Blog

Windows 8 Support is Over – How to Stay Protected

By January 12, 2016No Comments

Today (Jan. 12, 2016) marks the final day Microsoft officially supports Windows 8, as well as Internet Explorer versions 8, 9, and 10. This means any new malware, virus, or bug will no longer be patched in these programs/OS’s by the tech-giant, exposing those users to potential new threats in the future.

While it’s not unusual for a company to drop support of older versions of their programs – or in this case an entire operating system – the ultimate goal here is to push more users to adopt Windows 10 and Microsoft’s new web browser Microsoft Edge. If not, the message to their end users is essentially, “too bad.”

But Windows 8 users don’t have to be put out to pasture.

How to Stay Protected

Horizon DataSys’ instant recovery software RollBack Rx Professional and Home Editions provide data and security protection against malware, viruses, bugs, failed updates, and more. Just because Windows 10 will be the only OS now receiving security patches doesn’t mean our software can’t help protect against new threats Windows 8 no longer recognizes.

The software works by creating snapshots on a schedule defined by the administrator.  These snapshots capture the PC at the point in time they were taken including all data and drivers. This information is then stored and encrypted on the sector-level of the disk – below Windows. This placement further protects the PC from malicious Windows infections.

“Don’t AV’s Do the Job?”

Typical antivirus software uses its “definitions” and “signatures”, which are essentially tags of known malicious code. If a tag is found then the code is not allowed to run and will instead be quarantined and/or deleted.

However, whenever a new virus or malware is created there is no “tag” yet put on the code. This allows cyber-criminals to infect PC’s until antivirus/anti-malware companies get a piece of that code and tag it, then issue out the update to their end users. This can take time, leaving millions of machines exposed to new threats until it’s caught by these companies.

Strong Support

With RollBack Rx the end user will have safe restore points they can load in seconds, even if Windows has been crippled and fails to load. If a new virus, malware, or ransomware strain starts to spread RollBack Rx can load into its snapshots and undo potential damage.

Even though Windows 8 is no longer supported, RollBack Rx is.