On March 8, Microsoft will begin notifying Windows XP users via a pop-up notification that April 8 will mark the end of Microsoft support for Windows XP.
Windows XP users still running the Home or Professional versions of the product and who have been getting their updates to XP via Windows Update will get a notification on their desktop screen reminding them of the April 8 end-of-support date. Users can turn off the notifications via a check box. If they don’t, they will be reminded on the 8th of every month until the notifications are disabled. The notification also will include a link to Microsoft’s Windows XP End of Support web site.
Also this week, Microsoft is making available a free transfer tool, called PCmover Express for Windows XP, which copies users’ files and settings from an PC to a new machine running Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 8.1. The tool, developed by Laplink, will let users customize exactly what they want to move to a new Windows machine over their home or work networks.
PCmover Express will be available for download in English starting later this week on www.windowsxp.com as well as French, German, Italian, Japanese and Spanish coming later in March and it will be available in Korean, Chinese, Russian and Brazilian Portuguese after that. users who don’t want to wait for the tool to be released in their local languages can get Laplink’s tool by downloading it from Microsoft’s Download Center.
For Windows XP users wanting to transfer applications from their old computer that will work on newer versions of Windows, Laplink is also making available its software that migrates apps, PCmover Professional, for 60 percent off ($23.95).
April 8, 2014 is the day on which Microsoft will cease providing any kind of patches or fixes, including security fixes, to its nearly 13-year-old Windows XP operating system. Microsoft willcontinue to provide updates to their antimalware signatures and Microsoft Security Essentials engine for Windows XP users through July 14, 2015.
Windows XP’s usage share is still approximately 29 percent worldwide.