Has your PC had its chips?

Microsoft's support for Windows 98, 98 SE and NT4 Workstation ended on 30 June and, if you use any of them, you should think about the implications.

In the unlikely event that you bought extended support for 98 and SE you can get some help until mid-January, but there will be no hotfixes if new security vulnerabilities arise.

Microsoft is at least doing a better job than it was in letting people know about its plans to turn off the life-support system.

Last October it introduced a Support Lifecycle policy that 'provides consistent and predictable guidelines' at a product's launch on how long it will be supported.

Support Lifecycle covers most Microsoft products, whether bought via retail or through business licensing, and includes current and future releases.

Windows releases typically have five years of mainstream support; products such as Money and Encarta, that are updated annually, tend to have three years.

Microsoft puts an asterisk next to the word mainstream because you can pay for warranty cover and hotfix support beyond that period.

Online support in the form of Microsoft's Knowledgebase articles, troubleshooting tools and FAQs are available for at least eight years after product release.

The company has stated: "Many customers can quickly resolve their issues without contacting Microsoft directly."

But online support is not going to be for everybody, and end-of-life strategies (the industry term for terminating sales and support of products) can affect even users who feel they are doing a pretty good job supporting themselves.

The main problems will involve the age-old issue of drivers, particularly in getting new hardware to work with old software.

Every generation of Microsoft operating system has encountered problems with every previous generation of software and peripherals.

USB, the plug and play standard, and more unified OS code bases and programming interfaces have helped, but it is a sure bet that new printers, mice, scanners, digital cameras and software applications and utilities will have their battles with a discarded version of Windows.

Security threats
Security is a growing threat, as many third-party utility vendors follow Microsoft away from old Windows versions.

Graham Cluley, senior consultant at UK antivirus specialist Sophos, noted: "If Microsoft is not supporting users on old versions ... then it is not supporting independent software vendors either.

"That is a problem for any developer of software that interacts with the operating system."

Sophos supports versions of Windows all the way back to Win 3.1. But only one Symantec product, the aging Norton Antivirus 2001 7.0, supports Win 95.

And a Symantec spokesman said: "Due to the rapidly evolving nature of security threats, Symantec encourages users of older versions of its security software to upgrade in order to get the most up-to date protection."

Then there is the loss of security patches. You could be vulnerable to a plethora of nasties, from scripting attacks to spyware.

That's bad enough for standalone users but potentially calamitous for home or small-business networks, where just one old OS can bring the lot crashing down.

"[Once] my attitude was to keep the old OS for as long as possible but, with security the way it is today, my feeling is to replace it if you can," said Simon Moores, an industry expert who has run Microsoft user groups.

Many users will take to the chat rooms, railing against the Evil Empire for forcing them into expensive upgrades. But that is not going to solve your problems.

Buying a new operating system may mean buying a new PC, because it can be impracticable or more expensive to upgrade an old one to be powerful enough to run it.

Just £500 buys you a fully loaded system that is going to run the latest games, spreadsheets, development tools and presentations faster than you can on your ageing, state-of-the-art (in those days) beige box.

A little more and you can get rid of the old CRT monitor and replace it with a lovely, flat LCD screen.

Even recent machines may require more memory, a bigger hard disk, or a processor and motherboard transplant, to run a newer version of Windows.

Swapping systems
The final option is to sit tight but ring-fence your vulnerable system.

A spokesman for Conchango, a consulting firm that has had generations of experience in new versions of Windows, said that most businesses are swapping out older NT4 Server systems that run key tasks and isolating those that remain, so they will not interfere with others in the event of a failure.

For smaller home networks, the analogy might be to use the older system as a standalone workstation. Otherwise, staying with a discontinued version of Windows is taking a risk.

Nobody likes moving off a system that is running smoothly but, if you have cash to spare, it might be better to jump now rather than fall later.

Windows Desktop product Lifecycle Support.

Kingston Technology guide to upgrading memory.

Like this story? Spread the news by clicking below:

 del.icio.us     Digg this     reddit!