Microsoft No Longer Supporting XP - Ends April 8, 2014

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Microsoft No Longer Supporting XP Ends April 8, 2014

Hi everyone, I've been in contact with Kirk as most of you know is this forums Manager, and we agreed that a topic about Microsoft ending support for Windows XP would be a good idea, so without further ado here it is.

The object of this topic discussion is to make people aware of this issue and to give people a place to post any suggestions or steps to take to prepare for Microsoft's retirement of Windows XP and Internet Explorer 8 April 8, 2014, along with discussing the IE browser and its compatibility issues with the new forumotion text editor just implemented. All thoughts along this line are encouraged and welcomed, and they need not be constructive if you simply want to express your opinions about Internet Explorer or any of the Windows operating systems. This topic is an outlet to be both helpful and to express your opinions.

Microsoft will be ending support for Windows XP on April 8, 2014 after 12 and a half years of supporting it. Microsoft has gone out of their way to extend support on several occasions, but the 2014 deadline looks like the final one. Windows XP was the most widely used operating system until August 2012, when Windows 7 overtook it

Links:
Windows Lifecycle Factsheet:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/products/lifecycle

Wikipedia on Windows XP:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_XP

Wikipedia on Internet Explorer:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Explorer

Additional helpful links:

watch video:

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My thoughts:

Should the forumotion technicians concern themselves with Internet Explorer 8 and older versions, or would they be better off telling everyone to use Firefox or Chrome or any other browser other than IE?

With Firefox and Chrome its always updated no matter what Windows edition you run, and you never have to worry about not having the latest updates or if your windows edition is compatible with the latest browser versions. No matter what windows edition you have you can run the latest version of Firefox or Chrome or any of the other windows compatible browsers out there.

In reverse Internet Explorer is completely different in that you can't run the latest version of IE browser they make unless you have the latest version of Windows, and when they decide to not update your browser or operating system anymore you are left hanging and forced to look elsewhere for an updated browser that keeps up to date with today's coded websites. As made example you can't run IE 9 on Windows XP, its not an option, forget it.

Microsoft is basically saying "you're on your own". Which really is a blessing in disguise because you probably shouldn't be using IE anyway because even the latest versions of IE are a mess and not up to par with Firefox and Chrome, among the others browsers out there.

Ok, I made an opener, your thoughts?

It was a good age 12 years.

Bye Bye Windows XP

Exactly Microsoft will still update Security Essential up to July 2015, but it still gives a message that says that your computer is not fully protected.

I figured I'd go ahead and replace security essential now instead of waiting for it to expire. I've used AVG before in the past and found it to be a decent program, so I'm using it again. The only reason I had security essential before was because it was lightweight and I was using a different computer that needed something low on resources, but this new XP machine can handle AVG's big program just fine.

Here's a link about how to keep your XP machine safe when Microsoft ends support.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2102606/how-to-keep-your-pc-secure-when-microsoft-ends-windows-xp-support.html

Runaway, I would also recommend Avast for both its free and paid antivirus service,  its quite alot more undepth and lightweighter then Avg.

Yeah I've heard Avast is pretty good and low on resources, but since I'm more familiar with AVG, and its big program isn't affecting this machines performance, I'll use AVG, For people needing a program low on resources perhaps AVG is not for you, and you'd be better off with Avast.

As far as Avast being more "undepth" than AVG I'm really not sure. AVG of course has paid versions also.

And in case you haven't read, avoid Internet Explorer at all times.
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/04/29/microsofts-internet-explorer-gets-hit-by-operation.aspx

Patches will be released for all current versions of course. What I find bothersome was the timing of the Heartbleed Bug when XP was due to officially expire and now this next browser exploit. Disable the Flash plug-in on your IE version. Might be an even better idea to disable all plug-ins and don't bother installing Java for IE. Stick with Firefox or Chrome.