Warning: Microsoft to withdraw XP support

Motor retailers still using the Microsoft Windows XP operating system will soon be placing themselves at risk of security breaches, according to iVendi.

The company says the problem will be caused by Microsoft’s decision to withdraw support from the product starting in April 2014. If any potential security issues are found after this date, they will not be resolved.

“Despite its age, XP still accounts for about 30% of all the operating systems in use and it is still very common to see it used in motor dealerships of all types,” iVendi’s Steve Flitcroft said. “However, it is now near the end of its lifespan. You might remember the ‘zero day’ bug earlier this year. Once it was flagged up, Microsoft quickly issued a patch but from April this type of support will no longer happen.”

He said there was also a strong argument on technological grounds for replacing XP and the Internet Explorer 8 web browser with which it was often linked: “XP was written at a time when internet usage was completely different from today, well before tablets and smart phones. If you want your web site to produce maximum results in 2013, you must start to seriously look at moving on.”