Tom’s Hardware: Windows XP Offline Activation Enabled With This New Tool. “A recent blog post by TinyApps highlights the arrival of an offline tool that can successfully activate a Windows XP install. The new tool is safer than prior solutions, it isn’t a crack and it works completely offline. It doesn’t require online connectivity (a risky area for Win XP machines to tread), which is a considerable bonus.”
The Verge: Microsoft releases new Windows XP security patches, warns of state-sponsored cyberattacks. “Microsoft issued a ‘highly unusual’ patch for Windows XP last month to help prevent the spread of the massive WannaCry malware. At least 75,000 computers in 99 countries were affected by the malware which encrypts a computer and demands a $300 ransom before unlocking it. Microsoft stopped supporting Windows XP in April 2014, but the software giant is now taking the unprecedented move of including it in the company’s Patch Tuesday round of security updates today.”
Wired: A WannaCry Flaw Could Help Some Windows XP Victims Get Files Back. “Since the WannaCry ransomware ripped through the internet late last week, infecting hundreds of thousands of machines and locking up critical systems from health care to transportation, cryptographers have searched for a cure. Finding a flaw in WannaCry’s encryption scheme, after all, could decrypt all those systems without any ransom. Now one French researcher says he’s found at least a hint of a very limited remedy.”
Wired: If You Still Use Windows XP, Prepare For the Worst . “AS A VICIOUS new strain of ransomware swept the UK’s National Health Service yesterday, shutting off services at hospitals and clinics throughout the region, experts cautioned that the best protection was to download a patch Microsoft had issued in March. The only problem? A reported 90 percent of NHS systems run Windows XP, an operating system Microsoft first introduced in 2001, and hasn’t supported since 2014.”
Putting this up top in case you’re in a situation where you have to use Windows XP: Microsoft Issues WanaCrypt Patch for Windows 8, XP. “Microsoft Corp. today took the unusual step of issuing security updates to address flaws in older, unsupported versions of Windows — including Windows XP and Windows 8. The move is a bid to slow the spread of the WanaCrypt ransomware strain that infected tens of thousands of Windows computers virtually overnight this week.”
Firefox will stop supporting Windows XP and Vista because y’all it is almost 2017. “Mozilla will shut down support for its Firefox browser running on Windows XP and Windows Vista in 2017, the company said last week. The exact timing of Firefox’s retirement from those Microsoft operating systems will be determined in the summer, according to a post to a company blog.”
Gizmodo: How to Make Windows 10 Look Like Windows XP. “Times were simpler in 2001. Amazon had just turned its first profit, Google was still just doing search, and Windows had a new bright green Start button you could spot from the other side of a room. If you want to coat your modern Windows OS with some vintage XP design cues, here’s how to do it.”
Dropbox is dropping support for Windows XP. “Also, realize that for the FREE version of Dropbox, you need to log in – at least on the Dropbox website – at least once every 90 days or you risk having your data removed. This is part of the terms of service at Dropbox for free account holders.”
Google will stop supporting Chrome on older operating systems. “Although we’ve known it was coming since November last year – and dropping the axe has already been postponed once – the newest version of Chrome will no longer be updated to work with Windows XP, Vista or OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion) or older.”
More Google: it will drop support for Chrome on older operating systems by April of next year. “Starting April 2016, users who still use Chrome on XP (and at this point, there’s really no excuse for running Chrome on XP) will no longer get updates and security fixes. Ending XP support is not a massive surprise, but as Google also announced today, Windows Vista and Mac OS X 10.6, 10.7 and 10.8. will also no longer be supported…”
Unless you’re the US Navy or some similarly exceptional organization, Windows XP support is officially done. “Keeping to its word, Microsoft ended security support for existing Microsoft Security Essentials customers running Windows XP, a little more than a year after support officially ended April 8, 2014. Microsoft said last year that signatures and updates for Microsoft Security Essentials would continue for a limited time, and the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool would also be available for XP users for a limited time.”
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