you would with any of the operating systems. If you practice safe surfing and do not open unknown attachments, you should be just fine.

Tech Joe, From RingaGeek.com