By: Nancy Brown Larson
Recently I had to take my computer into the shop because I was having a few problems with my internet browser, Mozilla Firefox. It seems that when I upgraded my browser some Malware managed to invite itself into my computer.
First of all, what is malware? Malware is a merger of “malicious” and “wares,” meaning malicious software. Generally speaking it’s software running on your system that can cause unwanted side effects that can be as minor as slow downs and resource utilization, to as severe as data corruption, compromise and leakage of sensitive information. In my case, it was blocking me from using Firefox browser altogether. I later found out that this often happens on computers that use Windows XP and Windows Vista.
I left my computer for the day to be checked out by the technician and when I picked it up, I happened to overhear a conversation between the owner and another customer regarding the fact that anyone that owns a computer with the Windows XP operating system needs to be aware that effective April 8, 2014, Microsoft will no longer support these systems and eventually if you have a computer that uses this edition it is at risk.
I was also told that within the next year my computer would be facing the same problem because my computer was over five years old and uses the Windows Vista operating system. We have two other computers and after checking out my husband’s computer I discovered his was equipped with the old Windows XP operating system. My laptop is only two years old and uses Windows 7 which I was informed would be fine. Since my husband, Bill, uses his computer for business as well as personal he has decided to order a new one with Windows 8. Ouch! That was not in the budget.
So, what does all of this really mean? With my computer up and running I began a search of the internet for any articles related to the demise of Windows XP and found an interesting article that had been published in the Denver Post not too long ago. The headline from the post caught my interest:
“Are you ready for the “XP Apocalypse” on April 8?”
The article was actually written by Brandon Bailey of the San Jose Mercury News Posted: 03/31/2014, and published in the Denver Post. I have posted the web link at the bottom of my article for your review.
To sum it up for you, if you are the proud owner of an older computer that supports and runs Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft will no longer provide updates and support for this system. The article goes on to say that in the past Microsoft has distributed free downloads as new vulnerabilities are found. It plans to stop doing this for XP, while continuing to release updates for newer Windows versions.
Microsoft started selling XP back in 2001, and they feel that thirteen years of free updates is enough as XP cannot keep up with the advanced technology. It is estimated that there are over 200 million XP uses.
Not sure which system you have? Simply click the start button on your computer, right click the computer button, left click properties at the bottom and your Windows Edition will tell you what you have on your computer.
While there is no great urgency to run out and buy a new computer with all the latest smart gadgets and apps, you may find it difficult to find a computer technician that will be able to help you if you encounter malware aliens. You still have a little time, but eventually you will simply have to bite the bullet and get a new one. The good news is there are much less expensive than the first one you bought. They start around $500.00.
For now, if you want to put off the inevitable, I might suggest that you purchase a couple of flash drives and download all of your important documents, pictures and recipes so that if your computer does crash you will have what you need.