A word to PC users on Windows XP and how vulnerable you are

A good majority of home and business users have been holding on to Windows XP for quite a few years. At the time that those decisions were made, they were generally very sound ones, with the option of Windows Vista.....However, with the release and subsequent updates of Windows 7 in October 2009, Microsoft has put out a decent product, comparable in stability to Windows XP.

Now to the point of all of this, in the last few weeks, I have seen Windows XP computers get some of the most horrific viruses in my 15 years + in the Information Technology industry. The viruses are destroying system files, copying personal information, etc.The good majority of these computers had updates installed and current anti-virus. In one case just yesterday, I saw a phone system, from a major manufacturer that runs on Windows XP, that had installed a Mass emailing program. This machine had been compromised in ways I had only read about. Let me tell you that program was plugging away, sending 1000-1500 messages per minute. I asked the customer had their internet carrier contacted them yet. They said no, 2 hours later their carrier contacted them and informed them to get it fixed or their connection would be shut down.

So why is all this happening now? Well without getting too technical, Windows XP was released on 12/31/2001. To put that in perspective, that was just a little more than 90 days after September 11th. Ebay was only a 6 year old company. Apple had shipped the first ipod only 30 days before that. How many of you still have the first ipod as your daily use machine? On April 14th, 2009 Microsoft ended mainstream support for XP. This means it is no longer a focus to them.

As you are considering what to do with your Windows XP computer the next time something happens, or if it is just running slow, please consider the above. More and more our computers contain important parts of our lives and you are taking a big risk on Windows XP.