of life. Windows XP won’t be officially supported for much longer. DON'T PANIC

Windows XP won’t be officially supported for much longer. Sure, you could keep using it — it won’t just stop working one day. It will just become more insecure over time as Microsoft and everyone else stops supporting it.

In a nutshell, Windows XP is old. It doesn’t support modern hardware properly and it isn’t as secure as modern versions of Windows because it doesn’t have User Account Control and other modern security features. 

As time goes on, Windows XP will become increasingly insecure and both hardware and software vendors will stop supporting it. Try using modern hardware or software on Windows 98, Windows Me, or even Windows 2000 — even Firefox no longer supports Windows 2000. Windows XP is next in line for the chopping block.

Where You Can Go From Here?

Perhaps you’ve heard about how awkward Windows 8 can be on traditional computers — If you’re using Windows XP, we’re assuming you’re not using one of Microsoft’s Windows XP tablets. Or perhaps you’re perfectly happy with your existing software and just use your computer for very basic things, so you don’t see the point in paying Microsoft an upgrade fee.

Here are your options:

Windows 7: If you’re still using Windows XP, there’s a good chance you won’t want to go through the shock of upgrading to Windows 8. Windows 7 isn’t the latest, but it’s the most widely used version of Windows and will be supported until January 14, 2020. Even today, many businesses are upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7 — not Windows 8.

If you’re a typical home user, getting Windows 7 may take a bit of extra footwork. New computers come with Windows 8, and your local PC store probably doesn’t sell Windows 7. If you want to get a boxed copy of Windows 7 to upgrade to, you may want to get it online — boxed copies of Windows 7 are still sold on websites like Amazon, although you probably won’t find them in many PC stores.

Windows 8: Windows 8 can be rather awkward on traditional PCs without touch screens, especially at first. That said, it’s not completely unbearable. It actually offers many desktop features that are an upgrade over Windows 7 and you can hide much of the new “Modern” environment.

Windows 8 has the advantage of being easier to find. You can go into any computer shop and buy a boxed copy of Windows 8 or a new computer with Windows 8. Microsoft even sells Windows 8 in downloadable form.

The other option is to go for an Apple MAC