I’ve received lots of calls from panicked friends and family about the dreaded Windows XP end of support. i usually respond with you’re really still using an XP machine? Just kidding…i actually have one myself though it has been used only for testing for quite sometime. For those of you who don’t know what “End of Life” Means for you I’ll help clarify.
Microsoft provided support for Windows XP for the past 12 years and has decided no longer to waste resources on an obsolete OS. As a result, technical assistance for Windows XP is no longer available, including automatic updates that help protect your PC from Viruses and hackers. Microsoft has also stopped providing Microsoft Security Essentials for download on Windows XP. (If you already have Microsoft Security Essentials installed, you will continue to receive antimalware signature updates for a limited time, but this does not mean that your PC is secure because Microsoft is no longer providing security updates to help protect your PC.)
If you continue to use Windows XP now that support has ended, your computer will still work but it might become more vulnerable to security risks and viruses. Internet Explorer 8 is also no longer supported, so if your Windows XP PC is connected to the Internet and you use Internet Explorer 8 to surf the web, you might be exposing your PC to additional threats. Also, as more software and hardware manufacturers continue to optimize for more recent versions of Windows, you can expect to encounter more apps and devices that do not work with Windows XP.
Other Notable Applications that haven’t been so predominantly announced on the media with support ending include Exchange Server 2003 (if you still use SBS 2003 this affects you!) and Office 2003.
In my opinion, with Microsoft’s recent announcement to bring back the start menu in windows 8.1 I think now is a great time for you to invest in a new PC.