Microsoft to end support for Windows 2000 and XP in July
11 May 2010
Microsoft has decided to pull the plug on support for Microsoft Windows 2000 and XP. From 14 July, paid support, support assistance and security updates for the versions would be no longer be available with 13 July being the last date of availability of extended support for these systems.
However, self-help online support including Microsoft online Knowledge Base articles, FAQs and troubleshooting tools, will continue to be available for another year at the least.
Microsoft offers support for five years for its products and extended support for an additional five years.
Windows 2000 users would need to migrate to a more recent version of Windows while Windows XP SP2 or earlier version users can simply upgrade to Windows XP SP3 with the Internet Explorer Windows Update utility.
Windows 2000 users have been advised by the company to switch to the latest Windows 7 or Windows Server 2003 / 2008 / 2008 R2.
XP SP2 users have the option to migrate to Windows 7 as is being done by many.
According to experts in the field users would do well to upgrade to the latest Windows version for better support and security.
