As of April 8 2014 Microsoft will terminate all support for Windows XP – this means there will be no further security updates issued regardless of the severity of the problem. In effect this means that all machines running Windows XP must be upgraded to Windows 7/8, or replaced, before this date.
If you have a Windows XP system which you currently use to your satisfaction you will likely be unhappy with this news, but there are sound reasons for taking action. Many security issues which are found in more modern variants of Windows actually affect XP too; hackers will analyse the patches for modern Windows systems to identify the issue and test it against XP – if they find an exploit it will never be fixed on XP. While running AV software may help in the short term, sooner or later it’s likely there will be issues which cannot be avoided. As JANET rules require that any machine attached to the QUB network has up to date security software and a fully patched OS, we simply cannot have XP machines attached to the campus network once support ends.
Even if your machine does not connect to the network (e.g. one used for instrument control) you will still have to upgrade sooner or later. If you use USB keys to transfer data from a standalone machine it can still be infected with viruses transferred on the stick itself, and without a network connection it can’t have up-to-date AV software which might block these.
Aside from the security issues, if you have a system which requires XP for some reason then you are already at significant risk, since modern systems may well not support running XP. As/when the machine breaks it may be impossible to repair/replace it, forcing you to update in an uncontrolled manner. If you have software which only works on XP then you need to plan to either upgrade to a more recent version or migrate to another package if there is no update available. Virtual machines may help in a pinch, but are still subject to security issues.
If you are running Windows XP at the moment you should urgently speak with your computer support officer to begin planning your migration. Within Physics we will be trying to identify XP systems by walking around offices and labs, but that is solely so we know what may need to be removed from the network come April!
In many cases the best option will be to obtain a new machine, though with more recent machines it may be possible to install Windows 7. Since direct upgrades from XP to Windows 7 are potentially problematic in most cases clean installs will be required, with subsequent reinstallation of other software, which will not be that different to migrating to a new machine.
Please do not interpret this as persecution of Windows users – the requirement for machines to have up-to-date operating systems and software applies to all platforms, from Macs to Linux to Unix. All Macs should be running at least OS X 10.6 or later, for example. Windows XP simply currently has wider use around Queen’s, and more hackers interested in exploiting those systems.
Update – those contemplating an update from XP to Win7 should probably review this guide from Microsoft.