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Guide for Windows XP End of Support: E4982A
Introduction
As of April 8, 2014 Microsoft has ceased supporting the Windows XP operating system. No further
security patches will be delivered by Microsoft beyond this date. This document will help you
answer the following questions:
How do I know if my instrument runs on Windows XP?
What are the risks of using my instrument connected to a PC or the LAN?
How do I minimize the risks?
What do I do if I find an infection I can't remove?
How do I know if my instrument runs on Windows XP?
See Serial-number prefix. MY521 to MY522 and SG521 to SG522 on Rear panel of the instrument are
for Windows XP or
Click Windows start -> Right Click My Computer -> Click Properties
See System Properties
1
What are the risks of using my instrument connected to a PC or the LAN?
This instrument internally consists of the measurement hardware and it also has a PC built inside
which is running Windows XP. Therefore the same rules and precautionary measures that apply to
laptop and desktop PCs apply to this instrument as well.
Almost all threats are spread via the internet or via USB thumb drives. If the instrument is
connected to an infected thumb drive, PC or to a LAN that is not adequately protected, it may
become infected. The instrument can then pass the infection on to other PC's, and/or its speed of
operation may be significantly slowed.
How do I minimize the risks?
Disconnect the instrument from the LAN. Disconnecting the instrument from the LAN is
the simplest procedure to reduce the risk or to comply with the rules setup by your IT
department. Do not disable the LAN ports, as that may affect the licensing mechanism. If
you disable the LAN ports in Windows you may lose all licenses.
Upgrade to Windows 7. Our products will continue to function to published specification
on Windows XP. Customers needing to make their product Windows 7 compatible will find
there is an available option to purchase a Windows XP-to-Windows 7 migration kit through
their local Agilent sales office.
E4982AU-040 will be available to order in May, 2015. (Tentative Schedule)
Keep your antivirus program and definitions up to date. If your instrument is running an
antivirus program for XP, your vendor may continue to provide virus definitions for new
threats that emerge.
Use sanitized USB or GPIB connectivity for remote programming using a PC. If you are
presently sending commands to the instrument from a remote PC to automate your tests
and you are using the LAN port to connect to the instrument please consider the following
approach (see diagram). Most of our instrument support 3 different communication
interfaces to send commands: USB, GPIB and LAN. The instrument uses a SCPI interface
for communicating with the outside world. To communicate with it from a remote
computer, the Agilent IO Libraries Suite must be installed on this remote host computer.
The Agilent IO libraries are used to connect to the instrument regardless what interface is
used. It may be USB, GPIB or LAN. Successful communication only depends on the correct
VISA identification string (destination address). The correct string can be retrieved with
help of the Agilent IO Libraries. The whole structure of your program can stay the same
and you can reuse them as is. Only the addressing level has to be changed as indicated
above.
Instrument
What do I do if I find an infection I can't remove?
In the case you cannot remove an infection after performing System Recovery, send the instrument
to your nearest Agilent service center to replace with a new Hard Disk Drive/Solid State Drive.
When the instrument is returned from Agilent service center after repair, do not connect the
instrument with LAN or USB device if the root cause of the infection is not removed.