Microsoft to Cease Windows XP Support

Microsoft has announced that it will no longer be supporting XP or Office 2003 starting on April 8th, 2014.

XP has been actively supported the past 11 years with system and security updates. According to Net Applications, a metrics company that tracks the percentage of users on each operating system, the XP install base is still at 37% globally.

Some people are taking Microsofts advice to upgrade their OS.  The global percentage of computers using XP dropped from the 40% it was at previously, but 37% is still a significant number.

Come April 8th you can expect XP machines to no longer automatically update and security updates to no longer be issued. Many believe this will be the starting gun for hacker groups to find security holes. Without updates these possible security holes will remain open and the operating system exposed.

Now's the time to think about upgrading if you were on the fence before. Upgrading your OS and running your GoTrusted Tunnel will ensure you remain safe while browsing online.

Tor Network Attacked by Malware

Wired is reporting that the Tor network has recently come under attack this past Sunday.  Malware started popping up on multiple hosting sites over the network in the morning in something known as a 'Drive-by' hack attack.

Code was being delivered through a known Java exploit in Firefox and affects Windows users. The code would gather information on the users machine while they were connected to the Tor network.

The code was designed to grab a user's MAC address (a unique hardware identifier for the computer's network or WiFi card) and the target's Windows host name.

The Tor network uses proxies to try to provide anonymity to users. The concern is that the proxy points are run on a volunteer basis allowing anyone to run as a proxy point. This opens the network to break downs that can result in breaches of user information. This is something that full encryption running on the GoTrusted VPN service is not open to as all our VPN servers are secured, both physically and via encryption.

Major Update Coming for Windows 8

     Some good news for our Windows 8 users. Microsoft released a statement earlier this week telling of a new update code named 'Blue' that they'll be releasing June 26th at the Build developers conference held in San Francisco.

     They're has been plenty of feedback from users both critical and positive. Something Microsoft has readily acknowledged.

"We need to work to address a real learning curve with Windows 8," said Tami Reller, chief financial officer for Microsoft's Windows division. "That's a big challenge for us." 

     The update is rumored to address some of the issues that people have been raising most concern about. One of the biggest being a lack of a true 'Start' button that has been present in every Microsoft OS release since '95. 

     There can be a steep learning curve associated with Microsoft's new operating system and can seem daunting to new users. We have our share of support cases involving Windows 8 and that's why our support is there! Don't hesitate to send them an email if you run into any issues using GoTrusted on your Windows 8 devices.