However, Miller thinks people who purchased PCs running Windows XP around the time the Vista operating system shipped in 2007 could probably upgrade those machines to Windows 7 or even Windows 8. The good news for consumers is that most of them probably only have one or two PCs still running XP, said Miller. "If you're looking at a five-year-old PC and you try to put Windows 7 on it," Kay said, "it's probably not going to work very well." "They almost always add features and build them up and make them fancier, because they're anticipating the software will be run on better hardware. "With software development, companies never really pare things back," Kay added. "They're generally underpowered, because there's this general bloat that happens with software." ![]() ![]() "Older PCs were built for the operating system of the time," he said. Kay said it would make more sense to just buy a new PC. If you've decided on upgrading away from Windows XP, should you buy a new PC, or upgrade the operating system on an old one? Linux applications can open most old Windows files, but you won't be running Windows at all. ![]() You could also back up all your files, then erase the hard disk and replace XP with a free operating system such as Ubuntu Linux. "But you have to apply the normal hygiene that you would expect to apply anyway, like being careful about what sites you go to, and what links you click on, and what email attachments you open, and so on." "You could continue to use it, and the chances are relatively low that something bad will happen," Kay said. "If you have a five-year-old PC and you don't want to buy a new one, and you have XP, what should you do?" Kay asked. Limited accounts limit the damage malware can do. Everything else, especially Web and email use, should be done using limited accounts without administrator rights. Any home user with an XP machine should restructure user accounts so that only a seldom-used administrator account can install or modify software. Most anti-virus software makers will support XP until 2016. Free anti-virus software is fine, but paid is better. If an XP user doesn't already have a robust anti-virus software product, he or she should install one right away. Outlook Express fans might want to consider the Mozilla Thunderbird email client or shifting all email to a Web-based service, such as Gmail or Microsoft's own. "I would also avoid using Outlook 2003, which will pass away on the same day." "Same thing with an email client," Miller said. "That's your connection to the Internet, and it's your first vector of infection." "Because IE is part of the OS, the day support stops for Windows XP is the day it stops for IE," he said. Both browsers will support XP, and continue to receive patches, beyond April. XP users should switch from Internet Explorer to third-party browsers such as Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox, Miller said. People who absolutely must use Windows XP for some reason, such as to run specialized software not available for later versions of Windows, or perhaps because they can't afford a new PC, should take several precautionary steps. Many, perhaps most, of those machines won't be discarded or upgraded by April. Still, something between 20 and 30 percent of PCs worldwide were running Windows XP in December 2013. Most consumers usually buy a new operating system when they buy a new PC, he noted - and the last time new PCs running Windows XP were for sale in retail outlets was at least four or five years ago. Roger Kay, principal analyst at Endpoint Technologies Associates, a technology-marketing consultancy in Massachusetts, thinks many consumers won't need to worry about the end of support for Windows XP. Unfortunately, many of those holes will exist in XP too, with the result that malicious hackers will have a Microsoft-drawn treasure map to XP exploitation. Microsoft will be publicizing security holes that get fixed in Windows Vista, 7 and 8. There is really limited protection that people can put into place to protect themselves, because Microsoft won't be patching the browser, Internet Explorer 6, or the OS." "In fact, in some ways, it could likely increase after April. "Nobody really expects that to stop," Miller continued.
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