By now, you probably know about the registry hack trick to get updates for Windows XP. I shouldn’t have to tell you this, but that’s a really bad idea, one you should not do, and both Microsoft and at least one security firm are saying not to do it.
Initially, I thought they were enabling XP to use Windows 7 updates, which wouldn’t be that far-fetched. XP and 7 have considerable overlap and common code. But I learned these are not Windows 7 patches, they are in fact for Windows Point of Sales (Windows Embedded) machines, which run a custom version of the regular XP.
Redmond is warning everyone to not use a workaround that claims to solve the Windows XP security updates problem. The hack is making a small registry change that will let XP receive security updates, and tricks Windows Update into thinking that the XP version is an embedded point-of-sale OS that Redmond supports through 2019.
Here is the Official Response from Microsoft.
“We recently became aware of a hack that purportedly aims to provide security updates to Windows XP customers,” Microsoft tells Tom’s Hardware. “The security updates that could be installed are intended for Windows Embedded and Windows Server 2003 customers and do not fully protect Windows XP customers.”
“Windows XP customers also run a significant risk of functionality issues with their machines if they install these updates, as they are not tested against Windows XP,” the company adds. “The best way for Windows XP customers to protect their systems is to upgrade to a more modern operating system, like Windows 7 or Windows 8.1.”
The normal XP and embedded XP are are similar but not identical. The updates would only partially protect XP simply could break things, the Microsoft experts claim.