Windows XP has stood the test of time quite well and has remained one of the most popular versions of Windows for over a decade. Many personal users and businesses are still using Windows XP right now, but that needs to change, and soon.

Why? Microsoft will be killing ALL support for XP on April 8th 2014. How does that affect you? The main reason is security or lack thereof. If Microsoft isn’t providing routine security patches to the operating system then it can quickly become vulnerable to attack. There’s no doubt that once the deadline passes, Windows XP will likely become a breeding ground for malicious code like viruses and spyware since XP will basically have a target on it’s back for not having official support. For this reason alone it’s worth it to upgrade to Windows 7 or 8.1 and unfortunately for some users that may mean buying a new PC.

Of course there are other reasons to upgrade as well including driver support, live technical support from Microsoft, newer applications that won’t run on XP, website compatibility,  and not to mention the fact that a newer PC running Windows 7 or 8 will likely be many times faster. Although Windows 8 got off to a rocky start because of criticism over it’s user interface design, it’s probably one of Microsoft’s fastest versions of Windows.

So don’t wait till after the deadline to make your changes, start the upgrade now or at least put together a game plan, especially if you’re a business.