End of support for Windows 98/ME; will Spybot follow suit?

[Zathras]

As many of you know, Microsoft is terminating support for Windows 9x/ME.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/support/endofsupport.mspx

Will Spybot S&D continue to support these versions of Windows?

Thank you.

(And my apologies if this has already been asked and/or addressed.)

[tashi]

Hello.

I have not been told that Windows 9x/ME won't be supported in the next upgrade.

However, from the link you supplied and also posted here:
Have you updated Windows? Security Programs? Links and Tips. (http://forums.spybot.info/showthread.php?t=425)

Microsoft is retiring support for these products because they are outdated and can expose customers to security risks. We recommend that customers who are still running Windows 98 or Windows Me upgrade to a newer, more secure Microsoft operating system, such as Windows XP, as soon as possible.

Customers who upgrade to Windows XP report improved security, richer functionality, and increased productivity.

An unsupported OS is open to exploit no matter how many security programs one might have installed; at some point it becomes a lose/lose situation. :spider:

[bitman]

Tashi already pointed out the primary issue above, but I'll add some additional info.

Few have paid attention to the fact that only Critical Security Updates have been addressed for the 9x/ME OS versions for multiple years already. This means that at least several less severe, but well known security issues have been left unpatched. Generally, this has been due to the fact that there were 'Mitigating Circumstances' involved, which often meant that the user needed to be involved by clicking on a URL in an email or web page to start the initial installation.

What hasn't been discussed are the cumulative effects of all of these unpatched exploits and the fact that they are well known due to the Microsoft Knowledge Base and other security articles that include them and generally already have exploit code available.

With the fact that there will soon be both Windows Defender, a free MS supported antispyware and Internet Explorer 7, an improved security version of the browser also available free for Windows XP SP2, it's open doors are closing. This will place pressure back on other OS versions, since they're generally either less well protected or more of a bother to keep updated.

Since as Tashi stated you can't truly protect an unpatched OS, and Microsoft will no longer support them, few vendors will either. This means even the available protection will be 'well known', making it easier to attack. So even if Spybot does 'support' these OS versions, it can't really protect them since they're so full of holes.

Windows 9x was never really designed for more than basic LAN connectivity, with hardware firewalls between it and the Internet, not direct connection to the attack prone environment the Internet has become. It's no longer worth the effort and cost in time if nothing else that's required to attempt to protect these OS from this reality.

Bitman

[noel-pr7]

As many of you know, Microsoft is terminating support for Windows 9x/ME.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/support/endofsupport.mspx

Will Spybot S&D continue to support these versions of Windows?

Thank you.

(And my apologies if this has already been asked and/or addressed.)

Zathras forgot to mention WHEN Microsoft is ending support for 9xME versions of Windows. that would be Tuesday July 11, 2006. Also Microsoft is ending support for Windows XP Service Pack 1 on Tuesday October 10, 2006. That means future XP security patches released from Oct. 11 and so on will require XP SP2 instead of SP1/SP1a.

[noel-pr7]

With the fact that there will soon be both Windows Defender, a free MS supported antispyware and Internet Explorer 7, an improved security version of the browser also available free for Windows XP SP2, it's open doors are closing. This will place pressure back on other OS versions, since they're generally either less well protected or more of a bother to keep updated.


IE7 is also available for Windows Server 2003 and will be included in the upcoming Windows Vista.

the july 11 date has passed us, bringing the windows 9xme era to a close.

[Tom.K]

IE7 is also available for Windows Server 2003 and will be included in the upcoming Windows Vista.

the july 11 date has passed us, bringing the windows 9xme era to a close.
Stop,stop,stop!
Windows 9X and ME era`s not closed.There are a lot of other things.Spybot - Search & Destroy is protecting our system and other programs like NOD32...
All can be ok.Microsoft is wanted terminate Windows 9X and ME 2003. year.
Always will be all ok...........................................................................

[noel-pr7]

Stop,stop,stop!
Windows 9X and ME era`s not closed.There are a lot of other things.Spybot - Search & Destroy is protecting our system and other programs like NOD32...
All can be ok.Microsoft is wanted terminate Windows 9X and ME 2003. year.
Always will be all ok...........................................................................

whoa, Tom.K. calm down boy.

just because MS ended support for Win98/ME does not mean we have to stop using them. I still like using Win98 & ME and they still work even passed their support date.

at least the next version of Spybot should work under Win95, 98 & ME (and WinNT4, Win2000, XP, 2003 & Vista of course).

[bitman]

In our Malware Removal forum here at the Spybot Search & Destroy site are many systems with reasonably current versions of Spybot S & D, antivirus and even other additional antispyware products. However, these same systems are full of spyware, viruses and trojans, many because the operating system (doesn't matter which version) hasn't been kept up to date.

Real-time antispyware and antivirus can help to protect a system from some known malware by making you aware of an attack and even by 'blocking' it in some cases. However, they still depend on the operating system to protect itself to some extent and they can do very little about new malware that aren't yet known within their definitions/detections/signatures.

Since the entire Windows 9x/ME family will no longer receive even critical security patches and hasn't had any other updates in at least two years, there are already openings in the OS that aren't protected. As time goes on, anything new that's found won't be patched at all, so the known vulnerabilities and exploits will only continue to grow.

Though someone who uses their 9x PC only offline or at their ISP site for email is probably OK with good antivirus protection by their ISP and on the PC, how long do you think the AV companies will support these older versions? Once they realize that few of those with the older OS will pay for protection, it will quickly become too costly to support. And limiting the software to allow it to run on Windows 9x is foolish, with the security and other abilities that have existed in the Windows NT family since Windows 2000.

As time goes on the ability to get support for most AV and ISP programs will disappear as those companies move forward with most of the world. My own guess is that most will declare support ended by late this year or early next, as Vista is made available to home users, since that will be time for most remaining holdouts to upgrade to new PCs. Those who won't upgrade aren't likely to spend much on either software or ISP services, so why would these companies care? Note that even though they don't directly make money from it, Team Spybot hasn't rushed to fix the Windows 95 issue that occured last year in Spybot S&D 1.4.

There isn't a magic day that everything will stop working, but this is the first situation in a long time, if ever, where an entire family of a once very popular computer product has ended support all at once. I think everyone will be surprised how quickly it will be over when there's no money to be made from supporting Win9x/ME.

Bitman

P.S. noel-pr7: have you ever tried to test the updated SpybotSD.exe that's been posted a couple times on Windows 95? If that doesn't work it would be telling to the future of 95 and even 9x support in general.

[poppylove]

So, at the end of the day, have there been any developments as to whether Spybot 1.5 will work and update for 98 and ME?

[bitman]

There hasn't been any change to the intention to support these outdated OS versions from what I've heard, though the lack of discussion I believe is very telling.

I think the determination of whether it works or not is really in your court, since virtually no one else is still interested. If you won't take the time to help test the 1.5 beta to insure that it works properly, it's likely something else will crop up like it did with the 1.4 version and cause it to fail.

This is what I was indicating in my post above. If few or no customers show any significant interest in helping pay for or at least test such older versions, how long do you think the support for 9x/ME will last?

Bitman

[spybotsandra]

Hello Poppylove,

One post to the item should be enough, shouldn't it?