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This is from a blog post I follow that is specific to the banking industry. I pulled out the best nugget and edited it to be more general. I wanted to get a read on what the community thinks of XP and how we are addressing it. Oh, Windows XP, It Seems We Hardly Knew Ye - Gonzobanker

About 24% of desktop computers that have access to the internet are still running Windows XP. Okay, now assume there are 300 million computers in use in the US (give or take). That’s 72 million computers that will be affected by the end of Windows XP support. So, your one of those shops that still have XP and you think so what? Well, this is what.

You knew this day was coming, we all did. The Microsoft security alert MS14-068 really brings it home. The alert describes an exploit that is present in every version of Windows and Windows server since Windows 95. Since 95, we might as well call it 20 years old now.

Okay, this is so bad that Microsoft is pushing a patch to all of its OS’s. But guess who is left out in the cold? That’s right you, you XP user you.

Here is what you have to look forward to, the exploit allows an inside attacker to take control of a Windows server (or any machine in the domain) as the domain administrator. It means even if you only have one XP machine, an attacker could use this flaw, gain control of the Windows domain controller and install any software on it they want to. The miscreant could tee-off the network traffic to a destination of their choice and copy every packet sent to the domain controller. This would have negative effects on the Internet connection and clog it with traffic destined for a shantytown in the Ukraine.

Once there it will be decompiled by a 12-year-old paid with a skateboard and posted on Reddit and Facebook. Also, don’t forget about the “unauthorized” pics from the politically correct “Seasonal Winter” party, where people were being, um, less than politically correct.

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(Sorry to say this, but couldn’t resist…)

So you’re still not sure about the difference between your and you’re?

Feel free to moderate or delete. I am sure I will get spiced down for being a troll…

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Pleased to say that I just took down one of our last XP machines this morning and replaced it with a shiny new seven-year-old Windows 7 box. :slight_smile:

All of our users have been on 7 or 8 for a while now, and i’m finally getting around to the public workstations that hardly ever seen any use, and I just have a few left.

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We’re all thinking it, glad you said it.

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Good read. This is an issue that is still rampant with company’s. Sadly it seems we all can scream until our lungs bleed but the powers that be don’t see it “worth the money” to upgrade. It is unfortunate.

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You know, I’m with you on this. I really like Windows 7, and I don’t even mind 8 with Classic Shell loaded That being said I nuked and paved a two month old Windows 7 box fully patched and up to date AV just the other day. At this point, security updates?..what exactly does that mean to me? Honestly, not much. BTW, the user? Partner in his firm. No one is coming down on this guy and he had no reason (nor is he likely) to lie to me. He said all he did was buy two books on Amazon, and I believe him. Likely an infected ad. It’s luck of the draw in my opinion. Don’t forget how I opened my reply, it’s time for XP to go, I’m just tired of the whole security song and dance. MS has been pulling this stunt since Vista.

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Spell check makes us sloppy. Thank’s for the edit. :wink:

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That chart seems out of date since I was under the impression that the install base of 8/8.1 finally surpassed XP. Ars agrees.

I’d also err on the assumption that the majority of those devices, at least in business, have expiration dates on them at the very least, or have been appropriately secured.

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As I have talked with folks that still have XP, they look at a need to secure it from the outside. This particular exploit is run best from the inside.

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We’ve spent money on licenses to upgrade a few boxes, but for the most part we’ve just been buying new machines with 7 (or 8 for tablets) and letting the XP computers stay as XP computers unless we had a good reason to upgrade it. Since we’d been behind on refreshing desktop hardware and played a lot of catch-up on that front last year and bought a whole lot of new PCs, it kind of felt like the upgrade to Windows 7 just worked itself out.

Powers that be here couldn’t have cared less last year, some of them were the hold outs who didn’t want to install something unfamiliar on their trusty old computers, but we just offered to buy them a new computer instead of offering them an upgraded OS. “No, sorry, we can’t buy one with XP any more, you’re going to go to Windows 7 or your going to go back to pen and paper.”

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We did not upgrade any licenses, we just abandoned the boxes and replaced with 7. Now I have 72 PCs to dispose of.

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My position on XP is, I hated it so much I’ve been rid of it for two years or more. I know not everyone is in a position to be rid of it so easily, but happy we were. For the most part, stuff we had that was running XP were systems that were downgraded from Vista, so they were then upgraded to 7.

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This was for banking. Not in general. I’m sure banking and hospitals are on the same page. In fact, a recent Nerve Conduction Test machine was running Windows 2000 (albeit not connected to the internet).

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That’s not what I mean by “appropriately secured”

The only real case for using XP is as a control unit for a larger machine, usually a CNC or other machine that is highly specialized. Those machines generally are already fairly secured from the “factory” but on top of that they should either be off network, or be on a seperate network from the machine, preferably without any internet access. In addition, there shouldn’t be any removable devices being used on them. What you’re basically left with is a box that does what it was initially programmed to do, but nothing more.

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$20 says I can find a machine running Windows NT at a local hospital :wink: there’s nothing wrong with running old software if you can’t avoid it, but just letting it roam free on a network with people plugging things in whenever they want is a different story.

I’d be curious to see if this includes ATMs, since many run Embedded XP (or even OS/2…)

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Don’t have any XP machines – Windows Server 2003, however… :frowning:

I think you meant downgraded _to _Vista.

Last summer, CDW listed a variant of HP EliteBook with OEM Win8.1 of which my office purchased a few dozen. At no cost, they came with “optional Windows 7 upgrade.”

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I really have to wonder the validity of this data. I couldn’t find the data source.

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Au contraire, i always spice up my fellow grammar nazis.

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Its not so much about the data as it is running XP.