You read the headline right. If you’re still stuck on the venerable Windows XP, you’re more exposed to malware than users equipped with Windows 8.
Even if you despise the new features introduced Windows 8 and its 8.1 update, the enhanced security is enough reason to switch to the newer OS, according to Microsoft. In the company’s latest Security Intelligence Report, Windows XP computer were found to become infected six times more often than their Windows 8 siblings.
Causing this vulnerability is the outdated data execution prevention (DEP) found in Windows XP. It just doesn’t compare to the one found in 8 and its added extra security features. Windows 7, though more secure than XP, isn’t that malware-resilient anymore either. It’s reported to get infected three times more than 8.
To make things worse for Windows XP users, Microsoft will be ending support for the legacy OS next year. The company will issue its last security patch on April 8, 2014. After that, any unpatched vulnerabilities are left open for hackers to take advantage of and exploit users.
When that time comes, it’s best for users to upgrade to a newer operating system. If you don’t like the look and feel of Windows 8, there’s always Android, iOS or Chrome OS.
Windows XP six times likelier to catch a virus than Windows 8 .
1. I have not seen a long-time windows xp user not using an antivirus. I think most issues with windows xp users is having installed 2 or more antivirus on their computers.
2. More likely because there are 6x times more windows XP users than windows 8 users right now.
3. Windows XP has been out a lot longer than Windows 8 therefore most viruses were created on XP’s framework and vulnerabilities instead of Windows 8.