Mirror

RIP Win XP SP2

By Jeevendra Bandara Ranasinghe

The day - July 13, was a significant and somewhat sad day for ardent XP users. You haven’t heard? Microsoft stopped giving out patches for Windows XP Service Pack 2. Even this marks the end of support from Microsoft, if you’re running the nearly six year old edition of Windows XP, it won’t grind to a sudden stop.

But with the end of support, security risks will start to loom since there will be no security patches, no matter how severe the threat is. It also means, no more patches for Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player and Outlook, running on XP SP2.

The easiest way to avoid the problems is to upgrade to Service Pack 3, which is readily available at Microsoft.com. People who have enabled automatic updates on their PCs would mostly find that this has been installed along with other security patches. However you must take note that even SP3 has its days numbered. The software giant have announced that they will stop supporting SP3 on April 2014. Since there are three and half years more safest & the most cost effective alternative is to upgrade your system to XP SP3.

But it must be noted that there is no 64-bit version of SP3 and therefore Microsoft will continue patching 64-bit SP2 until they decide.

If you have no intention of upgrading the operating system of your PC to SP3 anytime soon, there are few ways you can protect your beloved PC from threats and also make it Internet safe. But be prepared to spend some time everyday to make your PC a better place.

First on the list; stop using Internet Explorer! It does not matter even if you have IE9 from 2009. Microsoft won’t provide security patches if it’s running on SP2. But you can download any other browser since none of the companies have plans to stop supporting their browsers running on older systems. Mozilla’s Firefox 4, which is expected to ship on November 2010, will still support XP SP2.

Whatever the browser you’re using, it is important to keep it up-to-date as hackers continue to exploit browser vulnerabilities. And IE is a hacker’s favorite since all Windows operated PCs has it installed by default. But if you plan to use XP SP2 in future, it is best to get rid of IE.

Patch third party programmes, especially browser plug-ins, is a must. Security experts have discovered that most hackers don’t target your OS but non-Microsoft software, especially the browser plug-ins.

Adobe’s Reader has become one of the most targeted plug-in. McAfee and Symantec have reported that there was a huge 65% increase reported in Adobe Reader exploits in the first quarter of 2010, compared to the whole of 2009. This means you have to spend more time taking care of third party software than the OS, since most non-Microsoft software lack automatic updates. However, there is a software program which will help you to take care of updates. Secunia Personal Software Inspector (better known as PSI), can be downloaded from www.secunia.com. PSI is a free security tool designed to detect vulnerable and out-dated programs and plug-ins which expose your PC to attacks.

Online edition of the PSI, the Online Software Inspector (OSI) is a fast way to scan your PC for the most common programs and vulnerabilities, thus checking if your PC has a minimum security baseline against known patched vulnerabilities. However it does not cover all bases like PSI.

After the scan it will provide you with a list of programmes and plug-ins which you need to update and patch manually. If you’re using PSI, it is better to use it in the Advanced interface mode. Though the simple mode is less technically challenging, it excludes some programs which the patching processes are more advanced and best executed by experienced users.

Whatever your OS is, it is a good practice to use a good antivirus programme. There are some great free AV softwares. I’ve been using Avast for 2+ years and I have found it to be good, since it doesn’t hog memory like its adversaries. NOD32 and Avira are some other alternatives.

Keep the Windows Firewall turned on. Better yet, install a separate firewall! I’ve installed ZoneAlarm which works fine. The free version provides enough security for an average user.

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