Windows XP’s Malware Infection Falls

Data released by the latest Security Intelligence Report from Microsoft showed that the infection rate of Windows XP fell by more than 20% during the second half of 2010, whereas  Windows 7′s malware infection rate climbed by more than 30%. This is really good news for those who still stick to Windows XP.

Despite of this fact, Windows 7 is more malware-resistant than Windows XP. According to the security report, Windows XP SP3 32-bit machines have an infection rate of 15.9 for every thousand systems, almost five times of Windows 7′s. Windows 7 32-bit computers have infection rates of 3.8 per thousand, and Windows 7 64-bit PCs have a rate of 2.5 per thousand.

Even so, I don’t think this will have great impact on those Windows XP users.  Why? Although Microsoft has already dropped XP support and released a desktop gadget alerting users of the number of days left in Windows XP’s, and the IE9, newest edition of Internet Explorer, doesn’t appear to have an XP install, there are a large number of people relies on Windows XP for daily computing.

In fact, Windows XP is still the most popular computer operating system after it has been introduced for 10 years. According to figures from Net Applications, about 54 percent of PCs are still running XP, while about 24 percent are on Microsoft’s 18-month-old Windows 7 system.

Apart from these common PC users, many knowledgeable information technology professionals still cling to this operating system for their desktop client needs.  Their reasons are very simple and some are listed as below:

* The Windows XP computer still works well. Even when they forgot Windows XP password or other similar small error occurs, they are able to fix this problem easily.
* Updating to Windows 7 will cost much time and a large sum of money.
*Some Legacy applications won’t run on Windows 7.

This entry was posted in windows 7, Windows Vista, windows xp and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

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