Microsoft Windows XP Emergency Update: Fix Protects Consumers From Security Threats

Microsoft's Windows XP emergency update helped several hundred consumers battle a bug on Internet Explorer, Thursday.

The company's general manager for trustworthy computing told customers an update was the best way to correct the problem.

"We decided to fix it, fix it fast, and fix it for all our customers," Adrienne Hall said on the company's blog.

Hall also said the situation is not as big as people initially thought.

"There have been a very small number of attacks based on this particular vulnerability and concerns were, frankly, overblown," Hall stated.

According to the post, the program will update for most consumers who have its automatic update option enabled.

Those who don't have this update can install the newest version by clicking the "check for updates" notification on the computer's control panel.

The company stopped providing technical support for the product on April 8th. Thursday's incident marked the first time a threat has occurred since.

According to Reuters, Microsoft first stated on Wednesday that it would not offer assistance to help consumers resolve the defect. But by the following day, Microsoft employees had reconsidered the importance of protecting consumers from security threats - especially those with Windows XP.

"We made this exception based on the proximity to the end of support for Windows XP," Hall said in the post. "Even though Windows XP is no longer supported by Microsoft and it is past the time we normally provide security updates, we've decided to provide an update for all versions of Windows XP (including embedded) today. The reality is there have been a very small number of attacks based on this particular vulnerability and concerns were, frankly, overblown. Unfortunately this is a sign of the times and this is not to say we don't take these reports seriously. We absolutely do."