Microsoft plans for a short patch before XP ends.

Microsoft announced they will be issuing five security updates next week, with two being tagged as “critical.”
Three of the four updates for Windows will affect Windows XP, the 13-year-old operating system that Microsoft will retire from patching support on April 8, 2014.

Microsoft will have two more rounds of security updates before it pulls the plug on Windows XP.

Another two Windows updates pertaining to XP, were rated as “important” on Microsoft’s four-step scoring system.

1. Used by attackers to obtain additional access
2. Used to take personal data from the compromised PC

Forefront Protection 2010 was one of the products that Microsoft terminated in December 2012.  Even though development halted, Microsoft promised to keep patching the program and delivering new signatures.  This includes, the fingerprint-like components that identify new malware or spam until 2015.

Security experts are interested in what Microsoft is not going to patch next Tuesday, that was said was going to be fixed.



The idea was dismissed that Microsoft had run out of bugs to fix in IE, according to Web metrics.  Net Applications used by more of the world’s online population than any other, has a user share of 58.2%.

With the lack of IE updates, Microsoft’s security and patching teams have decided to take a vacation.

Microsoft will have another chance to patch bugs in IE before the Pwn2Own hacking contest.  Pwn2Own is co-sponsored by Hewlett-Packard and Google, plans to give $100,000 to the first researcher or team of researchers that are able to compromise IE11 on Windows 8.1-powered PC.  A $150,00 award awaits for the first to hack the same setup when protected by Microsoft’s Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit (EMET), a utility that manually enables anti-exploit technologies.

For a short time, Microsoft will secure XP, but it is ending very soon.  This is a great time to upgrade your system.  Please visit our online store and create an account to get the best deals on hardware and software.


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References:

Microsoft fixes critical Windows flaws on Patch Tuesday – PC Pro
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/enterprise/386959/microsoft-fixes-critical-windows…

Microsoft plans another short patch slate for next week, but finds a few XP bugs to crush – ComputerWorld
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9246114/Microsoft_plans_another_short_patch_slate…