Microsoft to Windows XP users: your operating system is a major security risk

Microsoft isn't kidding when it says that people need to ditch Windows XP and has released alarming security numbers to prove its point. XP systems are indeed markedly more likely to fall prey to malware than later versions of Windows.

According to the firm's SIR (Security Intelligence Report) for the first half of 2013, Windows XP SP3 32-bit suffered a malware infection rate of 9.1 systems per 1,000 computers, which sounds modest until you read that the equivalent number of Windows 7 32-bit was 5.0 and for Windows 8 64-bit it was 1.4.

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To eliminate the possibility that this difference was caused by the behaviour of XP users, the firm correlated the number of infections to the encounter rate, in other words the number of systems in each OS version that met malware requiring intervention by Microsoft's security products.

Here, the different incarnations recorded roughly similar encounter rates, with XP at 16.3 percent, Vista at 16.5, Windows 7 at 19.1 percent, and Windows 8 RTM at 12.4 percent. Apart from underlining that Windows 7 is now probably the most targeted OS, it is clear that with Windows XP the ratio of encounters to infections is unflattering.

As the report's authors admit, that XP should be more vulnerable 12 years after its release than newer Windows versions is hardly surprising; malware creators have had longer to craft attacks, spot software flaws, and exploit the weaker security protection in the OS. But the point, Microsoft argues, is that the XP hardcore are taking a risk using the operating system in 2013, something that will only increase as an issue after the end of support in April 2014.

"Computers running Windows XP in 1H13 encountered about 31 percent more malware worldwide than computers running Windows 8, but their infection rate was more than 5 times as high," is the dry but accurate summary from the report authors.

Of course, all of this fits with Microsoft's earnest wish to see the back of XP and shift seats on to Windows 8. The other perspective is that Microsoft has drawn these numbers from its vast global database of systems running Windows operating systems and for this reason the numbers deserve to be taken seriously. Anyone who wants to be frightened some more might want to read a summary of the above points by Microsoft's director of trustworthy computing, Tim Rains.

For firms not able to abandon XP in 2014 for technical reasons (i.e. the need to support inhouse applications), the options are to use XP in a desktop virtualisation environment, adopt a policy of OS isolation (locking down applications, disconnecting USB ports, limiting Internet connectivity) or even buy a probably very expensive third-party support agreement.

One other interesting snippet from the report is the apparently shockfinding that running real-time antivirus software seems to be a good idea, or at least greatly reduces infection rates; malware infection rate is 7.1 times higher for those systems running real-time antivirus compared to those that don't.

This doesn't mean that when antivirus fails, it doesn't fail spectacularly -- and often enough to cause major concern about its effectiveness against targeted attacks -- but does underline that rumours of its imminent death are exaggerated.

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Microsoft Surface 2 (32GB)

When the Microsoft Surface RT first came out, it was a very good product with a well-executed design and powerful productivity tools, but it was hard to recommend to all but the most ardent of early adopters. With the launch of the Microsoft Surface 2, it's like hearing the same song with the volume turned up. The new Surface 2 offers even better productivity tools, with improved keyboard accessories, a smoother Windows RT experience, and a wide selection of familiar tools, like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and now Outlook. Throw in an elegant, improved design and dramatically better performance and battery life, and the Surface 2 reigns as the new Editors' Choice for Windows RT tablets.

Design
Microsoft has made several changes to the design first seen on the Microsoft Surface RT, but it has wisely decided not change what works. The tablet still has the slim slab design of the previous Surface products, complete with the lightweight VaporMag magnesium-alloy construction and angular beveled edges. This time around, however, the Surface 2 is a little bit thinner (0.35 inch) and a little bit lighter (1.42 pounds sans keyboard), and the stealthy black color is now a light silvery grey that's nearly white in certain light.

The display has also gotten an upgrade, from 1366-by-768 resolution to the full HD 1920-by-1080. Compared to the likes of the Apple iPad (4th Generation, Wi-Fi), with its high-resolution Retina Display, it pales in comparison. However, stacked against other Windows RT tablets, like the Asus Vivo Tab RT (with a 1366-by-768 display), it's a giant step up. Regardless, the display is much improved, both in resolution and color quality, and looks great whether reading documents in six-point font or watching HD movies on YouTube or Netflix. The capacitive touch display also tracks five points simultaneously, which is enough for one- or two-handed use.

Along the back of the Surface 2 tablet is a built in kickstand, which looks identical to the kickstand on the Surface RT. However, Microsoft's designers and engineers have upgraded this as well, changing the hinge to allow for two positions instead of one. The first position props the kickstand at the same 22-degree position seen on the previous iteration, which is perfect for use on a desk or table by a person of average height. The drawback to this, of course, is that if you were taller than average or wanted to use the tablet balanced on your lap rather than at table height, the angle doesn't quite work. Enter the two position hinge, which now opens further, to a much more comfortable 55 degrees, perfect for actual lap-top use and those of us over six feet tall.

Keyboard Cover
Microsoft has also updated the accompanying keyboard covers, which attach to the tablet along the bottom edge with a magnetic dock. The docking connector is one of the best things about the tablet in that it seems to always work, always connect correctly, and the magnetic connection holds strongly enough that it won't unintentionally slip, but pulls off easily without any sort of latch. While the TouchCover and TypeCover accessories are upgraded along with the tablets, the previously released keyboard covers are still compatible. One thing the keyboard covers don't offer is improved battery life. The Editors' Choice Dell XPS 10, like many hybrid tablets, comes with a docking keyboard that has a secondary battery, nearly doubling the usable life of the tablet when docked. The slim keyboard covers Microsoft offers for the Surface 2 do not.

The TypeCover that came with our review unit has been upgraded with a quieter key mechanism, which makes it a lot less irritating to your coworkers or fellow commuters, and a backlight that adds visibility in dim and dark environments. While we didn't have a new TouchCover keyboard to try during our testing, the soft touch sensitive keyboard is also upgraded with an improved array of sensors for more accurate typing.

Unfortunately, Microsoft hasn't fixed the biggest problem people had with the TypeCover and TouchCover keyboards, namely that they are not included in the price of the device. Instead, they are sold as accessories, with the TouchCover 2 ($119.99 list) and TypeCover 2 ($129.99 list) both purchased separately from the tablet. Given that you'll need a cover for any of the laptop-like capabilities touted on the Surface, this mostly seems like a sneaky way for Microsoft to squeeze an extra hundred bucks out of customers.

Software and Apps
Windows RT is also back, though you won't find the RT name on the Surface this time around. With the RT 8.1 update, many of the same changes seen on Windows 8.1 come to the tablet OS as well. The start button is back when in desktop mode, and the tiles of the start screen can now be resized and repositioned with greater flexibility.

The biggest change unique to the RT OS, however, is the disappearance of the desktop—or at least the navigation to it. While there isn't a lot you would need the desktop for in RT, because most software comes as apps from the Windows store, when it is wanted, there's no way to get there. The desktop tile, which is so integral to both Windows 8 and the original version of RT, is now gone, giving you no direct path from the start screen to the desktop.

The other major change is the included software. Office RT 2013 has been expanded to now include an RT-friendly version of Outlook in addition to the RT variants of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote already included with the original Surface RT.

Other extras include 200GB of cloud storage via Microsoft SkyDrive, which both bolsters the 32GB of onboard storage and makes sharing and syncing files between the Surface 2 and other PCs easier. If you want to really integrate the Surface 2 into your circle of personal computing devices, SkyDrive is essential. Microsoft's offer only lasts for two years, however, after which you'll need to pay for the same amount of storage.

Microsoft also bundles in the Best of Skype package, which adds 1 -months of free international calling and free Wi-Fi through Skype Hotspots along with the normal Skype app. Whether or not this is a big draw has a lot to do with how frequently you use Skype to call landline phones or other countries (which many people do) and if you had any idea that Skype Hotspots are a thing, or whether there's one convenient to you.

Finally, there's the question of apps and software. While there are over 100,000 apps available that run on Windows RT—a vast improvement over the paltry 3,000 on offer when the Surface RT first launched—the selection still feels sparse and slightly out of date. There are plenty of unique offerings, with games like Halo: Spartan Assault, and the ubiquitous Angry Birds (in several different incarnations), and media apps like Netflix, HuluPlus, and the New York Times.

Compared to the 475,000 apps that Apple has for the iPad, and the fact that a great many of those apps appeared on iOS and Android devices long before coming to the Windows Store, even this sort of growth feels insufficient, and it's frustrating to go hunting for a hugely popular app, like Instagram or Seamless, only to find that there's no RT-friendly version.

Features
On the right-hand edge of the tablet is a single USB 3.0 port, along with a micro HDMI output and a microSD card slot. On the left, you'll find a headset jack and physical volume controls. All other connections are wireless, with dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0. The Surface 2 also includes the usual tablet sensors: Accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, and ambient light detection through the onboard cameras.

The Surface 2 features a front facing 3.5 megapixel webcam. While I rarely devote much of my reviews to webcam quality, the front-facing camera is just about ideal for Skype, being selected and optimized by Microsoft just for that purpose, and it performed quite well, with clear images, and 720p video capture.

The rear-facing camera increases the resolution to 5 megapixels, and is set at a slight angle so as to offset the tilt of the tablet when using the kickstand. While this is great for shooting video when the tablet is stationary, you will need to hold the Surface 2 at an angle when using it handheld. And though this angle works great for the first kickstand position, it doesn't correct for the angle of the second 55-degree position on the kickstand. It's just another feature that manages to be both thoughtfully designed and frustrating at the same time.

The Surface 2 is available with either 32GB of internal storage ($449 list), as seen in our review unit, or 64GB ($549 list). Microsoft covers the Surface 2 with a one-year limited warranty.

Performance
The Surface 2 upgraded the tablet's hardware, featuring an Nvidia Tegra 4 quad-core processor, a 1.7GHz ARM mobile CPU paired with 2GB of RAM. It's a step up from the Nvidia Tegra 3 processor found in the Surface RT, and when we tested performance in BrowserMark 2.0, the Surface 2 left the previous Surface RT in the dust, offering a much faster browsing experience. Because of this processor, and the fact that Windows RT doesn't support traditional Windows software—including our normal batch of tests—we weren't able to run our usual Windows benchmark tests. Despite this, we were able to test web browsing performance and battery life, arguably the two most important aspects of the tablet.

While it has the same size 31.5Wh battery as the Surface RT, the Surface 2 stretches the available charge for several hours more, lasting 14 hours 51 minutes in our battery rundown test. By comparison, the leading Dell XPS 10 lasted 11:34, well ahead of the Asus Vivo Tab RT (9:37) and the Apple iPad (5:36). The previous Surface RT lasted only 7:45. However, both the Dell XPS 10 and the Asus Vivo Tab RT also offered a docking keyboard with a secondary battery, extending the life of the tablet to 20:36 and 15:00, respectively. Though the Surface 2—thanks to more efficient hardware—offers nearly as long battery life on its own, the addition of a secondary battery would extend it even further.

Conclusion
The Microsoft Surface 2's performance, the software, and the pricing are all of a caliber that—were this the public's first taste of Windows RT—it could do far better than the disappointing Surface RT did. Thanks to the Nvidia Tegra 4 processor, the 14+ hours of battery life, and the value offer of the lower price and expanded productivity, the Microsoft Surface 2 is the clear leader among Windows RT tablets, and thus our new Editors' Choice for that category. If you want Office and Skype on an affordable tablet—and don't require the full Windows experience—the Surface 2 is the best there is.

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Microsoft Windows 8.1

Pros Fastest startup of any Windows version. Loads of included apps and utilities. More windowing options for new-style apps. Improved stock included apps, especially Mail. Much better help for getting started. More harmony between tiled Start screen and desktop. Boot to desktop. Start button always displays. Better browser with IE11.

Cons Dual nature of OS may still confuse some. Windows app store lacks some big titles. Bottom Line Windows 8.1 sticks to Microsoft's strategy of delivering an operating system that's equally at home on tablets and full-power desktop PCs, but many of the flaws of Windows 8 have been fixed.

By Michael Muchmore

Increased tablet sales and declining desktop and laptop sales make one thing clear: People want tablets. But they still need computers capable of multitasking high-power applications. With both Mac and PC sales down, Microsoft took this problem on with a completely reimagined new operating system concept in Windows 8, a system designed to be at home with both casual home use on tablets and serious business and digital media creation scenarios on desktops and laptops. Windows 8.1 doesn't abandon this strategy—far from it—but addresses a lot of shortcomings in Microsoft's first hybrid OS attempt.

Coming just about a year after Windows 8's release, Windows 8.1 is a free upgrade through the Windows app store for existing Windows 8 users. It will be available to anyone else from the Microsoft Web Store, as a packaged DVD and on new PCs, laptops, and tablets, starting October 18. As with Windows 8, there's a standard and a Pro version, priced at $119.99 and 199.99 respectively. The Pro version adds business capabilities like disk encryption and network domain joining, and is required for those who want Windows Media home theater capability.

Birthing an entirely new class of product that looks like nothing that came before is not always the smoothest of endeavors, and it's no secret that Windows 8 has met with a good deal of resistance. With Windows 8.1, Microsoft has moved faster than ever before to address concerns with a new OS release. And the device convergence may be taking a step farther, with reports that Microsoft is expected to combine the app stores for Windows Phone and Windows 8. This will be a boon to Windows 8, which, though it already boasts over 120,000 apps of its own, according to the MetroStore Scanner site, still trails Android and iTunes app stores by six figures and lacks some big names. An official Facebook app only appeared simultaneously with the 8.1 release.

Most of the major new features in Windows 8.1 have been widely available in the Preview version of the OS, though there have been some tweaks. The updated Mail app was not yet available at Preview time, and it adds much-needed things like drag-and-drop to folders. The Help+Tips app is also new in the released Windows 8.1, as are improvements to the Camera app for tablets, such as the very cool 360 panorama.

Improvements include a more consistent look between the desktop and mobile app interfaces, lock screen slideshow and notifications, better help to get people going with the new interface, the ability to boot to the desktop, a Start button, more windowing options for new-style mobile apps, and more settings in the new-style interface. The Windows app store gets a much-needed face-lift, and the default apps like Mail, Internet Explorer, Skype, Xbox Music and Video, and search also benefit from updates.

Help+Tips
The new Help+Tips app that debuts in Windows 8.1 addresses the top criticism of Windows 8—that it's confusing to use. Actually, Windows 8 could not be simpler to use for a lot of things—what's so hard about clicking a big tile with the name of an app on it to run it? But some essential activities of the OS are less obvious. Things like using the Charms (an always-accessible menu button bar along the right side of the screen), switching apps, and moving between desktop and new-style interface are all covered in the Help+Tips app.

Help+Tips' simple six panel interface offers help options titled Start and apps, Get around, Basic actions, Your account and files, Settings, and What's new. Going through the whole batch is not a major undertaking either, with its simple animated images showing frequently needed gestures. The new app does a lot to allay Window 8 fears and uncertainties of new users. Even if they don't visit this help app, Windows 8.1 adds pointers right in the interface showing how to use it.

Start Button and Boot to Desktop
Two features that longtime Windows users cried out for after Windows 8's original release have made their way into Windows 8.1—the Start button and the ability to boot to the desktop, where standard Windows programs can run just as they have for the last few versions of the OS. The Start button Microsoft has included, however, isn't quite what the longtime users were hoping for, since it opens the new-style Start screen.

But really, if you think of this as a full-screen start button menu, you'll use Windows 8.1 just as swiftly as its predecessors. (For more tips on quickly mastering the new OS, read my 5 Tips for Using Windows 8.1 Like a Boss.) The boot-to-desktop option is found in the Taskbar's settings dialog, shown here:

New Start Tile and Window Options
The tile-based Start screen has gotten more flexible, now with four size choices instead of Windows 8's two. Added are a huge square, for apps with a lot of live info to display, like mail, and a tiny one, for apps with nothing to update live. Not all apps have all size choices, depending on what the app developer deems sensible.  

The Start screen gets more than just new tile sizes. It also can now display animated backgrounds, or use the same background as the desktop wallpaper, for a more unified interface experience. So that the Start screen doesn't get overwhelmingly cluttered with app tiles, now apps only are automatically added to the All App screen, not to the Start screen, but in Windows 8.1, you can get to this All Apps list simply by swiping up on the Start screen.

As to new-style app windowing, more than two modern apps can now share the screen. No longer are you restricted to a large window and one slender side panel, but two apps can each take up half the screen, or, depending on what the app's developer has allowed, any portion you choose. The number of apps depends on how large the screen is and its pixel density.

Apps can even sprout a second new-style window when it makes sense such as the new Reading List app, which keeps the list in a narrow left-side panel while the content you want to read takes up most of the screen. With multiple monitors, you can further augment the number of windows. Speaking of external monitors, Windows 8.1 supports Miracast, which lets you send video over Wi-Fi to large HDTVs and the like.

The Lock screen also has new tricks: It can act as a slideshow display of your photos, rather than just showing a static picture. The slides are chosen with some intelligence, too, rather than simply rotating through all your photos; for example, you may see photos from around the same time of year in previous years. Another big help, especially for small tablets, is access to the camera without the need to log in. The same goes for answering Skype calls—just tap on the notification to start videochatting with grandma.

A big bugaboo of mine for Windows 8 was that you have two Settings tools—the new-style one and the traditional Control Panel on the desktop. Windows 8.1 still maintains this duality, but the modern UI settings have gotten far more robust, eliminating the need to head to the massive number of choices in desktop Control Panel. For example, now you can configure display settings, change mouse and typing options, and see PC info. You can even make new adjustments, like changing the app-switching behavior in the Corners and Edges section.

Another peeve of mine was that, in order to sync documents with SkyDrive, you had to have two SkyDrive apps running on Windows 8, the modern and the desktop version. Now SkyDrive document syncing is a built-in capability of the OS, and it offers an option that lets you access any files on a PC, even if you didn't explicitly upload the file to SkyDrive. I still wish you could upload from the Pictures app, and auto-upload the way you can in Windows Phone.

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