Windows 98 & ME Support Stopped

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It may come as a shock to many that there are still millions of Windows 98 and Millennium users out there, so if you’re one of the flock seemingly stuck in a time warp prick up your ears because its now officially time to move on…

From 11 July daddy Microsoft will formally cut ties with its siblings as part of the ‘Microsoft Lifecycle Policy’ retiring public and technical support, including security updates. The important phrase in this last sentence is ‘including security updates’ and should send ice through the veins since it means all vulnerabilities will go untreated from here on.

To quote the official company line: “Microsoft is retiring support for these products because they are outdated and can expose customers to security risks. We recommend that customers who are still running Windows 98 or Windows Me upgrade to a newer, more secure Microsoft operating system, such as Windows XP, as soon as possible.”

To be fair, the eight and six years since these platforms debuted respectively is akin to 20 or 30 years in most other industries and it is a scary day on planet earth when Microsoft officially admits a product’s security risks. Take heed, upgrade.

In related news it is also worth noting that support for Windows XP Service Pack 1 comes to an end on 10 October. This may seem a little drastic since XP currently remains the company’s OS of choice but quite frankly SP2 is a free download and if you haven’t yet made the jump you’re a muppet.

For more info head on over here, that is if your haggard , old machine can take it…

Links:
Windows 98 Official Site (yes it still exists)
Windows Me Official Site (yes this one too!)

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