14 DAY TRIAL // Windows XP is officially an unsupported operating system, so computers still running it will no longer receive updates and security patches.
While Microsoft is continuously issuing advice to urge Windows XP users to upgrade to a newer OS version, some companies across the world still believe that there’s absolutely no worry in case some of their computers are still running the platform launched by Microsoft 13 years ago.
The best example comes from Olsen Environmental, a company based in Perth, Australia, whose representatives told The Guardian in an interview that some of their computers are still running Windows XP and as long as everything runs absolutely fine, there’s no need to upgrade to a new OS version.
“We've got four or five running it, and six or seven PCs running Windows 7. All our PCs are less than four years old. We grabbed some ahead of them stopping selling models with XP. There's no call to update. Windows 7 doesn't offer any particular features we need,” founder Derek Olsen was quoted as saying.
Windows XP continues to be an operating system whose stability and reliability still impresses users, so many of those who do not want to upgrade praise that no other Windows version provide similar performance as far as these two features are concerned.
“We're looking for stability and reliability. This stuff runs seamlessly. The only annoying thing is the dialogue boxes telling us to update our version of Office. That's annoying. If it ain't broke, don't fix it,” Olsen added.
What’s worse, however, is that Windows XP users are already seeing an increased number of malicious attempts supposed to take advantage of the end of support that has just been reached, including fake software updates, applications, and drivers.
Security experts warn that a bigger number of threats can now be found online, including rogue applications promising to help keep Windows XP secure, but requiring users to pay for a license in order to unlock specific features or purchase the full version of the program.
Third-party security software can still come in handy as far as this kind of threats are concerned, but Microsoft still warns that OS vulnerabilities cannot be fully blocked by such apps, so an upgrade to Windows 7 or 8.1 is the best choice. It remains to be seen, however, how many users would actually agree to migrate in the coming months, as more security threats are likely to be discovered for XP machines.