China wants Microsoft to extend the Windows XP Support

Can't you even see that Windows XP is getting DAMN old that we've had enough of using it? It was interesting looking back then in the early 2000s but when the newer operating systems were likely to come out, it might look like I couldn't wait to try them. Nowadays, we're using the recent Windows OSes like Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, etc. And if that's the case that Windows XP's extended support will be ending next year in April, the other editions of Windows XP may have different support ending dates such as the fact that Windows XP Embedded is living even longer than the usual Windows XP editions.
OK, it seems that Windows XP is still the most used operating system in China with Windows 7 being the second most used OS. It was a brave move for Microsoft when it comes to Windows 7 due to having done it right after the performance disaster caused by Windows Vista. Lastly, if the extended support of Windows XP is likely to end next year April, then what about Windows Virtual PC for Windows 7, then? At this rate, it will look like we're using other virtualization software like VMWare, VirtualBox, Parallels Workstation, etc. but if you do have Windows 8, you can use Hyper-V.
So, having to end support like that for Windows XP can spell security disaster for China and cause even more piracy to happen. And that's what happens when Windows XP is made way too popular until today.

Countdown to support end for Windows XP

I bet that I forgot to blog about the support ending for Windows XP that will be happening in April 8 next year. Back then, the operating system was seriously infected with the worms, spywares and other virus attacks. They were quite strong back then that they had infected millions of computers and SP1 of the OS wasn’t quite enough. With SP2, the security might have improved but that was not enough as you can see in the chart below.

It appeared that Windows XP SP2 might have more infections than SP3 but it seemed that SP3 added even more technologies and securities. Unfortunately, starting next year, there will be the zero-day exploit like forever for Windows XP meaning to say that it will forever be flawed that your computer will likely to be affected unless you’re running the active Windows OSes. For Windows Vista and above, the security and technologies are quite better as seen in the chart above.

Today, with Windows 8’s Windows Defender or Microsoft Security Essentials, there is the real-time malware protection that protects your computer in real-time but of course, speaking of real-time protection from viruses and malwares, you’re better off with the superior third-party software. Also, the UEFI Secure Boot is the new feature in Windows 8 that helps prevent unauthorized OSes or firmware from running at boot time by maintaining databases of software signers and software images that are pre-approved to run on the computer. Lastly, the Trusted Boot feature in Windows 8 includes an Early Launch AntiMalware that enables the antimalware software to start FIRST. Also, the Measured Boot feature allows the third-party software on a remote server to securely verify the security of every startup component in a way that will be very difficult for malware to forge. Anything being tampered with, Trusted Boot will repair the system by restoring original files.

Other features mentioned in http://blogs.technet.com/b/security/archive/2013/04/09/the-countdown-begins-support-for-windows-xp-ends-on-april-8-2014.aspx include UAC, Bitlocker, AppLocker, etc. but they may seem to be the existing security technologies that first came out for the previous OSes. Speaking of the link here, this is where the chart of Computers Cleaned Per Scan comes from. Lastly, after the support ends completely for Windows XP, there will be huge amount of vulnerabilities for that OS and it will have a high risk of infection for sure.