Wednesday 2nd April 2014

XP users 'sleep walking' into potential virus and security minefield finds web analytics firm

San Francisco, CA & Dublin, Ireland; Wednesday 2nd April 2014: With less than a week to go before Microsoft pulls the plug on general support for Windows XP, it remains the second most popular operating system in the world in terms of internet usage, according to the latest data from StatCounter, the independent website analytics company.

The company's research arm, StatCounter Global Stats finds that in March, Windows 7 was the global leader on 54.7% while XP remains in second place on 18.6%, more than double Mac OS X (all versions) on 8.6%.

"Despite the stark warnings and publicity surrounding the end of support in six days' time, it appears that significant numbers of people are still using XP and sleep walking into a potential minefield of security and virus risks," commented Aodhan Cullen, CEO, StatCounter.

Despite the risks, XP remains the second most popular OS in terms of internet usage in Europe (15.9%); South America (17.8%); Asia (24.9%) and Africa (30.5%). It is third in North America (14.5%). Oceania, where XP has dropped to fourth on 8%, appears to be the most progressive continent in terms of upgrading from the almost 13 year old operating system.

In the US, XP is in third place on 15%. XP is also third in the UK with 8.4%.

Individual country stats may be accessed at: https://gs.statcounter.com/#desktop-os-ww-monthly-201403-201403-bar

StatCounter (www.statcounter.com), an independent web analytics specialist, is used by companies, bloggers, self-employed people, charities and anyone who wants to measure activity on their website, blog or forum. Key features include ease of use, independence and ability to view website data in real time.

StatCounter members can learn about visitors to their site with essential statistics such as incoming traffic (i.e. how visitors are finding the site), downloads (e.g. which brochures are being accessed) and exit links (i.e. which links people click as they leave the site).

StatCounter Global Stats data is based on over 15 billion page views per month to the StatCounter network of more than three million websites.

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