The final countdown begins today. There is just one month to the day when Microsoft stops supporting Windows XP. There is much being written about this.
As I understand it, and I may be wrong, after April 8 Microsoft will no longer issue security fixes or updates. I do think they would fix something that was broken, although what can break probably has already broken and has likely been fixed.
Nonetheless we move forward. As noted elsewhere and often, I maintain 2 Windows XP laptops in my home office area. I intend to keep these going as long as the hardware lasts or until XP itself fails. I think the former will happen sooner, but we shall see.
My first recommendation to everyone in this situation is twofold:
1) Be sure you have been getting the latest Windows updates and manually run an update check as late as April 7 and also on April 8. Just for the fun of it I will continue to run it after the 8th.
2) Make sure your anti-virus program is up to date as well. I may suffer double jeopardy in that I use Microsoft's Security Essentials on both laptops I can't believe, however, that Microsoft would stop providing updates to their own MSE even if it is running on XP. My assumption is that these MSE updates will continue beyond 4/8.
My expectation is that all of the applications I have installed on my 2 machines will continue to run and be updated by the manufacturer. I am fortunate enough to have Microsoft Office 2007. I believe support for Office 2003 expires on the same date (4/8) but support for Office 2007 will continue.
