Windows XP; Microsoft retires this Operating System

Do you love Windows XP? If you said Yes, you’re not alone. One article indicates 34% of the computers on the Internet are running it. After 14 years, Microsoft will officially retire WindowsXP as of April 8
^th
, bringing an end to patches.

A computer with WindowsXP will still continue to work on April 9
^th
, but there are some significant security considerations for anyone who continues to access the Internet (email, downloads, accessing websites, etc.) after the last of the Microsoft patches have been issued.

One of the key components of Microsoft patches is that they address security holes. With patches coming to an end, hackers and viruses will be able to take advantage of these security holes, putting your machine and information at risk. Anti-virus software is important, but does not address security holes in the Operating System.

Some Mac users have a dual-boot arrangement with WindowsXP on a separate partition. If the internet is accessed, the machine is as much at risk as any other WindowsXP machine. The OS on this partition will need to be upgraded.

There are several things to take into consideration before making the decision to upgrade a computer from the WindowsXP Operating System to Windows 7.

It’s not really an upgrade, it’s more like a rebuild. The time to perform this work will be similar to setting up a new machine and moving all data and programs. If this is an older machine (more than 4 years), you may want to avoid performance problems and buy a new machine with Windows 7 installed.
Windows 7 can be installed in a 32-bit or 64-bit mode. Consider the software installed on the machine, the age of printers (and the availability of 64-bit drivers) for starters.
Windows 7 takes more computer resources to run! An older machine may not have sufficient memory, not enough slots to add memory, a slower processor, or may not have sufficient drive space for the replacement O.S. or future data growth.

Computers are an integral part of running any business or organization, not a luxury. It is important to budget funds for replacement of workstations, laptops, phones, firewalls, switches, even cabling. Servers also need to be replaced with new hardware, or can be hosted in a Private Cloud as offered by Syscon, or even use public cloud options.

If you have workstations (or Mac’s) running WindowsXP, please contact the office to arrange a time for a Network Technician to discuss options and recommendations appropriate to your business.

Other Significant Dates

Windows VISTA life cycle ends April 11, 2017

Microsoft Office support and updates

Office 2003 also end
April 8, 2014
Office 2007 end-of-life on October 10, 2017
Office 2010 end-of-life on October 13, 2020
Office 2013 end-of-life on April 11, 2023

posted by
cmw