Support For XP is Ending

Initially I was going to do a post on VPNs which would give you access to On Demand TV services.
But decided to write about that at a later date.
 Microsoft has announced that it will stop supporting Windows XP from April 8th 2014. After all the operating system is over 12 years old.
So what does this mean.

• Well this means no more automatic updates to correct system issues. 
•  Microsoft will also stop providing Microsoft Security Essentials for download on Windows XP on this date. (If you already have Microsoft Security Essentials installed, you will continue to receive antimalware signature updates for a limited time, total support will stop on July 14th 2015)

Don't Panic it doesn't mean you trusty reliable Windows XP machine will suddenly stop working, it will continue to work.  After all there are still 500 million computers still running windows XP worldwide.
Many Antivirus and Antimalare Software companies will continue to support XP, for the foreseeable future, so you can download one of these listed Antivirus programs instead of the Microsoft Software.
I like AVG Free or Avast Free. both do a good job. And remember its important to keep these up to date, by regularly updating the software.  Avast has said it will continue support for XP, since almost a quarter of its users still use XP, thats about 50 million users.
 Microsoft has also released (Tuesday 11th March 2014) a series of updates/patches for XP service pack 3 or if you are running the 64 bit version service pack 2 this may be the last batch of patches/Updates we will see for XP. 

Other alternatives would be to upgrade your PC, but this may not be compatible with either the awful Windows 8 or Windows 7 (if you can still get a copy of it). You could go out and buy a new PC but this will more than likely have Windows 8 and not be that cheap.

There are other options and most of these are free.
I will write another post, in a couple of weeks, about the free alternatives to the Windows  Operating System.

Some interesting factoids for you.
Did you know;

•  85%  of PCs in Britain’s National Health Service are still running Windows XP.
•  55% of computer users in China still run XP
• 70% of computer users on the Cook Islands run XP
• Spain has some of  the oldest computer software and hardware in use in the whole of western Europe
•  3.5 million small and medium-sized companies in Spain still use XP on their computer systems