PC Matic Is Flirting With Danger And Acting Irresponsibly

PC Matic is a set of computer software that claims to keep your computer running optimally. Basically their software automates all the features and functions you can do yourself and get through free and open source software. Where there are less than technical people there is a market for selling easy things you can otherwise do for free. I am not going to continue to talk about their offerings but throw my thoughts around their latest marketing push for their products.

If you are paying attention the last few months you will know that Microsoft sun-setted and ended support of the 13-year-old operation system Windows XP. The OS is old, archaic and there has been three versions of Windows since XP. Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8. Eventually old software gets replaced with new improved versions and life goes on. With Windows XP the OS was so good there was little reason to move off of it unless you had to. Microsoft is a business and did what they needed to do.

It is important to understand that users of Windows XP are now exposed to security holes that Microsoft will no longer fix. This is not an extortion move, it’s purely business. The world needs to move on and get to an up to date, more secure platform. PC Matic is not helping this.

I was watching TV and their less than professionally produced commercial came on, I included it below. They are encouraging users to stay on Windows XP and claim their PC Matic software can protect them. This is not 100% accurate. It’s dangerous to claim this irresponsible to put users in a false sense of security.

First of all their fear wording that Microsoft is ‘abandoning’ Windows XP. This is not an abandonment nor is this new information. Windows XP end of life has been known for almost two years.

Second, their claims of two options are also false. Most computers that came installed with Windows XP, most likely, are not capable to upgrading to Windows 8. However, those computer could be upgraded to Windows 7, which still is a valid and supported OS. You can purchase computers with Windows 7 as well. To doom and gloom the unpopular Windows 8 as the only option is misleading.

Third, Microsoft is not using fear to sell Windows 8. Windows 7 is an option. Ending support for Windows XP, which was set and announced before Windows 8’s release, is not a marketing or selling tactic. It’s a business decision to end support of an old, aging operating system.

Fourth, PC Matic claims it can keep Windows XP running optimally. Sure it can, lots of things can keep the hard drive de-fragged, the registry clean of clutter, caches kept low, memory optimized, etc… Where PC Matic starts to promise things it can’t guarantee is when they say they can keep Windows XP free from the latest security threats. This is the key statement that needs to be pulled from their ads. If Microsoft didn’t patch XP for the most recent IE browser exploit, the only way to avoid it is not use the IE browser. No ‘security software’ would protect you from this native Windows code flaw. Any future exploits that are embedded in the core of Windows XP can’t be stopped 100%. For PC Matic to claim to protect XP when Microsoft will no longer patch the security issues with the OS is irresponsible.

Windows XP needs to die. If you are using XP then you are also using old software that runs on XP that are just as vulnerable to exploits that their newer versions have fixed. XP had a great run, one of the best operating systems that has been released, it helped explode the PC market when it came out. Now it’s old and sent out to pasture. Let it go…. and don’t allow yourself to be told that security software can keep you safe if you stick with XP, because nothing will.

End of Line.

Let It Go