Next week, on July 13, Microsoft will be ending its support for Windows XP with Service Pack 2 - a popular operating system that many of our clients have used for years. Now, an end of support doesn´t mean that your software will magically stop functioning. It does mean that Microsoft won´t be issuing software updates for this version of XP anymore. You won´t be getting any more patches or updates to improve system reliability, stability, or security. If on July 14th a big new security threat exploits an as-yet undiscovered loophole in XP running Service Pack 2, best of luck to you – Microsoft won´t have a patch for it.

What to do? Either install Service Pack 3 for free, or transition to Windows 7. For a lot of companies who are still operating with very tight budgets, the former option might be the only truly viable one - not to mention that a lot of businesses are understandably reluctant to upgrade to Windows 7 until there´s been at least one service pack release.

It´s natural not to want to make a major investment in a full-scale operating system overhaul for every computer in your company. However, you´d do well to start thinking about how you´re going to address this transition over time. Think about which users are really going to need Windows 7 and who can wait. That way you can prioritize upgrades and do it in a gradual way - a few computers one quarter, a few more the next - that will minimize shocks to your budget and to your user base.

(Note: There´s no Service Pack 3 for the 64-bit version of Windows XP. If you're running the 64-bit version of Windows XP with SP2, you have the latest service pack and will continue to be eligible for support and receive updates until April 8, 2014. If you´re not sure which version you´re running, click here.)