Windows XP has been a standard operating system for a long time since its market release for retail in 2001. From then on, it has been a reliable partner for businesses, corporations, professionals, or even to the simplest of students. A vital component of the Windows XP is its implementation of service packs.
Service packs are what the laymen conveniently call “patches”. These are basic fixes for any glitch or bug in the programming that are downloaded all in a single file. They also contains useful programs that updates the current status of the system, it enables the system to recognize newly released applications out on the market.
Outdated?
Of all these service packs, Service Pack 2 (or SP2 from here on) has seen the most in terms of market longevity. Since the release in August 2004, it has been a standard to almost every company that uses computer units in their operations with Windows as their operating systems. The main purpose of this release is to ensure and build up the system’s integrity and security more. Thus, it did what it was meant to do; because even after the release of the Service Pack 3 (or SP3 from here on) in April 2008, companies that used SP2 have never even thought of upgrading. Until now, SP2 has been used by many companies and establishments in the world, including those from the financial, health care, manufacturing, and educational organizations. With that given, Microsoft still released update for the said service pack even in the presence of SP3.
Now, with the release of Windows 7, which is a service pack and an operating system away from SP2, Service Pack 2 seems to be obsolete. With this fact, updates for SP2 have been announced to seize update releases. This gives worries to security experts because without the patches to fill in the bugs and other unlikely errors that may come to systems, the establishments that use SP2 may be vulnerable to different kinds of troubles, including hacking attacks. And knowing the nature of the said organizations to remain adamant, it is very unlikely that they will be switching to SP3, or maybe not just yet.
Upgrade or Suffer the Consequences
Cybercrimes have escalated within the last few years. Hackers have been known to flush the holes in any operating system’s programming, allowing them to enter the database and take advantage of the information that they can get. The available information that can be acquired by hackers is limitless.
This information can be used for the hacker’s personal gains; they can use the compromised PC in order to successfully spread loads and loads of highly annoying spam, hijack online banking accounts and probe into the deepest parts of a corporate network. Without the security updates that will be released for the users of SP2, hackers will then have a feast.
Microsoft’s ResolutionEven if the current users refuse to upgrade to the new Windows 7 operating system, Microsoft promises continuing support for Windows XP and release security updates if they will update the service packs to Service Pack 3.
