> Source: [sk99057](https://support.checkpoint.com/results/sk/sk99057)

# sk99057 - How to stay protected following Microsoft Windows XP End of Support

| Property | Value |
|----------|-------|
| Solution ID | sk99057 |
| Date Created | 2014-04-03 |
| Last Modified | 2023-04-27 |
| Technical Level | General |
| Products | Security Gateway |
| Versions | R82.10, R82, R81.20 |

## Solution

**Microsoft Notification**

Microsoft will no longer provide security updates or technical support for Windows XP after April 8, 2014.  
PCs running Windows XP after April 8, 2014, should not be considered to be protected, and it is important that you migrate to a current supported operating system such as Windows 8.1 so you can receive regular security updates to protect your computers from malicious attacks.

Support for Office 2003 products is ending on April 8, 2014. After this date, Office 2003 products will no longer receive assisted support, online content updates, software updates from Microsoft Update or security updates to help protect your PC from harmful viruses, spyware, and other malicious software, which can steal your personal information.

**Note**: Microsoft XP Embedded, which is used in some environments (e.g. ATMs) is supported by Microsoft until January 2016.

**Check Point strongly recommends customers to follow Microsoft guidelines and upgrade their Windows XP, Internet Explorer 8 and Office 2003 environments to officially supported versions.**

Until the upgrade is completed, customers should consider deploying an interim solution that can significantly reduce the security risks and can be deployed in one place in the network.

1. Check Point recommends activating IPS protections published as part of the IPS updates that are related to Windows XP.  

   The [CP_XP_Protections_List.xlsx](https://supportcenter.checkpoint.com/supportcenter/portal/role/supportcenterUser/page/default.psml/media-type/html?action=portlets.DCFileAction&eventSubmit_doGetdcdetails=&fileid=32478) file lists all the Microsoft XP related protections and contains a list of 401 protections that should be activated in order to stay protected. The document contains an additional list of 10 protections with critical performance impact that should only be activated in case the need arises or if there is an ongoing attack underway.  

2. Check Point has released new IPS protections which will provide additional detection against Microsoft Windows Operating Systems related threats. Those protections will be supported from R75 and above and can be found in SmartConsole under IPS \> Protections \> By Protocol \> IPS Software Blade \> Application Intelligence \> Windows Operation System.  

   The [CP_OS_Protections_List.xlsx](https://supportcenter.checkpoint.com/supportcenter/portal/role/supportcenterUser/page/default.psml/media-type/html?action=portlets.DCFileAction&eventSubmit_doGetdcdetails=&fileid=33052) file lists all the Operating System protections that can detect usage of specific Microsoft Windows Operating Systems.  

3. Check Point does not have any plans to stop providing protections for Microsoft XP. As long as Microsoft XP remains popular, there will be enough information available to enable us providing such protections. Check Point will continue releasing protections for Windows XP vulnerabilities in case these will affect other products as well. In case they will only affect Windows XP versions, we will most likely not release new protections, but this is a per case issue and not as a rule of thumb.  

4. Check Point recommends to enable the Threat Emulation service for all files entering the organization over email and Web. Threat Emulation supports Windows XP emulation and allows detecting and preventing unknown malicious activity targeting Windows XP systems.

---

# Agent Instructions

This content is from the Check Point Support Center (https://support.checkpoint.com), the official knowledge base for Check Point cybersecurity products.

## Navigating This Knowledge Base

- **Complete index**: [llms.txt](https://support.checkpoint.com/llms.txt)
- **All SK articles**: [SecureKnowledge Sitemap](https://support.checkpoint.com/sitemaps/secureknowledge-sitemap-index.xml)
- **SK article URL pattern**: `https://support.checkpoint.com/results/sk/{skId}`
- **Markdown responses**: AI bot User-Agents automatically receive `text/markdown` content