Why a Windows XP Service Pack is a Bad Idea

You've probably seen the news that started circulating today about a Service Pack 4 for Windows XP. And as nice and altruistic as it may seem, it's a bad idea and let's see why.

First of all, the pack consists mostly of updates already released by Microsoft. Basically you will not receive anything new, except perhaps some security update that you had not installed at the time. The benefits of installing an unofficial SP4 are rather few

"At most the trick - not recommended by Microsoft - of receiving updates for Windows XP Embedded, the systems for embedded computers used in retail outlets, which this SP4 includes, could be considered useful.Of course, these updates will not cover vulnerabilities that only affect normal XP, and may even be incompatible with the system and break it. It&39;s risky."

And it's not just that it doesn't bring many advantages. It's just that it's an update package that some random person posted on a forum, that it hasn't been thoroughly tested, that it won't be supported if it fails, and that you don't really know what's wrong with it - although, all things being said, it doesn't seem to be posted with malicious intentions. It's shot in the dark

Why is XP still installed on that computer?

At this point in the movie, if someone has XP installed on a computer they must have a very, very strong reason for doing so. Three possibilities occur to me: either he really likes XP and absolutely hates Vista, 7 and 8; or you have a computer that does not meet the minimum requirements to upgrade; or you have an application that only works on XP.

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The first case, which I don&39;t think will happen, is difficult to fix. The second and third are more common, and have a solution. If your computer cannot be upgraded to a more modern system, we can always follow what Genbeta tells us and install a Linux distribution for systems with few resources. Yes, it may seem like a sacrilege to recommend Linux in a blog called Xataka Windows , but it is the only alternative to remain more or less secure. It&39;s not just that Microsoft doesn&39;t support XP anymore: many developers have already abandoned it or will soon, and that means that all your programs won&39;t be able to be updated either (including, importantly, the browsers). "

Things change somewhat if you have programs that only work on XP and for which there are no alternatives. In that case, you can always upgrade to a modern version of Windows for normal use, and install a virtual machine for programs that only run on XP.

And finally, if you have a combination of the last two cases and there is no way to improve the hardware of your computer, the solution is to try a combination of those that we have already presented: virtual machine in Linux (or Wine, if you are lucky enough that your program works with it). In short, if you are so concerned about your security that you want to install an unofficial Service Pack on XP, you have much better and more effective alternatives to protect yourselves

Of course, all this in the case of individuals. In companies that have computers that cannot be updated for money or compatibility with certain hardware, things would be complicated, although it is also true that no serious IT department would install an unofficial Service Pack on production machines.

In short: if it's already a bad idea to be running Windows XP, it's even worse to invest time and trust in an unofficial Service Pack, with few benefits and the risk of making things worse.

In Xataka Windows | Goodbye to Windows XP