So is Window 7 really safer than XP?

By Ko Dong-hwan

After making Herculean efforts to phase out its old Windows XP, Microsoft admits the company’s new operating systems aren’t really much safer.

According to Microsoft’s own Security Intelligence Report, which was first obtained and reported by Forbes, computers powered by Windows XP had lower virus infection rates than machines powered by the company’s newer software such as Windows Vista and Windows 7.

The virus infection rate for XP computers was measured at 2.42 percent, compared to 3.24 percent of Windows Vista computers and 2.59 percent of Windows 7 computers. The data is somewhat surprising considering that Microsoft had severed all security updates for XP, leaving computers using the system vulnerable to hacking.

Computers powered by the latest Windows 8 and 8.1 operating systems had virus infection rates of 1.73 and 0.08 percent, respectively.

Forbes argued Windows Vista and Windows 7 might be more vulnerable than XP as there have been certain types of malicious programs that target Windows Vista and Windows 7 computers.