Microsoft has extended the time period for anti-malware updates on Windows XP, giving customers an extra year of signature updates before the final cut-off. Operating system updates and security patches will still cease in April, however.
Windows XP's official end of support date is 8 April 2014 - after this time, Microsoft will not provide patches or security updates for customers using the 12-year-old operating system. However, users of Microsoft's anti-malware tools will continue to receive signature updates for detecting malicious software until 14 July 2015.
Security experts have voiced concerns that hackers will increase attacks against Windows XP after the cut-off date, particularly since security updates for newer versions of the operating system may be reverse-engineered to identify flaws in XP.
The anti-malware products in question include Microsoft Security Essentials for consumers, and System Center Endpoint Protection, Forefront Client Security, Forefront Endpoint Protection, and Windows Intune.
Windows XP was withdrawn from retail in 2008, and regular support ended in 2009: the OS has been in its five-year extended support phase since, with customers urged to upgrade to its successors Windows Vista, Windows 7 and now Windows 8.
Worldwide, Windows XP is still installed on many PCs, with estimates ranging from 25% to nearly 40% of PCs. That number is shrinking slowly, but in addition to customers with slow desktop migrations, there are also many embedded systems such as ATMs, medical devices, point-of-sale systems and industrial controls all using XP, and those users may be stranded with no way to update their legacy systems.
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