Microsoft
has announced that from the 8th of April 2014 windows xp will no
longer be supported and is officially obsolete. Microsoft is also ending
support for Office 2003 on that
date. This article outlines what steps you may need to take if your computer is
currently running XP and also what impact the end of XP support may have on
your system. You can read what Microsoft has to say by visiting Visit http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/enterprise/endofsupport.aspx
.
Steps You Need To Do Before April 8th
Audit Your PC
If you are
running a small business on your xp computer you should audit the machine to
see what programs, other than Microsoft office, you are using. Payroll,
accounting packages, anti-virus packages, etc will all be impacted by the end
of support from Microsoft. Once you have
a list then you should contact the suppliers to see if they will continue to
support the software on xp after April. If they are not you’ll need to decide
if you can continue without support and updates from them after that date. Bear
in mind that many accounting and payroll packages require updating each year
after the budget.
Decide Your Response
Based on
the results of your audit you’ll need to decide to either maintain your xp
computer or purchase a replacement.
Maintaining Your XP System
There are a
number of solutions available if you need to continue to run xp applications
after April. All of the solutions I have looked at require technical assistance
and should not be attempted by non
qualified personnel.
In the
industry the primary fear is that once Microsoft stops providing support and
updates the hackers and virus writers
will search for any remaining weak spots in XP and use them to attack xp
computers. This is a real threat
and is not to be taken likely and without the correct solution there is a real
chance your xp machine will be compromised.
Browsers and Java.
Many of you
will be users of Java for online banking and Revenue on line. If Sun decides to
stop providing updates for Java on xp you will be unable to use these sites.
Likewise if sites such as your online banking require you to have a version of
internet explorer greater than version 8 you will not be able to use these
sites.
Replacing Your XP Computer
Next month
I’ll deal with the issue of replacing your xp computer before the April
deadline.
