Health & Fitness
Still Using Windows XP? Take These Steps!
The official support life for the Microsoft Windows XP operating system ends on April 8, 2014. Here are some steps to take if you are going to continue to use it.
Attention Microsoft Windows XP Users:
If you still use the Microsoft Windows XP operating system, you are probably aware that its official support life ends on April 8, 2014. Microsoft has been actively trying to encourage users of XP to migrate to other operating systems.
Some XP systems could be upgraded to Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 (for approximately $100 and 2 to 4 hours of effort) – however, some XP systems lack the memory, processing power, or other resources to make upgrading worthwhile. While most virus checking software will continue to be updated for a while, Microsoft will no longer distribute fixes to security problems via Windows Update. Therefore, Windows XP will become more vulnerable to security flaws over time.
If you choose to continue using Windows XP, following Leo Laporte's recommendations in the link below will help reduce your risk www.techguylabs.com/blog/keep-windows-xp-secure-after-april-8-support-deadline
It will be particularly important going forward for Windows XP users to be very careful about opening email attachments or visiting questionable websites.
For all personal computer users: It is prudent to have all important files (documents and photos) backed up on media not connected to your computer – The files of many casual computer users (if you don’t store videos or a large number of photos) would fit onto a 16GB USB flash drive (available at Staples, Best Buy, Fry’s, etc. for about $15).
NEVER share (reuse) passwords on multiple important websites. Financial Institutions and email are important sites. It is important that your email account has a unique, hard to guess password.