It's all over for Windows XP... Microsoft ends support after 12 years

Microsoft, which has ceased supporting its XP operating system, urges consumers to upgrade their PC operating system.

17:32 08 April 2014

After 12 years in service, Microsoft has ceased supporting Windows XP. Although this change doesn’t automatically mean that computers running on XP will stop booting or anything quite as drastic, it will increase the risk of being hacked as the company will also stop issuing security updates and providing technical support. 

 

However, huge institutions - including the UK government - that have several computers running on the operating system, decided to offer Microsoft millions of pounds to negotiate custom support deals. 

 

It is thought that as many as 33per cent of the world’s computers are still running the operating system and Microsoft themselves have said that infections for XP will rise 66per cent after April 8. 

 

People with computers that are still running Windows XP will ultimately have two options: buy a new computer or upgrade to Windows 7 or Windows 8.1. 

 

It is advised to also switch from Internet Explorer to a different browser such as Firefox or Chrome. Google will be supporting their browser on XP computers until April 2015 while Mozilla haven’t announced an end date to support for Firefox.