Microsoft to use pop-ups to warn Windows XP users of pending end of support for the OS, makes migration software free

Windows XP's end is nigh.

The aging operating system will soon lose support from Microsoft, and the company has announced two initiatives to help those still using XP. The software giant launched XP twelve years ago.

Starting April 8th, there will be no more security updates or technical support for the OS, effectively making the OS unsafe for future use.

In order to help customers migrate to newer versions of Windows, Microsoft says it has partnered with Laplink to create a free data migration tool called PCmover Express that should simply move your files and data including user profiles and settings over to a new device or to a new partitioned OS. If you want applications to move over, you will need to buy a premium version of the software, which will be discounted.

Furthermore, starting March 8th, Windows XP users who have opted into Windows Update will receive pop-up messages letting them know about the end-of-life for the OS and where to learn more.

Finally, if you don't know what OS you are running, Microsoft will tell you here.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 3 Mar 2014 18:31

dEwMe

Grandma doesn't care as long as her PC brings up facebook.

Just my $0.02,

dEwMe

4.3.2014 14:42 #1

soupy51

Microsoft may be surprized by the number of people who don't care about their end of life for XP. I'm one of them. I have XP machines with specific uses and they will stay that way until they die.

7.3.2014 09:43 #2

GernBlan

If the subsequent releases of Windows were better, maybe so many people wouldn't still be running XP (and no, not just grandma). I'm a career network engineer and I just recently switched to Windows 7 myself. My wife is also very senior career IT and is still running XP on her laptop. Her huge IT shop just started migrating the desktops to Windows 7 under a year ago. The really bad news is that most (if not all) of the bank ATM devices are still running XP and do not have the immediate ability to upgrade since the systems are so customized to be standard across the country/world. This will not be pretty.

7.3.2014 09:50 #3

Virgil_B

Just think....all of those XP licenses that you paid for are simply discarded and never used again. Seems like a waste.

7.3.2014 12:00 #4

peterdou

al the job centres use xp

7.3.2014 13:03 #5

MagengarZ

LMAO!!! I can see it now... go to the ATM to withdraw money,
get a popup from Microsoft instead!
"Your withdrawal has been temporarily suspended until
your bank upgrades their ATM systems OS to Windows 8.
We apologize for the inconvenience". LOL!!!

7.3.2014 17:18 #6

Mr-Movies

Originally posted by soupy51: Microsoft may be surprized by the number of people who don't care about their end of life for XP. I'm one of them. I have XP machines with specific uses and they will stay that way until they die.
Isn't that the truth! Who cares about their ridiculous updates, almost all of them you can do without anyway. This is typical of them I must say they love doing popups and making decisions for you.

7.3.2014 18:45 #7

pmshah

My former employee is happy with running his old Dos based accounting package on XP machines. His needs are fully met. Why should he even think in terms of upgrading. BTW the quality of those machines running XP is so much better than what you can buy today. Even after 15 years of use they are running flawlessly.

Personally I have tried to use win 8.0 and 8.1 a number of times but it is so frustrating ! Am happy with 7.

7.3.2014 23:23 #8

soupy51

Originally posted by pmshah: My former employee is happy with running his old Dos based accounting package on XP machines. His needs are fully met. Why should he even think in terms of upgrading. BTW the quality of those machines running XP is so much better than what you can buy today. Even after 15 years of use they are running flawlessly.

Personally I have tried to use win 8.0 and 8.1 a number of times but it is so frustrating ! Am happy with 7. 8.0 and 8.1 are horrendous since they really were developed for touch screens in my opinion. I won an HP laptop with 8.0 on it and I absolutely hate it. Glad my 2 older Toshiba Satellite Pro laptops run 7.

7.3.2014 23:52 #9

4iiiis

7.3.2014 23:56 #10

smokyrain

My boss is still using XP as well. We have no need for other operating systems for what is run on the computer.

So I think popups will be annoying and they should give option then to hide popup or ignore.

Originally posted by MagengarZ: LMAO!!! I can see it now... go to the ATM to withdraw money,
get a popup from Microsoft instead!
"Your withdrawal has been temporarily suspended until
your bank upgrades their ATM systems OS to Windows 8.
We apologize for the inconvenience". LOL!!! Now that made me laugh :)

My consoles: Nintendo64>Dreamcast aug/99>PS2 V7-Seagate 400gb hdd-Maxtor 300gb hdd,PS2 V14 FMCB 1.8 - Memor32 >V18 SM 3.6 >DS-Lite-G6DS Real 16GB-R4DS Ultra 8gb SDHC>Gamecube-Original>Wii-Wiikey 2>PSP PHAT CFW 5.00 M33-6>DSi (Kingdom Hearts Edition)-EZ Flash Vi - M3i Zero Sakura>Kindom Hearts:Birth by Sleep PSP 3000>PS3 80GB

8.3.2014 00:07 #11

Mr-Movies

The only way you are going to get the popup's are if you auto-update since it will be delivered that way. If you find out what KB# packet it is you maybe able to uninstall it. FYI

8.3.2014 06:27 #12

Virgil_B

Originally posted by Mr-Movies: The only way you are going to get the popup's are if you auto-update since it will be delivered that way. If you find out what KB# packet it is you maybe able to uninstall it. FYI @Mr-Movies it looks like you will only receive the pop-up one time if you check the box to not show again so it really shouldn't be a big deal for most.

8.3.2014 07:34 #13

Mr-Movies

No that's not a major headache at all, thanks for pointing that out as I still support XP users and use it on occasion myself however I don't worry about having all of the updates so it normally wouldn't be an issue for me anyhow...

Thanks Virgil,
Steve

8.3.2014 20:47 #14

TekPete

Since Windows7 and presumably Windows8 are very resource hungry my current PC will not be capable of running this OS. This means I have to buy a new PC, but I can't afford a new one because at the moment I'm unemployed; I have to use my funds carefully.

Another issue; if I replace a Hard Disc and reinstall Windows XP, what's going to happen when I attempt to activate it?

I wonder if the JobCentre will buy me a new computer. It's essential to have a PC because to register for Job Seeker's Allowance you can no longer visit your local JobCentre - You have to do it on-line and in order to look for jobs you have to do that on-line by registering with and searching their JobSearch website. I'll certainly be posing this question to my Claimant Adviser next time I'm in there.

-Pete

- TekPete -

9.3.2014 08:03 #15

tommyo54

Is there a way to either burn the Windows updates to disk, or a way to save them for future use? Hope it's not a silly question but I'm not too computer smart; I'm an elderly gent here and want to stay with XP for time being.

10.3.2014 09:44 #16

aldan

Originally posted by peterdou: al the job centres use xp not where i live they dont.

10.3.2014 20:26 #17

aldan

Originally posted by TekPete: Since Windows7 and presumably Windows8 are very resource hungry my current PC will not be capable of running this OS. This means I have to buy a new PC, but I can't afford a new one because at the moment I'm unemployed; I have to use my funds carefully.

Another issue; if I replace a Hard Disc and reinstall Windows XP, what's going to happen when I attempt to activate it?

I wonder if the JobCentre will buy me a new computer. It's essential to have a PC because to register for Job Seeker's Allowance you can no longer visit your local JobCentre - You have to do it on-line and in order to look for jobs you have to do that on-line by registering with and searching their JobSearch website. I'll certainly be posing this question to my Claimant Adviser next time I'm in there.

-Pete both win7 and win8 run quite well and are not as resource hungry as xp.iv run all of them.to say you need a personal pc to get your job seekers allowance is absolutely ridiculous.ever been to the library?xp is dead and no amount of pissing an moaning is going to change that.ive still got my old single core pentium d with 2gb of ram running win7 and its faster than it ever run on xp.bottom line,you can complain all you want but xp is done.

10.3.2014 20:32 #18

ddp

TekPete, what is your current system specs?

aldan, i'm still using xp on this computer but also have another that has win7 on it. have a netbook with xp on it & it will stay that way as ram cannot be upgraded being it is part of motherboard but laptop is win 7.

10.3.2014 21:18 #19

Mr-Movies

Originally posted by tommyo54: Is there a way to either burn the Windows updates to disk, or a way to save them for future use? Hope it's not a silly question but I'm not too computer smart; I'm an elderly gent here and want to stay with XP for time being.
Yes, you can download all of the updates and push them from your own server or batch them but if you are not tech savvy it might be too much for you since either way you do it it can be tricky if your not aware of the issues. You can also manually install each update but that will be a lot of screwing around and you can still run into issues with the order the updates are installed and if certain ones cause problems to the updates that follow them.

Win7 will run on most PC's that run XP if you can have at least 2GB's of RAM for (x86) 4GB's for (x64). Win8 works better with newer MB's that are compatible with it. As to program compatibility 7 won't run all of your XP programs but will run most of them. Win8 isn't as compatible with old programs as 7 and you'll loose those programs.

If MS won't active XP in the future there are ways to activate it manually if you dig around on the net but I would think you'll still be able to even though updates will no longer be generated..

10.3.2014 23:18 #20

ddp

can run win7 with 1gig as long as dual core cpu.

10.3.2014 23:34 #21

aldan

Originally posted by ddp: TekPete, what is your current system specs?

aldan, i'm still using xp on this computer but also have another that has win7 on it. have a netbook with xp on it & it will stay that way as ram cannot be upgraded being it is part of motherboard but laptop is win 7. funny were talking about xp.bosses xp computer wouldnt connect with the internet.simple to diagnose right?having been off xp for a few years i really had to think about it.it really had me appreciating win7 tho.a lot easier to navigate.

11.3.2014 01:06 #22

Mr-Movies

I've run 7 on 512MB's of RAM but it runs very slow as it does on 1GB as well. It will work well on 2GB/4GB of RAM which was the point.

11.3.2014 06:27 #23

TekPete

Originally posted by ddp: TekPete, what is your current system specs?

aldan, i'm still using xp on this computer but also have another that has win7 on it. have a netbook with xp on it & it will stay that way as ram cannot be upgraded being it is part of motherboard but laptop is win 7.
Hi ddp,

My system is:

AMD Athlon XP2600+ 2.09 GHz 1.5GB Ram

Matshiter DVD writer.

160GB HDD with 24GB spare.

Windows XP Home 2002 Service Pack 3.

So you think it'll run Windows8?

- TekPete -

11.3.2014 06:56 #24

xboxdvl2

Originally posted by Mr-Movies: I've run 7 on 512MB's of RAM but it runs very slow as it does on 1GB as well. It will work well on 2GB/4GB of RAM which was the point. ive seen 7 running on a laptop think it was a pentium D with 2gbs ram laptop was selling for $50 it ran but slowly.

custom built gaming pc from early 2010,ps2 with 15 games all original,ps3 500gbs with 5 games all original,yamaha amp and 5.1channel surround sound speakers,46inch sony lcd smart tv.

11.3.2014 07:03 #25

ddp

aldan, is the boss's computer on the net now or not?

TekPete, go with win7 as win8 is vista 2 or ME3 or wait til win9 comes out next year. will have to do a fresh install of whatever windows you go with as can't do an upgrade from xp.

xboxdvl2, try a brand new dell laptop running vista with 512megs of ram. talk about slow. was eventually upgraded to 2gigs of ram.

11.3.2014 13:08 #26

aldan

yep,got it all sorted.it was almost like using xp for the first time again.lol

11.3.2014 18:18 #27

Mr-Movies

Originally posted by xboxdvl2: Originally posted by Mr-Movies: I've run 7 on 512MB's of RAM but it runs very slow as it does on 1GB as well. It will work well on 2GB/4GB of RAM which was the point. ive seen 7 running on a laptop think it was a pentium D with 2gbs ram laptop was selling for $50 it ran but slowly.
I wouldn't doubt that at all but most likely the problem there was the video card. Turn off Aero and I bet it would run just fine, in fact I would guarantee it unless there were other issues that would cause even XP to slow down.

11.3.2014 21:58 #28

Jemborg

Originally posted by Mr-Movies: Originally posted by tommyo54: Is there a way to either burn the Windows updates to disk, or a way to save them for future use? Hope it's not a silly question but I'm not too computer smart; I'm an elderly gent here and want to stay with XP for time being.
Yes, you can download all of the updates and push them from your own server or batch them but if you are not tech savvy it might be too much for you since either way you do it it can be tricky if your not aware of the issues. You can also manually install each update but that will be a lot of screwing around and you can still run into issues with the order the updates are installed and if certain ones cause problems to the updates that follow them.

Win7 will run on most PC's that run XP if you can have at least 2GB's of RAM for (x86) 4GB's for (x64). Win8 works better with newer MB's that are compatible with it. As to program compatibility 7 won't run all of your XP programs but will run most of them. Win8 isn't as compatible with old programs as 7 and you'll loose those programs.

If MS won't active XP in the future there are ways to activate it manually if you dig around on the net but I would think you'll still be able to even though updates will no longer be generated.. Yeah, on top of that, you can install SP3 separately (or have it streamed in the install) that will take care of a lot of updates. The rest can be found in places on the internet.

I would shift to Win7 if you could though. Even if you had to get hold of a old S/H poot with 1-2 gigs of ram. Avoid old AMD single core cpus.

Its a lot easier being righteous than right.

11.3.2014 23:48 #29

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