Windows XP Expiration: April 8, 2014
Do I need to switch over to XP?
Microsoft kicked off a new promotion aimed at Windows XP customers, who have just one year to ditch the 12-year-old OS before it’s retired from support.Small- and medium-sized businesses still running Windows XP and Office 2003—the latter also will be retired a year from Monday, on April 8, 2014—can purchase licenses to Upgrade to Windows 7 Pro and Office 2013 Standard. Microsoft faces a tough job as it tries to push customers off Windows XP. According to statistics from analytics company Net Applications, 39 percent of all personal computers, and 42 percent of all Windows PCs, ran XP last month.
Will my System stop working on April 8, 2014?
When support for Windows XP ends, Microsoft will cease developing security patches for the venerable OS. As old and great as the OS is, new vulnerabilities impact Windows XP on a regular basis—including many critical flaws that could allow an attacker to take over or cripple a PC running it.
Every day that passes once Windows XP support expires means new vulnerabilities that your PC will be exposed to, with no patches to save the day.
What do i need to do to upgrade to Windows 7 or 8?
If you’re still running a 12-year-old operating system, it’s reasonable to assume that you’re not using cutting-edge hardware. In making a switch from Windows XP to a newer OS, you might face the issue of whether your hardware can keep up. Bring it in to SNECS have us take a look and we can recommend the best course of action.
Tick, Tock
A year can seem like an eternity. When the time comes, a small business or individual can just upgrade or switch the OS, or buy a new PC. When you’re only dealing with one or several PCs, it’s not a big deal.
For larger companies, though, things move at glacial speed. Consider that many companies haven’t done an OS or hardware refresh in the past five or six years. If they haven’t begun selecting a new OS and developing a plan to roll it out, it may be too late to beat the Windows XP deadline.
The bottom line is, the deadline is looming, so get your own post-XP plan in order.