IT ADVISER

Keep using Windows XP at your own peril

Some pearls for staying secure since Microsoft pulled the plug on the popular OS.

By Joe Dysart

Ophthalmology practices still using Windows XP will be courting peril, given that all Microsoft support for the operating system ended in April, leaving XP forever vulnerable to new security breaches.

“The importance of upgrading from Windows XP cannot be overstated,” says Tim Rains, director of Microsoft Trustworthy Computing. “We want people to truly understand the risks of running Windows XP after support ends, and to recognize the security benefits of upgrading to a more modern operating system.”

New face for XP users? The opening window of Microsoft Windows 8 is one option to move on from the forced extinction of Windows XP.

IT security analysts predict hackers will have a field day, knowing full well that Microsoft will no longer patch any security vulnerabilities they find. Essentially, hackers can use every new security vulnerability they’ve discovered in the past year as long as PCs run XP.

“Will hackers come out in droves to exploit XP? Absolutely,” says Eric A. Soto, chief information officer at iHealthspot (www.ihealthspot.com), a firm that builds websites for ophthalmologists and other health-care businesses.

OUT OF COMPLIANCE

Unfortunately, ophthalmologists face an added risk with the death of Windows XP: They may run into compliance problems with health-care regulations, given that they are operating a business with computer software that has known, not fixable security flaws. “This is not a matter for debate, but rather a simple read of the health-care regulations,” says Mr. Soto.

Specifically, ophthalmologists are compelled to implement security updates on software as necessary as part of Medicare’s risk management policies for EHR. That will be impossible now that Microsoft has stopped issuing security updates for XP, Mr. Soto says.

Despite its age, 31% of PCs worldwide still use XP, according to Net Applications; but business use is much higher. A study last fall by Dimensional Research found 47% of businesses worldwide had not completed their migrations from Windows XP to Windows 7 or 8. Moreover, another 16% had not even started the process.

STILL HOLDING ON

The reluctance of physicians and other businesses to migrate from XP has been a source of consternation at Microsoft, which for years has beseeched users to move to more modern versions of Windows.

But XP was a home run for Microsoft. Over the years, the OS has earned a reputation as stable and reliable. Plus, XP runs many software programs that are simply not compatible with later versions of Windows.

Understandably, many ophthalmologists are in no rush to migrate from XP, knowing they’ll be forced to buy newer versions of the same applications that run just fine on their XP computers. The memory of Microsoft’s release of Windows Vista, which initially had major compatibility problems with peripheral hardware and ran slower than XP on many PCs, has exacerbated this reluctance.

And while users cheered Microsoft’s follow-up OS, Windows 7, its latest offering — Windows 8 — again has Microsoft in the dog-house. The newest version of Windows has drawn more than a few sneers for its radical new look-and-feel, which is designed to force-feed touch-screen computing to traditional PC users.

THE HARD TRUTH

Even so, ophthalmologists still running XP are staring at a hard truth: Either migrate to a newer version of Windows, or to another operating system, such as Linux, Apple’s iOs or Android, or prepare to take a security risk.

“A migration to Windows 7, even if it necessitates a hardware upgrade — and it does not always require new hardware — is a prudent, and urgent, course of action for anyone running Windows XP,” adds Mr. Soto of iHealthspot.

Jerry Fett, CEO of Smart IT (www.smartservices.com), a computer consulting firm, agrees: “This may feel like a scam by Microsoft to force you to spend money on an upgrade, but it’s actually a natural part of the software life cycle.

“Upon upgrading from XP to Windows 8, you may be pleasantly surprised to see a performance boost after dealing with XP after all these years,” Mr. Fett adds.

A WINDOWS 8 OPTION

The “Pro” and “Enterprise” Versions of Windows 8 both enable a user to run a “virtual” copy of another operating system, including Windows XP. (One caveat: Installing a virtual copy of XP on Windows 8 can be tricky, and may include the need to pay Microsoft for added support on the install.)

In practice, this enables user to run both XP and Windows 8 on the same PC — and most importantly, to run all those XP programs they would otherwise have had to abandon if they simply ran Windows 8.

Essentially, running a virtual copy of XP on Windows 8 is a great, short-term fix to slowly move an practice from XP to Windows 8. But today, the safest course is to run the virtual copy of XP only when the PC is not connected to the Internet, to avoid potential Internet viruses and break-ins.

The Windows 7 Pro, Ultimate and Enterprise versions also offer similar virtualization, known as Windows XP Mode. But some users have complained that XP Mode on Windows 7 slows down their applications.

Indeed, Dick Hyatt, CEO, Decisv, an IT consulting firm, says a better path may be to simply move all computer operations to the cloud, “and leave behind worries of operating system compatibility of various applications.” OM

Joe Dysart is an Internet speaker and business consultant based in Manhattan. His e-mail is joe@joedysart.com and website www.joedysart.com.