Microsoft To Extend Anti-Malware Support For Windows XP Through July 2015

Microsoft has been trying really, really hard to kill off Windows XP, an operating system that was amazing in its day but has now been supplanted by three full generations of Windows OSes, and the company has been warning users for a good long while now that it will no longer support Windows XP after April 8th of this year.

However, Microsoft continues to try and be a good sport about the cessation of XP support. The company announced that it will extend updates to its antimalware signatures and engine for Windows XP all the way through July 14th, 2015.

Microsoft Windows XP

That means Microsoft Security Essentials will remain active and patched for another year and a half. For enterprises, that protection will cover System Center Endpoint Protection, Forefront Client Security, Forefront Endpoint Protection, and Windows Intune.

Even so, Microsoft warns against standing pat with XP even with updated antimalware. “Our research shows that the effectiveness of antimalware solutions on out-of-support operating systems is limited. Running a well-protected solution starts with using modern software and hardware designed to help protect against today’s threat landscape,” reads a post.

Seriously, though, if you’re still running Windows XP, just upgrade already.