How To Manage with Windows XP after the April retirement

lets make it clear:

Windows XP WILL CONTINUE TO WORK after April 2014

There are machines running Windows 2000 still running fine out there. That’s 14 years old, and I could even mention Windows NT4 which is 20 years old! Well maintained quality hardware just keeps on giving!

So what’s this about ‘retiring’ or ‘expiring’?

Microsoft will stop issuing updates for the operating system (XP) and old versions of the web browser (IE, Internet Explorer, for which IE8 was the last to run on XP).

What Should I Worry About?

Not much ..

What Should I Do?

OK, some things are important.

Anti-Virus software (AV)

The main vendors, including the free versions, are saying they will continue to support XP with new versions and regular updates. Why shouldn’t they? Now you’re a captive market.

You may consider upgrading to a product with a built in firewall, though with most peoples’ setup of broadband, this is not critical. Note that heavyweight AV products with lots of features will demand more computer power. This is impractical on machines that were economy retail base units: these products may force you to upgrade your hardware to make your machine usable again.

Web Browsers

Say goodbye to Internet Explorer (aka IE, the friendly blue e icon) only Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome from now on. Both of which, again, have announced they will continue to support XP. IE has been dead in the water for XP users for several years already and has always been a security hazard.

It is important you keep, at least reasonably, up to date with your browser – not because of features but because of the security tools that are built in.

There is the possibility for some to upgrade to Windows 7 ..

Last suggestion – switch to Linux

Its really not as difficult as some would like to make out. Many will work better on older hardware than XP now. Find your local Linux group (most cities have one) or The Restart Project (who may refer you to me ..)

We are hoping to run some classes soon on Linux – watch this space.