Windows XP reached end of life status on April 8, 2014. Many people and some companies will be spreading doom and gloom prophecies and telling folks who have Windows XP that their computers will stop working, turn into robots or zombies, or some other wild scenario.

 

The truth is your Windows XP computer will continue to work normally.
However: you should not use it for online banking or shopping because it will eventually become so insecure it will leave you susceptible to identity theft and other problems.

 

There are, of course, some things to watch out for:

  1. Microsoft will no longer provide updates for it. Eventually this will lead to complete obsolescence.
  2. The free Microsoft Security Essentials antivirus software from Microsoft will stop working - get a different one. I recommend clamwin or Malwarebytes; certainly not AVG or anything Russian.
  3. Many antivirus makers will stop providing updates or license renewal of their software. The software legally MUST continue to function at least to the end of the license period.
  4. You should already have switched from Internet Explorer to Firefox. IE has been dead for some time but Firefox will continue to work.
  5. Outlook Express has been long dead and you should be using Thunderbird or web based mail (gmail is quite good).
  6. If your computer fails thus requiring hard drive reformat and Windows reinstall you can reinstall Windows but you cannot update it past the level of the CD used.

 

In short - keep using your computer but save your money for a replacement.

 

Linux is free and works very well.