Microsoft pulling the plug on support for Windows XP is a good reason to move on from the 12 year old operating system, but now there’s another reason, and it comes from a security problem over in XP’s default browser.
That browser, of course, is Internet Explorer, with the problem being reported on Microsoft’s Security TechCenter as a vulnerability that can affect all versions of Internet Explorer, from 6 on XP all the way up to IE11 on Windows 8.
The good news is that those of you with Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8 will get the patch when Microsoft has finished making it, stopping the flaw dead in its tracks and making it harder to break in using this flaw, which apparently uses your computer’s memory against you, executing an application or code without you realising it.
But the bad news goes to those of you still working on Windows XP systems, and now that XP has had its support ended, there’s pretty much no chance of Microsoft releasing a patch that fixes this on your computers.
Now you could always just not use Internet Explorer, relying on a different web browser, but given that IE also can be used through the Windows File Explorer, we’d probably recommend upgrading all the same.
