Microsoft today announced the OS versions that would get patched next Tuesday

May 9, 2014 07:54 GMT  ·  By

Windows XP support was officially retired on April 8, but Microsoft still released an out of band patch last week in order to fix an Internet Explorer flaw, a decision which made many believe that the operating system launched in 2001 could get fixes every time a new critical flaw is found.

However, it appears that Windows XP was left out of this month's Patch Tuesday cycle, which is nothing more than living proof that Microsoft is really serious this time and wants everyone still running this OS version to upgrade to a newer release as soon as possible.

Microsoft will roll out eight different security patches, six of which are considered to be important and two critical, with some aimed at Windows versions launched after Windows XP, including Vista, 7, and 8.

At this point, there's no evidence that one of the issues found in these operating systems is also affecting Windows XP, but there's no doubt that being left out of Patch Tuesday is clearly bad news for those who are yet to upgrade to a newer platform.

Redmond specifically explained last week that the out of band patch it rolled out for Windows XP “was just an exception” and recommended everyone to move to a newer OS version as soon as possible, just to make sure that their data is perfectly secure.

“We made this exception based on the proximity to the end of support for Windows XP. The reality is there have been a very small number of attacks based on this particular vulnerability and concerns were, frankly, overblown. Unfortunately this is a sign of the times and this is not to say we don’t take these reports seriously. We absolutely do,” Adrienne Hall, general manager, Trustworthy Computing, Microsoft, explained.

Windows XP is currently powering 26 percent of the desktop computers worldwide and Microsoft warns that unless you upgrade as soon as possible, unpatched vulnerabilities could allow attackers to easily access locally stored data.

On the other hand, plenty of third-party security vendors worldwide already confirmed extended support for Windows XP but at the same time, Microsoft warns that the protection they offer is not enough to be sure that your computer isn't vulnerable to attacks.

Nonetheless, Windows XP's market share is expected to drop significantly in the coming months as more large companies out there complete the transition to newer platforms such as Windows 7 and 8.1.