Microsoft Will Force XP Users Install Protection

The software giant is going to automatically switch on Windows Defender for those people who don’t run any system protection on their old XP computers. Microsoft’s official website said that their goal has been focused on getting as many of its users off of the older Windows XP OS onto something more modern and protected – preferably, Windows 8.1.


At the same time, the company decided to discontinue support for Windows XP next April, which means that if users continue to run the operating system any holes will remain, unpatched, forever.

The idea is that as the users go into an unprotected state, the company requires antivirus vendors to be installed as the initial upgrade source. In case the license has expired, the first thing the operating system asks them to do is to upgrade. If the users have no anti-virus software, then the company will automatically install its Defender product. Microsoft said it wouldn’t nag, while telling people that they aren’t protected, and move them back into a protected mode without users really knowing.

At the moment, Windows XP makes up 22% of the worldwide user base, while in developing countries the figure may be close to 1/3 of computers. This means that there could be plenty of machines suddenly protected by Windows Defender very soon.