OT: Don't Buy XP Home

[Fyron]

If you are considering purchasing XP Home Edition, it would be a very bad idea at this point in time. As of Dec. 31st, 2006, it will get no more security updates or any other updates:

"For consumer products, security updates will be available through the end of the mainstream phase. For Windows XP Home Edition, there will be no security updates after 12/31/06." Regarding paid support for problems unrelated to security patches, I was told that "Users who want to continue to receive support after the Microsoft assisted and paid support offerings have ended may visit the Retired Product Support Options Web site."

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060103-5891.html

Either wait for this to be satisfactorily resolved, or purchase XP Pro instead, which will continue to recieve mainstream support for 2 additional years, then it goes into a 5 year "extended support" phase where it gets only security updates. MS will probably change this policy once bad PR starts building up, but it isn't IMO worth the risk purchasing XP Home for now.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

...I knew I should have built the time machine, instead of the teleporting lawn chair.

[Atrocities]

Post about the other discovery you made tonight Fyron... about the new flaw in MS OS.

[Fyron]

I didn't "discover" it, I just pasted it from a RSS feed I read.

A newly-reported flaw in the way Windows handles images was successfully exploited over the New Year's weekend, and no official patch is yet available from Microsoft. The problem stems from the way that Windows deals with .WMF (Windows Metafile) images; a maliciously crafted image can execute code on any Windows system, including XP SP2. All that's required to trip the payload is viewing a .WMF image locally or on the web.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060102-5876.html

[Atrocities]

Ooops, good point, I must improve my communication skills..

By discover I mean he uncovered the information and informed us.

[Suicide Junkie]

I love not being vulnerable to all the new crap.

98se dosen't have that buggy MWF support by default.

[Baron Munchausen]

All versions of Windows have this vulnerability. Even Windows 3.1 from the days before Microsoft had even noticed the internet! It's not truly a 'bug' but an intentional feature of Windows. It's actually possible to make code function calls from a WMF file because WMF files were designed for fancy functionality, but without any thought for security. This is yet another lesson on Internet Exploder. Don't Use It, Mmm'kay? People who surf with a non-Microsoft browser are dramatically less vulnerable. You can still be sent an email with a trojan in it, but at least you won't infect yourself in routine surfing.

[Suicide Junkie]

But only if you have a MS viewer to load those WMF files.

Basic 98se + irfanview to look at the files with dosen't get owned.

http://blog.ziffdavis.com/seltzer/ar.../03/39684.aspx

[PvK]

Good link, SJ, thanks.
(PvK remains content with Win98SE and Win2KPro at home; sees no reason to join the XP Borg 'cept at work. )

[Fyron]

This may have been resolved:

The good news is that Microsoft appears to be making an exception to the way it normally treats "consumer products," and has explicitly extended Windows XP Home support to "two years after the next version of this product is released," that is, two years after the release of Windows Vista.

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