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Did you agree with us that Windows XP has not been supported for a long time? Windows Embedded POSReady 2009, a Windows version based on Windows XP, enjoyed official security updates until April 9, 2019. Now that has stopped, the last Windows XP version is buried.

After more than 17 years, Microsoft stops supporting the latest Windows XP version. Other versions of Windows XP had already been killed by Microsoft: Windows Embedded Standard 2009 became end-of-life on 8 January 2019 and Windows Embedded for Point of Service SP3 and XP Embedded SP3 will not receive any updates since 2016.

The official Windows XP Home and Professional SP3 version already ended on April 8, 2014. Despite the official support of Windows XP five years ago, some versions could still receive security updates thanks to a registry hack. After all, updates were made available for other variants. With Windows Embedded POSReady 2009 coming to an end, that source is likely to dry out.

SHA-2 encryption

For the time being, it is still unclear how quickly the security updates will stop. Windows Update will require SHA-2 encryption from July 16, which means there is a good chance that all updates to Windows XP will stop from that date. Whether or not the updates will be offered for so long remains to be seen. Nevertheless, this should not be a reason to keep Windows XP alive in your company, even if the system is attached to a critical application.

If the Windows XP system is not connected to the Internet, the system only poses a limited risk. However, please note that other peripherals, such as USB sticks, can always be dangerous.

Very rarely, Microsoft sends updates to Windows XP machines. During Wannacry it made a security update, developed for POSReady 2009, available on all Windows XP machines. With the required SHA-2 encryption later this year, there is little chance that sun sudden intervention will still be possible in the future.

Related: Firefox ends support for Windows XP

This news article was automatically translated from Dutch to give Techzine.eu a head start. All news articles after September 1, 2019 are written in native English and NOT translated. All our background stories are written in native English as well. For more information read our launch article.