What it Means For You
The countdown is on for Windows Vista users. On 11th April 2017, Microsoft will cease all support and security patching, just like they did with previous Windows versions. Naturally, you’re not exactly leaping for joy at this news!
The longer your computer goes past the end date, the higher the chance of a system breach. While you’re watching the count-down and thinking about scheduling an upgrade sometime soon, cyber-criminals are making plans of their own. As time progresses, they’ll actively target out-of-date systems and search for vulnerabilities.
Love Vista or hate it, it is time to leave Vista behind, as continuing to use it will leave your computer to exposed. Risks include:
Security risks: While Microsoft may have patched the gaps exploited during the Vista lifetime, there are many more just waiting to be discovered. It gets worse: your antivirus program is unlikely to intercept these attacks. Hackers are extremely fast to exploit newly-discovered vulnerabilities and without Microsoft working just as fast to close them, the risk increases exponentially every time you turn the computer on.
Compliance risks: For business users, this is a big one. Many businesses are subject to conditions that require them to run an operating system that’s regularly patched. For those working with sensitive, legal or private data, this is even more important. Continuing to use an unsupported OS places not just the system security at risk, but also the entire business.
Software incompatibility: New applications are created exclusively for current operating systems. This means you can’t upgrade past the software you now have, and will soon be phased out of new updates and options across all application types.
The solution is quite simple: upgrade or replace your OS before the April 11 deadline. It matters not if you replace the entire system or just upgrade Vista to a newer OS such as Windows 7, 8.1 or, Windows 10. Vista will continue to work after April 11, but every day you use it puts your system at increasingly higher levels of risk.
Call me at 903 606 0200 to plan your upgrade today.