Just days after Microsoft warned Windows 7 users of an impending shutdown of the free release candidate, the company reminded customers running Windows 2000, XP and Vista of approaching support deadlines for those editions.
Warning for Vista RTM, XP SP2 and Win 2000 users
The closest cutoff is April 13, when Microsoft will drop support for Vista RTM (release to manufacturing), the term used for the build the company launched at retail in January 2007. After that date Microsoft will not provide security updates for Vista RTM, said Jerry Bryant, a senior manager with the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC).
Instead, users should upgrade to Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1), or preferably, Vista SP2, Bryant said. Microsoft shipped SP1 and SP2 in March 2008 and May 2009, respectively.
Microsoft's policy is to support a Windows RTM build for at least 24 months after the release of a first service pack, and to support any service pack for the same length of time when it's superseded by a follow-up.
Both Windows 2000 and Windows XP face support deadlines of July 13, 2010, Bryant added in an entry last week to the MSRC blog.
Microsoft will retire Windows 2000 from all support in July, ending all security patches for the operating system that celebrates its 10-year anniversary this month.
Windows XP SP2, the popular 2004 update that beefed up the security of the under-attack OS, will also exit support on July 13. To continue receiving bug patches, users must upgrade to XP SP3, the May 2008 update. Bryant claimed that "many" customers are still using XP SP2, and urged them to upgrade to either SP3 or Windows 7.
According to web metrics company NetApplications.com, Windows XP powered 66% of the machines that were online last month, while Vista ran 17.5% and Windows 2000 just 0.6%.
Last week, Microsoft reminded users of Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) that beginning on February 15, the free preview will warn of a March 1 deadline. On March 1, the operating system will start to shut down automatically every two hours.
Comments
Nev said: Palmer Just right click on the My Computer icon on your desktop select Properties and under the General tab it will tell you which XP version you are runningUpdating to SP3 is supposedly a simple task of downloading the update from Microsoft wwwmicrosoftcomwindowsprod and following the instructionsBut it may not be quite so simple as Alex and Coolteach have postedCome on PCAdvisor arent you going to advise us
Palmer said: How can I update to XP SP3 or how can I find out my version of XP Think it crass of microsoft to stopping support of this product which is much better than vista to use
Coolteach said: In the past whenever I tried upgrading to SP3 either automatically or manually is caused my systems pro and home to grind to a halt The best way I found was to slipstream it into an XP install and go for a new install
alex said: I tried updating XP to SP3 back in 2008 but had to uninstall it and revert back to SP2 due to compatability problems which I was told were due to me having an AMD processor instead of Intel I sthis still the case I wonder
alex said: I tried updating XP to SP3 back in 2008 but had to uninstall it and revert back to SP2 due to compatability problems which I was told were due to me having an AMD processor instead of Intel I sthis still the case I wonder
- said: you can download SP3 for XP from microsoftcomits not hard
Portly said: Excellent idea Nev I have both SP1 and SP2 updates on disc I have never seen SP3 on disc
Nev said: Perhaps in the near future it will be a good idea for PCAdvisor to issue an up-to-date article on how to update XP from SP2 to SP3 for the many people who are still using and are very happy with the excellent XP SP2 OSTelling us if there is a revised SP3 update available from Microsoft which is different from the original 2008 one and outlining the potential problems which at the time put many of us off updating to gain little or no advantage and how to overcome themPlease -