What happens to the Windows OS if Microsoft not support anymore?

[SloppyMcFloppy]

What happens to the Windows OS if Microsoft not support anymore? Are they going to hack by cyber criminal easily? Getting infected easily compare to the Windows OS that still getting update from Microsoft? Are you going to be more vulnerable while surfing online? 

[David H. Lipman]

The answer to that would depend upon how the PC is used.

 

If you use an unsupported, antiquated, OS for a particular application and only that application then there is no problem.

 

If you use the PC normally to do everything from Internet surfing to access email then the PC is vulnerable to various threats.

 

The other issue is software will change as the PC stays static.  Newer software will require greater capabilities and compliance.  As time passes not only will the OS be unsupported by the OS vendor (  Microsoft )  but other vendors will drop support as well.  So the PC becomes stagnant, it is less capable of working in the day's environment and is more vulnerable to threats.

[CWB]

an example of the first kind as mentioned by DHL is the XP/SPx machine i just built specifically to run an epson 960 photo printer .

it will be used for nothing else except to drive the printer .

why ?

it is an older printer but built/performs very well

no drivers beyond xp/vista 32 bit were written for it .

 

to be sure , the machine is networked and because of this it does have AV/AM solutions installed .

[TonyVN]

Just want to say please don't concider selling out your terrific software to Microsoft. They bought out Skype for about 8.5 billion.

Keep up the great work.

[Aura]

What David said is right. It's pretty much what's happening with Windows XP right now. The OS isn't supported by Microsoft anymore, which means that every vulnerabilities, security holes, etc. found in it will not be patched and can freely be uused by whoever have the skills and knowledge to. Of course, you can install an Antivirus product on Windows XP and have safe browsing habits, but there's only so much this can do against 0-days. They are called 0-days mainly because there's no real way to stop them yet and they aren't patched and in the case of Windows XP 0-days, they'll never be patched. If you use an unsupported Windows OS without being networking (connected) then the risk of something bad happening to you is close to null (if not null), but if you network that system and connect to the web with it, you greatly increase your chances of being infected or "hacked" into. Every OS past Windows XP aren't supported by Microsoft anymore and therefore are in this situation.

[AdvancedSetup]

You can also look at adding this software to help some. Not a replacement for core OS file fixes but much better than left alone with no updates.

 

Product information for Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit
 

[coyi64]

Hardware is the other topic that is rarely talked about when an OS is not supported any more.  Newer hardware especially motherboards lack XP support and lack of drivers too.  So you may find the hardware upgrade path restricted if still wanting to stick with XP.

[Aura]

At least these motherboards that doesn't support Windows past XP will most likely support Linux distros, so it would be way safer (and maybe more efficient, resources wise) to switch to a lightweight Linux distro on these computers and laptops rather than sticking with an outdated, vulnerable OS.