In what could only be considered a strange twist of fate, tech giant Microsoft itself is harassing Windows users with annoying pop–ups.
Microsoft has apparently escalated it efforts to urge Windows XP users to upgrade. Evidently its non–intrusive efforts are now supported by stronger persuasive techniques of annoying pop–ups being constantly displayed on computer screens of Windows XP users, reported PCWorld .
Windows users have always been wary of pop–ups, especially if they come–up unexpected or unsolicited. An unexpected popup is always a reason to worry. However, in this case it’s just the maker of Windows XP, Microsoft, cautioning Windows XP users that the support has just ended and they should consider upgrading their system to the latest Windows 8 Operating System (OS).
In its ongoing bid to push users from Windows XP to Windows 8, Microsoft is pushing a special popup to their XP machines. April 8 th was the last day till when Microsoft had vowed to support the 13 year old OS, Windows XP. This meant, if any security vulnerability was identified and acknowledged, Microsoft was obligated to work out ways to patch the vulnerability.
However, post April 8, Microsoft won’t willingly support the OS. In other words, any vulnerabilities that Microsoft hasn’t patched by then, will remain open for malware writers to exploit. Though the above–mentioned pop–up will start appearing from today, the company has already started reminding (or bothering) its XP users from late last week.
From Friday a “pop-up” began appearing whenever XP users, who also run Microsoft’s free security software Microsoft Security Essentials, turned on their computers. The pop-up warned that XP support is about to end and directed users to a site where they could find out more about upgrading to a new operating system, reported The Sydney Morning Herald .
Interestingly, while there was no official way of shutting this pop–up off permanently, thankfully, the latest coercion can be disabled by selecting the tick–box below that reads ‘Don’t show this message again’
Microsoft’s Windows XP is by far one of the biggest success stories for the company. Despite being succeeded by more than two iterations, it is still powering about 21% of the world’s computers and the fact that over 90% of the PCs run on some iteration of Windows, only makes the matters even more concern worthy.
Whatever the reason to stick to Windows XP, Microsoft will surely have a hard time letting the teenaged OS go into the sunset on its own.
[Images Via PCI Compliance Guide , PCWorld , SMH ]
