Online Safety: Why You Should Give Up Windows XP For Good

　　Most geeks will tell you it’s well past time to get rid of XP and upgrade to newer, safer operating systems. It can be tough to explain, so keep reading this list of real world reasons to let XP go.
　　Maybe you’re not sure why you should upgrade to a newer operating system. Maybe you’ve tried to explain it to friends but can’t quite explain why they should. Read our reasoning below or join the conversation with your own experiences—whether you’re a Windows user or not, it’s time to put XP out to pasture.
　　或許你自己也不清楚為何一定要更新成新作業系統。或許你已經試著把這點解釋給朋友，但是說不清他們為什麼得這麼做。讀讀下面的原因，也來談談你自己的經歷——不管你是不是Windows用戶，都是該“結果”XP的時候了。

Happy 10th Birthday, XP: You’re (Probably) The Least Secure OS

　　It’s a scary world out there, and for-profit cybercriminal thugs are filling P2P networks and the internet with more malicious software by the day. Even something as simple as receiving email can bring infections into your computer, and there’s a huge library of malware and viruses mostly focused at taking down XP and stealing your information. Because XP is so old (10 years as of August 2011) malicious developers have had more time to create software targeting it, and while Microsoft has been able to patch some of the many security problems with the aging operating system, the fact remains that they simply can’t get them all. And as far as we can tell, all platforms, including distros of Linux, OS X, and newer versions of Windows, like Vista and Windows 7 (and now Windows 8!) are all more secure by many factors. Let’s briefly talk about why XP has become so insecure.
　　外面的世界太可怕，以盈利為目的的網路罪犯充斥在P2P（peer-to-peer,點對點技術）網路和網際網路中間，不斷帶來更多惡意軟體。就連接收電子郵件這麼簡單的事情都可以讓你的電腦感染病毒，大量惡意軟體和病毒集中火力搗毀XP系統，盜取你的資訊。因為XP年歲已高（自2001年8月發佈以來已有十年之久），惡意軟體發展者有更多的時間創造攻擊它的軟體，儘管微軟已經為這一老化的作業系統做了一些補丁以修補安全問題，實際上它們就是不能把所有問題解決掉。

　　The nature of software is timely—it fits into the needs of the time it’s created, and XP was created for a simpler world of tech. The screenshot above is how Microsoft.com looked when XP was first released—formatted to fit on a screen only 640 pixels wide, it showcases Internet Explorer 6, a browser reviled for being non compliant and behind the times, as new product.
　　軟體的性質是與時俱進——它滿足於所創時代的需求，XP在科技較為簡單的世界裏應運而生。上面的截圖就是XP首次發佈以後微軟公司的情形——當時設計出的XP適合於只有640圖元的螢幕，它集成了IE6，這一流覽器雖是新產品，卻因不符合時代要求，落伍於時代之後而遭人詬病。

　　Smartphones were more or less unheard of, laptops were a luxury, and tablet computers like the iPad still seemed like a science fiction fantasy. XP was created for the needs of a simpler consumer, and performed admirably with changing needs, as more and more home users started getting computers. However, at a certain point, only so many band-aids and fixes are going to keep things going—to properly address the reality of today’s security needs, the problems need to be addressed from the ground up.
　　智慧手機幾乎聞所未聞，筆記本電腦為奢華之物，像iPad這種平板電腦仿佛還是科幻小說中的事物。隨著越來越多的家庭用戶開始接觸電腦，XP創造出來以滿足客戶相較簡單的需求，隨需求變化運轉的狀況也是可圈可點。然而有些時候，只有如此之多的緊急補救和修補辦法會讓一切正常運轉（而無法徹底解決問題）——妥善解決滿足今日安全需求的現實問題，但是問題卻需要被徹底移除。

　　Here’s a metaphor. You might be able to drive a car that was built years and years ago, and even keep it in good working condition if you were a clever mechanic. But that car was made in a time when fewer people drove the roads and had less safety features to keep drivers and families safe on more crowded roads. Newer cars also benefit from years of engineering knowledge built on top of the mistakes of those older cars, and have safety features and more fuel efficient engines for a world with rising gasoline prices. XP fits into the computing world in much the same way—it doesn’t properly address the problems of today and can pose a definite danger to the user, while giving an illusion of security.
　　打個比方。你可能會駕駛一輛很多年前生產的汽車，如果你是個聰明的機修工，汽車甚至會運轉良好。後來生產的車會從舊車數年來屢次出現問題，不斷積累工程知識的基礎上收益，擁有安全性能，在油價飆升的世界裏有更節約燃料的發動機。XP適用於計算世界的情形和這頗為相似——它不能正確解決現在的問題，還會對用戶造成一定的危險，使安全成了泡影。

It’s Becoming Less Secure: Support and Security Patches Are Ending

　　Even with the landscape of malware looking pretty bleak for XP (the data above released 2011 from 2010 statistics) the future of the aging operating system is looking worse and worse. Windows XP System Pack 2 was discontinued and extended support stopped as of July 2010, with XP System Pack 3 extended support ending as of April 2014. Mainstream support for XP ended years ago in April 2009, with only critical security updates being offered in Extended support. When these dry up, XP will continue to have layers of its security chipped away, with more and more holes found in its browsers and basic functions. This is a very big deal; in a short period of time, XP will be completely abandoned, and huge flaws discovered by malware developers will never be fixed.
　　同XP中惡意軟體極其渺茫的前景扯平（以上發佈為2010到2011年資料），XP這一年邁作業系統的未來也每況愈下。微軟對XP的主要支持於2009年4月就已結束，距今已相去幾年，只在擴展支持中提供主要安全更新。這些更新一旦停止，XP的安全性能將再失掉幾分，其流覽器和主要功能中會發現越來越多的漏洞。

　　Microsoft has to protect the interests of their users (it is in their best interest), but supporting an OS as old as XP will only become more and more expensive over time, and distract from improving current products and creating the next line. So MS will unlikely be reversing their decision to terminate support for XP, nor can anyone expect neverending support for their newer operating systems. Can you continue to use XP? Sure, but with more malware than ever, it’s never been more dangerous to surf on any version of Windows. XP will become, by far, the most vulnerable platform to connect to the internet to. Coincidentally, Windows 7, like most modern operating systems, has a long list of features meant to help tackle this problem of security—Windows 7 is far better prepared for the modern world of malware and viruses. If you’re a die-hard Windows user, you’ll be interested to see this list of features Windows 7 offers to help keep users safe.
　　微軟必須保護其用戶的利益（微軟符合用戶的最佳利益），但是支持像XP這樣的老作業系統的成本只會隨著時間的流逝而越來越貴高昂，使其無暇顧及當前的產品的改進和下一條生產線的製造。無獨有偶，Win7系統，作為最現代的作業系統，有很多性能可以幫助解決這類安全問題——win7在處理當前惡意軟體和病毒方面的準備充分得多。如果你是Windows的“釘子戶”，你就會對win7提供的協助保護用戶安全的一系列性能頗感興趣。

The World Is Leaving It Behind

　　When XP was released, USB 2.0 was not supported, RAM limits were capped at 4GB, and it would only support hard drives of about 137 GB, with some drives only recognized at 127 GB. At the time, this might have seemed pretty ridiculously large. Modern drives are almost always 500 GB or more to accommodate large libraries of movies and music; drives now are so large and cheap that they often cost as little as $0.05 per GB. Five cents! XP era computers weren’t expected to do quite so much of this, and the need has evolved, partly as a way to market PCs to a wider audience.
　　XP剛剛發佈時，不支持USB2.0，RAM最高只有4GB，它可能只支持137GB左右的硬碟驅動器，有一些驅動器只有127GB得以識別。在那個時候這就大得出奇了。XP時代電腦想都別想能這麼便宜，人們需求不斷演變，在一定程度上，個人電腦的行銷活動擴展到更廣的範圍。

　　XP’s 64-bit edition actually does support 64 bit processors, which many of us are transitioning to. But most users of XP are using the 32 bit version, and XP64 remains fairly rare even today. This 32 bit version can be installed on many 64 bit PCs, but will not take advantage of the newer technology. But as new video cards, hardware, and technologies are developed, XP will not be updated to take advantage of them. While many users won’t see the geeky need to stay on the cutting edge, using only the newest and best, XP users will stay frozen in time: vulnerable to new attacks, unable to use new technology, bound to old computers and hardware.
　　XP的64位元版本系統（第一個64位元客戶作業系統）實際上支援64比特的處理器，我們許多人也正轉向這一點。但是大多數XP用戶正使用32位版本，而且XP64即使在今天還是極其罕見。32位版本可以被安裝在很多64位的個人電腦上，但是不會利用新技術。儘管新型顯卡、硬碟和技術在發展，XP也不會被更新以利用技術。然而許多用戶看不到最前沿的極客需求，只用最新最好的（系統），XP用戶最終將固步自封：無法抵禦新攻擊，不能使用新技術，被束縛在陳舊的電腦和硬體上。

Are You Serious? XP Was Three Major Versions of Windows Ago!

　　Vista was released several years ago and was largely panned by geeks and casual users alike. Despite the many problems the new operating system had, it was still a newer, more modern operating system than XP, and at this point, actually is a better, safer option for Windows users than XP is. Windows 7 is very widely adopted, and now Windows 8 had been released as a developer preview and will be released before too long.
　　Vista幾年前發佈，受到了極客和類似一般用戶的嚴厲批評。Win7被廣泛採用，現在Win8已經作為開發者預覽版被發佈，不久就會正式發佈。

The world has moved on, and XP simply can’t.

One Last Look: The World When XP Was Released

　　Ten years is a ridiculously long period of time for an operating system. To further make the point of how old XP is, let’s take a look at how the world looked in the summer of 2001, when XP was released. This was one of the PC games everyone was talking about in 2001. Here are the minimum system requirements for this game, Max Payne:
450 MHz CPU     96 MB RAM  
16 MB video card     4X CD-ROM drive, DirectX 8.0

　　For those of you that don’t play a lot of games, here’s something more modern to compare to, the very recently released game Rage, and its minimum requirements:
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo or Equivalent AMD     RAM: 2GB
Hard Disk Space: 25GB     Video Card: GeForce 8800, Radeon HD 4200

These were three of the summer movies released mere months before Windows XP.

　　AI: Artificial Intelligence starred a young Haley Joel Osment, shown above left. This (above right) is how he looks today.

　　YouTube, Gmail and even MySpace didn’t exist when XP was released. They were all released after Windows XP.

　　So was Firefox, Ubuntu Linux, and the first iPod, which was released later that year. In a world where the fifth major update to the iPhone has just been released, nobody should be left using an operating system that pre-dates the first iPod.
　　火狐流覽器，Linux的烏班圖以及那年後來發佈的第一台iPod也是如此。在這個iPhone第五個主要更新剛剛發佈的世界裏，任何人都不應被落下繼續使用比第一台iPod年代還久遠的作業系統。