Software colossus Microsoft has reminded business and consumers in the Philippines with PCs still running Windows XP that it will officially retire service and support for Windows XP in six months? time — on April 8, 2014.
With half a year left, Microsoft said there are over 2.9 million PCs in the Philippines, or one in four PCs, which are still running on Windows XP, an 11-year-old operating system no longer capable of handling sophisticated cyber-attacks and demands for more data privacy and productivity.
After April 8, 2014, Microsoft said it will no longer provide security updates, non-security related fixes, there won?t be a number to call for technical assistance, or online technical content updates for Windows XP.
?This means that users will no longer receive the updates that help protect PCs from harmful viruses, spyware, and other malicious software. This may result in downtime and software compatibility issues,? the company said.
Microsoft urged all business and consumers still using PCs running on Windows XP to upgrade to either Windows 7 or Windows 8.
According to the findings of Microsoft?s Security Intelligence Report, Volume 14, released in April 2013, Windows XP with SP3 is up to 56.5 times more vulnerable than Windows 8 RTMi.
StatCounter figures for September 2013 show that Windows XP accounts for approximately 25 percent of PCs in the Philippines — equivalent to 2.9 million PCs.
On the bright side, as of September 2013, consumers and businesses have been slowly upgrading to newer versions of the operating system, and at least 61 percent of PCs are now on Windows 7 and 8.
