Microsoft Ends Support for Windows XP

As of Tuesday 8th April 2014, Microsoft will stop supporting Windows XP, leaving anyone still running the 13-year-old operating system without potentially critical security updates.

Windows XP was released back in 2001 and, soon after that; Microsoft announced it would support all its products for at least 10 years from the release date (5 years mainstream support and 5 years extended support). However, in 2007, the company decided to extend support for XP to April 2014, because it was still so widely used…

Statistics suggest that 20-25% of all users still use XP despite the fact that there have been three major releases of Windows since its debut in 2001, couple this with the fact that many of the world’s cash machines are believed to be running Windows XP, it’s clear to see that this veteran of technology is still going strong. Estimates also suggest that almost 1 in 5 personal computers still run XP.

While consumers are entitled to carry on using XP for as long as they like (the software will not stop working), those who choose to do so will be much more vulnerable to cyber-attacks without the necessary support no longer in place. This is because every month, Microsoft has released a set of security patches to address any new vulnerabilities that may have been discovered.

The UK government however has now signed a £5.5m deal for extended support. Similarly the Dutch government has signed a “multi-million euro” deal to obtain help for the 40,000 PCs running XP used by the nation’s civil servants.

Microsoft was unwilling to reveal how many updates for Windows XP it currently issues each month but said that, between July 2012 and July 2013, Windows XP was an “affected product” in 45 Microsoft security bulletins.

If you require more information, or would like to know how this is going to affect you, visit Microsoft.
Alternatively, you can contact Eurotech’s Microsoft account manager here to see how we can help you protect your business.