Microsoft is up in arms about a new, unofficial Windows XP update

Microsoft has warned against using a hack that allows Windows XP to continue to receive important security updates after Microsoft withdrew support in April. The hack tricks Microsoft’s update servers into applying security patches to Microsoft’s 13-year-old Windows XP. A small change within Windows XP makes it appear as other versions of Windows that are still supported until 2019. Microsoft warned that Windows XP customers may face problems if they install the updates.

Windows XP users are discovering that their now-unsupported operating system can receive updates from Microsoft by making a few simple changes to the Registry — albeit updates intended for different versions of Windows. Predictably enough, Microsoft isn’t thrilled and is warning people away from the hack, even as some sources say it allows users to continue obtaining free security updates for Windows XP. The hack in question, as reported by Larry Seltzer at ZDNet, involves altering Windows XP’s Registry to make it appear to Windows Update as if it were a copy of Windows Embedded POSReady 2009 (WEPOS). The latter is described by Microsoft as an OS that “combines the power and familiarity of Windows XP Professional with a smaller footprint and specific features for point of service (POS) computers.”