Windows XP Update should you use these?

The Forbes web site has an article about a registry hack that will allow users of the now defunct and unsupported Windows Operating System use automatic upgrades for security paid for by corporations and governments that still use the pre Vista OS.

And to add insult to injury for Microsoft there is a new "Unofficial" Service Pack 4 out in the internet wilderness.

I have tested both and my conclusion is this:

"If it is too good to be true then it isn't!" (remember that one?)

On numerous blogs and tech guru sites the legality of both of these supposedly XP updates goes back and forth from being downright theft to it is all good and ok to use them.

As a MCSE I strongly urge you to use caution with these, although neither the SP 4 or the XP Update registry hack for the "POSReady" / "WDReady" hack show any ill effects both have a potential that you could be sued or even worse arrested for theft.

Why do I say that?

With the XP Update "POSready hack" you are accessing Microsoft's web site to download the upgrades, you did not pay for these upgrades, i.e.: you have a legal activated copy of XP however there is a notice on Microsoft's web site stating that support for your operating system was suspended on April 8, 2014.

Now that the support for security and hardware updates from Microsoft has ended for the public the only support (which is normally the case) is for those that PAY for that support. That would be large corporations and government entities that need to keep their XP operating systems up to date because the cost of converting all their software over to the latest Microsoft kludge every two years or so is enormous.

To test these two new upgrades (XP Update and XP SP 4) now out in the internet wilderness I used a VM (Virtual Machine) that isolates the installed Operating System from my work computer Operating System which is XP by the way. Both VM installed Operating Systems were activated XP, the one for the "POSready" hack had access to the internet but the one for the SP 4 test did not.

After testing the XP Update  I found that with the 41 files that were downloaded none were newer than 2010, that means the upgrade files are over five years old and have no bearing on fixing any security problems on your current XP Operating System - those were fixed long ago, do you really want to have your IP address logged by Microsoft with the possibility of being charged with theft?

I also tested an older version of a XP with SP 1 install cd I bought many years ago and ran the automatic update, it did download over 190 files to bring the OS up to the latest versions that ended in April of 2014, so the files are still there and the update still works, how long however is unknown.

With the "Unofficial SP 4" that is floating around the internet my test shows there is nothing new in the SP, the basic files are the same as SP 3, there are a few new added files for .NET and Windows media programs that come with the install of the Operating System.

Note: This XP update makes me very suspicious of the programmer/hacker that produced it. Normally when you install a service pack from Microsoft if you stop the process before it begins the install the files will be in a folder where they were extracted from the service pack file with the underlying directory structure and all the files expanded.

When I stopped the process with the "Unofficial SP 4" to inspect the files the install program deleted the folder the files were extracted to, very sneaky, no?

To get to those files I had to power down the VM the XP OS was installed on; then open the drive with another VM (one with anti virus installed by the way) and compare the "Unofficial SP 4" files with SP 3 which I have extracted.

Although my anti virus did not find any anomalies I do think there is something very wrong with this "Unofficial SP 4", as they say: "Buyer be ware... You get what you pay for!"

What concerns me is that when you install this XP update the unofficial SP 4 there are registry changes, normally when you do a service pack update there will NOT be any changes to your registry.

Why?

Because the changes to block exploits by hackers (which if you use these then YOU are one also) will be in the files not the registry.

The 5 Steps to high quality and cheap DIY Computer Repairs Get It Today...

My anti trojan and malware programs detected four changes to the registry on restart, no I will not list these changes however two changes will have a direct effect on the security of your data, in other words they allow access to your data by opening holes in your operating system security which there will be no fix by Microsoft.

There are a few articles on the web that indicates Microsoft is not amused by the hack or the fake service pack. Will this change the no more support for XP by Microsoft? Unknown, however it may change their producing a kludge OS every two years, Vista was a disaster (sure would like to know how much that cost the company and why the management that continues to produce these losers is still employed...) and the only light shining through the Microsoft murk is Windows 7 but that really isn't close to the success that XP is.

My advice?

These two hoaxes open up your operating system to hackers or you to a suit, maybe even arrest, do you want either? No...  if you downloaded them delete them, if you used them I would suggest you correct your actions...