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Windows XP, still gets updates?

Bry89Bry89
edited October 2016 in Software
Just for the sake of it, I installed a new WinXP VM under Virtual PC two weeks ago and something baffled me when I forgot to turn off network connectivity for it... it received updates. 126 of them to be precise, though the vast majority of them were security updates. As we all know, XP's support ended over two years ago and it makes me wonder why it's still getting updates despite this. Although yesterday, it received two more where the other was the monthly update for the Malicious Software Removal Tool. Just thought I'd share this because it really baffled me, though I think now it won't get anymore after such a hefty amount. Guess I can just load up the VM again and see...

Comments

  • Plokite_WolfPlokite_Wolf
    Perhaps it's catching up with existing updates released between SP3 and the end of the support cycle?
  • Bry89Bry89
    Probably. I thought they'd be unavailable by now.
  • Plokite_WolfPlokite_Wolf
    I think Windows 98 updates stood long after its support ended, so this might be the same thing for Windows XP.
  • stitchstitch
    You will still get the available updates published until support was cut off. Any security vulnerabilities from after that point are no longer being patched (unless it's a POSReady installation which has updated for a few more years)
  • Bry89Bry89
    Well, the installation of XP I have on that VM is just SP3, the exact same one the one under VirtualBox has that I had set up three years ago. I forgot to mention... one of the updates that VM received was of Internet Explorer 8 but I guess that's nothing special. I also got one about the "end of support" notification but I just checked that off.
  • wingzeroisminewingzeroismine
    I've also noticed the MRT still popping up monthly, and MSE is still getting definition updates too. I think its pretty much why not release them still... there aren't specific to XP and it requires no extra effort on their part.

    But if you enable the POS flag you'll still get IE and .NET and other security stuff to occasionally trickle in.
  • Bry89Bry89
    I have the POS thing enabled for the VirtualBox VM (which was done through a simple registry hack, that I found somewhere) but it's not for the Virtual PC one. Also, it's ironic that XP would still get definition updates for MSE yet if I recall correctly, Microsoft had cut XP support for the program itself.
  • wingzeroisminewingzeroismine
    Yeah they said no more definitions last summer. The last client update for it would nag you that it was no longer supported.
  • 66659hi66659hi
    MSE is one of the worst AVs out there anyway....Hell, you don't even need an antivirus as long as you have common sense. But even if you don't need one and just want to have one "Just in case" use bitdefender or something.

    As for windows XP, I hope it fades into a retro gaming operating system or whatever within a little while because I'm tired of seeing people still using it even today around here.
  • Bry89Bry89
    That's why I have MBAM, which saved my ass a couple of times. Also, I removed MSE anyway though for a different reason. Well, as of this post, XP's market share is only about 10% and it will take ages for it to really die off. Unfortunately, XP won't die any time soon. Maybe in the next two years or so, or probably never.
  • 66659hi66659hi
    It will have to die eventually once all of the computers compatible with it die off or fade in to unusable territories (It might take a while for Core 2+ to do that but P4/Athlon XP were bad enough that it won't take long)
  • epguy7epguy7
    stitch wrote:
    You will still get the available updates published until support was cut off. Any security vulnerabilities from after that point are no longer being patched (unless it's a POSReady installation which has updated for a few more years)

    POSReady edition of XP (POSReady 2009) extended support ends sometime in April 2019.
  • KurtisdedeKurtisdede
    You are getting updates between SP3 and 2014. - I think SP3 was in 2012 so that makes sense. However you can still get XP updates - there are XP-based flavors that are supported for few more years. With a registry hack, the PC will think that it's one of those newer XP-based OS'es, and will give you updates.
  • sweetdrew2sweetdrew2
    you know i have windows xp professional sp3 on my virtualbox machine and i never gotten those many updates weird huh?
  • Bry89Bry89
    Kurtisdede wrote:
    You are getting updates between SP3 and 2014. - I think SP3 was in 2012 so that makes sense. However you can still get XP updates - there are XP-based flavors that are supported for few more years. With a registry hack, the PC will think that it's one of those newer XP-based OS'es, and will give you updates.
    Wrong. SP3 was all the way back from 2008. And, XP-based OSes? I'm very intrigued by that. Mind telling me a few examples of these?
  • wingzeroisminewingzeroismine
    Bry89 wrote:
    Wrong. SP3 was all the way back from 2008. And, XP-based OSes? I'm very intrigued by that. Mind telling me a few examples of these?

    A couple embedded versions of XP are still receiving updates, Embedded Standard 2009 receives updates till January 2019 and Embedded POSReady 2009 (Point of Sale, think cash registers) receives updates till April 2019
  • Bry89Bry89
    Oh yeah, these. And, thank you for the clarification of what "POSReady" actually was. I never really knew what that really was since I first knew about it, when it was the subject of people performing a registry hack to prolong the update life cycle.
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