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The Risk of Running Windows XP After Support Ends April 2014 

<p>Back in April I published a post about the end of support for Windows XP called <a href="/b/security/archive/2013/04/09/the-countdown-begins-support-for-windows-xp-ends-on-april-8-2014.aspx">The Countdown Begins: Support for Windows XP Ends on April 8, 2014</a>.  Since then, many of the customers I have talked to have moved, or are in the process of moving,  their organizations from Windows XP to modern operating systems like Windows 7 or Windows 8.</p> <p>There is a sense of urgency because after April 8, Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) customers will no longer receive new security updates, non-security hotfixes, free or paid assisted support options or online technical content updates.  This means that any new vulnerabilities discovered in Windows XP after its “end of life” will not be addressed by new security updates from Microsoft.  Still, I have talked to some customers who, for one reason or another, will not have completely migrated from Windows XP before April 8.  I have even talked to some customers that say they won’t migrate from Windows XP until the hardware it’s running on fails.</p> <p>What is the risk of continuing to run Windows XP after its end of support date?  One risk is that attackers will have the advantage over defenders who choose to run Windows XP because attackers will likely have more information about vulnerabilities in Windows XP than defenders. Let me explain why this will be the case. <a href="/b/security/archive/2013/08/06/the-risk-of-running-windows-xp-after-support-ends.aspx">Read more.</a></p>

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<1 minute read

Can I use Microsoft Security Essentials with Windows 8? 

A reader writes: Can I use Microsoft Security Essentials with Windows 8? No—but you don’t need to. Windows 8 includes Windows Defender, a program that provides enhanced protection against viruses and spyware. Learn more about Windows 8 If your computer is running Windows 7, Windows Vista, or Windows XP, we recommend downloading Microsoft Security Essentials or […]

Tailored AI insights from Microsoft Security Copilot

Empower your defenders to detect hidden patterns, harden defenses, and respond to incidents faster with generative AI.

Ad injection and you: How adware gets on your computer 

Are advertisements showing up in your browser (no matter whether you use Internet Explorer, Firefox or Chrome) on sites that you’ve never seen ads on before; or, do the ads seem different from what you’ve seen before? Your system might be affected by adware that injects advertisements into sites as you browse, such as Adware:Win32/InfoAtoms […]

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<1 minute read

What is a Microsoft account? 

A Microsoft account (formerly known as a Windows Live ID) is a single email address and password you use to sign in to various Microsoft products and services. If you have a device that runs Windows 8 or Windows RT or you use a service like Hotmail, Outlook.com, or Xbox LIVE, you probably already have […]

Microsoft’s Free Security Tools – Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit 

<p>This article in our<a href="https://blogs.technet.com/b/security/archive/2012/10/04/microsoft-s-free-security-tools-summary.aspx?Redirected=true"> free security tools series</a> focuses on the benefits of the <a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/security/jj657553">Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit</a>.  If you are an IT Professional then you know platform migrations can be a daunting task.  Depending on your organization’s size, complexity and maturity, simply understanding your organization’s IT state and migration potential can take hours, days and sometimes even months.  To help ease the migration process, Microsoft has created the Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit.  The MAP Toolkit is a powerful inventory, assessment and reporting tool that can securely assess IT environments for various platform migrations.   The toolkit is designed to run in any organization regardless of size and is effective at helping to accelerate PC, server, database and cloud migration planning across heterogeneous environments.  It also provides tailored assessment proposals and recommendations, and helps gain efficiencies through multiple technology migration assessments with a single tool. </p>

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1 minute read

Watch out for fake Java updates 

You may have seen reports about security alerts for Java recently. Java is a commonly used piece of software from Oracle, so there’s a good chance you have it installed on your computer. Cybercriminals often use fake virus alerts to lure you into buying fraudulent antivirus software. These alerts state that your computer or other […]

Streamline privacy management with Microsoft Priva

Protect and govern personal information, reduce privacy risks, and manage subject rights requests at scale with Microsoft Priva privacy risk management solutions.

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3 min read

Microsoft’s Free Security Tools – URLScan Security Tool 

One of the best ways to keep potentially malicious Internet traffic from attacking your Internet Information Services (IIS) Web server is to keep it from getting to the Web server service.  To help protect users from malicious webpages, Microsoft and other browser vendors have developed filters that keep track of sites that host malware and phishing attacks and display prominent warnings when users try to navigate to them

Microsoft Free Security Tools – Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer 

<p>This article in our <a href="/b/security/archive/2012/07/31/microsoft-s-free-security-tools-series-introduction.aspx">series</a> on Microsoft’s free security tools is focused on a tool called the <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=7558">Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer</a> (MBSA).  Many years ago before Windows Update was available, servicing software was much more painful than it is today.  Microsoft released security updates weekly, and there were few deployment technologies available to help determine which systems needed which updates.  I wrote an <a href="/b/security/archive/2012/03/26/trustworthy-computing-learning-about-threats-for-over-10-years-part-6.aspx">article on this topic</a> if you are interested in a walk down memory lane.  For those IT administrators that lived through those days, the MBSA was a godsend.  Today, 10 years later, the MBSA is still a free security tool that many, many IT Professionals use to help manage the security of their environments. </p>