X-ing Out XP
By Wayne Maruna

Exit Sign    Microsoft has made no secret of the fact that support for their venerable Windows XP operating system will end on April 8, 2014, giving even the April fools an extra week to get their houses in order. Launched in October of 2001, XP was the operating system that was so popular it made things difficult for Microsoft to sell people on its successor systems:  first Windows Vista, then Windows 7, and now Windows 8.  People loved their XP systems and saw no reason to abandon them.

    Byron Aconido wrote an excellent article on the subject for USA Today’s Oct. 29, 2013 issue. The main reason for abandoning support of the system is one of security.  As quoted in the article, Tim Rains of Microsoft Trustworthy Computing said “After twelve years of service, it (XP) simply can’t mitigate the threats we’re seeing modern-day attackers use.”  Microsoft has issued patch after patch, and like an old coat, it has taken to putting patches on the patches.  Says consultant Phil Lieberman, “Trying to patch such an old operating system is akin to doing repairs to an old building that everybody agrees needs to be torn down.”

    Even today with continuing support, Microsoft has disclosed that that their XP operating system is six times more likely to be successfully hacked than newer Windows 7 or Windows 8 installations. It is thought that XP installations represent some 21% of the estimated 1.3 billion Windows PCs in use. That’s over a quarter billion XP-based opportunities for hackers.  

    If you are one of the quarter billion still running a PC with Windows XP, you are staring down the wrong end of a gun barrel. The hackers are coming to get you, and they have next April 8th circled on their calendars.  Why the jeopardy scenario?  Microsoft issues updates and security hole fixes the first Tuesday of every month on what has become known as Patch Tuesday.  Starting with the first Tuesday in May 2014, Microsoft will essentially be handing hackers a menu of places to look for XP holes.  How are they doing this, you may ask?  By issuing patches for their more recent systems!  The hackers will look to see if the holes that got fixed in Vista, Win7, and Win8 also existed in XP, and if they did, the hackers know right where to send in their next fusillade of malware.

Replace, Upgrade, or Switch
    So if you have XP, what are your choices?  Well, there aren’t a lot, and none of them are pretty. They essentially boil down to three:  replace, upgrade, or switch.  Replace means buy a new Windows computer.  If you’re running XP, it’s probably past time for that anyway.  Secondly, you might be able to upgrade to either Windows 7 or 8.  Not all machines are candidates for upgrades.  The best way to tell is to download either Microsoft’s Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor, or Microsoft’s Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant.  You can use your favorite search engine to find and download either utility from Microsoft, or go to this link for Win7: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/downloads/upgrade-advisor.  Likewise you can go here for Win8: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/upgrade-to-windows-8

    Running either program will tell you whether your system will pass the test for conversion.  The qualifications for Windows 8 are a bit higher, as your system’s CPU must support three features with typically geeky acronyms:  PAE, NX, and SSE2.  Don’t worry about what they mean, just be aware that the upgrade test software will tell you if you lack any of those features.  It will also tell you if any of your other hardware is unsupported in the newer operating systems.  Some of these devices may be economically replaced, and some not.  The upgrade software alone is not cheap.  Figure on paying upward of $100 or so for either Win7 or Win8 – and yes, it is still possible to buy the Win7 operating system.  Note too that you cannot simply slip in a CD and upgrade XP to Win7 or Win8.  You need to do a ‘clean install’, meaning you will need to copy off your data files, favorites, and any stored emails, and essentially install the new OS from scratch.  Then you’ll need to reload all your programs and copy back your data.  If you buy the upgrade software and pay someone to handle the job, you’re likely half way to the cost of a new system anyway.

    Your third option, switch, means leave the Windows world for either Apple, Linux, or an alternate device like a tablet.  Apple will mean a new machine, and likely one costing more than a Windows replacement.  Linux may represent the lowest cost solution, as most software distributions are free, come with their own free collection of application programs, and in most cases can be loaded on your existing older hardware.  But you will need to migrate your own data, not all Windows applications have a Linux alternative (tax software comes first to mind), and Linux support can be hard to come by. Another real possibility is a Google Chromebook.  This is a specialized laptop running a Linux-based OS designed to work primarily with web-based applications. The hardware is reasonably priced, the OS updates itself and its applications, and you can keep all your data files on a remote server.  For your typical light PC user who mainly wants web access and email, a Chromebook would warrant investigation.

    There is a fourth option, and that is to just soldier on with XP until the malware bomb lands on your disk drive.  Till then, be faithful about backing up your data to an external device. Grim Reaper

    Of course, if you’ve already made the switch to Win7 or Win8, you’ve nothing extra to worry about come April 8th – other than a week later when that real hacker, the IRS, comes calling.  Great! Death (PC style) and taxes, both in the same month.