PANIC SOME MORE!

A few days ago, the headlines were large! News anchors were breathless! The internet was abuzz! Our phone lines were slammed!  No, Kim Kardashian didn’t post a new bikini selfie. This was even more-better!

The big news was that, as of April 8th, Windows XP is now officially retired. The bigger news is to STOP PANICKING! Seriously, you'd have thought the world was coming to an end if you could listen to my business phones. Folks were trampling my office staff trying to buy new computers because they thought theirs would stop working.  If I were a smart businessman, I’d just shut up and take their money. But I don’t operate like that which is why I’m not a full time sailboat captain by now).

The spiel we have been repeating over and over these past couple of week goes like this: If you are happy with your antique computer now, keep on using it. Nothing will change for you. However, there are some things you need to begin to ponder: Microsoft will no longer issue security updates for Windows XP. Those updates sometimes patch vulnerabilities that hackers and virus authors use to exploit your computer. That really isn’t a big deal. You see, the biggest security risk on XP computers is Internet Explorer--the browser you use to access the web. Internet Explorer has always been crappy so the easy fix is to download either Firefox (from www.mozilla.org) or Google’s Chrome browser (www.google.com/chrome). Chrome is my personal choice because it’s much faster than anything else. They are both faster and more secure than Internet Explorer.

Using these browsers is much like watching your favorite TV show on a different brand of TV. The

knobs and stuff will be in slightly different locations but most folks can easily figure it out. We have had one or two clients who just can’t handle the slightest of changes. If you are one of those, please step away from your computer. The ever-changing world of computing is simply not for you.

The  biggest problem XP users will soon begin to experience is hardware compatibility. Now that XP is retired, manufacturers of printers, cameras and other hardware devices will no longer supply the software necessary for their device to work with XP. They will only include support for Vista, 7 and 8. So if your old printer stops working and you have to purchase another, you won’t be able to find one that works with XP.

The bottom line: You need to start thinking about buying a new computer sometime soon. You will know that time has come when you need to do something with your computer but can’t because you are using XP. For some, that will happen very soon. For others, that won’t happen for a couple more years. So don’t worry, be happy!