By John Schroeder
Microsoft has discontinued support for its Xp Operating System.
What this means:
- There will be no more updates being sent down to patch the Operating System.
- Microsoft will not provide phone or Internet support for the Operating System.
- As Xp shrinks in an install base, third party support and products will also vanish. (Third party could include programs such as iTunes, Adobe products like the Adobe Reader and Flash Player, and various third party anti-virus software).
- The danger will be in an unknown exploit emerging that will not be fixed or patched.
What this doesn’t mean:
- Support and downloads for other Microsoft products will continue. This does include Internet Explorer 8 and various Microsoft Office Products—based on their own respective end of life dates, Microsoft Security Essentials with promises of definition file updates until mid-2015 although several of our customers are experiencing this program not functioning any longer.
- Your computer will continue to operate but various products and applications to help keep you operating will decline.
What to do:
- Plan a migration to a new system. In all likelihood, your computer is too old to be upgraded to a new Operating System in which case you’re going to need to get a new computer with a new Operating System and transfer your data and application needs.
About those new Operating Systems on your new computer:
- The newest marketed Operating System is Windows 8.x
- There are third party compatibility problems with Windows 8.x. These should be reviewed.
a. For Example: Windows 8.x comes with IE Explorer 11 which cannot be rolled back to an earlier version and not all websites are ready to work with Explorer 11.
i. Check with your web-based application support group.
b. For Example: Third party applications will not run properly with Windows 8.x.
i. Quickbooks 2013 and higher seems to have no problem Windows 8x. but earlier versions have been noted to have anywhere from minor problems to major problems. Plan to upgrade your Quickbooks if you move to Windows 8.x. - Where you worry about compatibility problems, consider buying a Windows 7 computer which currently involves making a special order although a few have been spotted in the open, off the shelf market.