WARNING - Extended Support for XP to cease very soon!

My understanding is that MS will very soon completely cease providing support to the XP operating system. See here. I presume that this would then render the XP OS vulnerable to anti social computer users!         

Others with more knowledge/information may be able to clarify the situation more exactly.

Obviously it is known that MSTS operates OK under Windows 7 OS so long as the guidelines produced by Steam4me - see HFL Part 2 - are followed.

Reference should be made to Ged's work on MSTS and the Windows 8 OS!

I assume that so long as a computer is totally isolated from the internet then MSTS can probably still be safely run under XP - again others may be able to confirm this!

Almost certainly MS are developing W9, W10, etc.; so its anybody's guess as to how they would react to MSTS. Bearing in mind that in July of this year MSTS will reach it's 13th birthday it's perhaps hardly surprising!

Does anyone know how long MS are likely to support Windows7?

Hi Alec,
Support for Windows 7 ceases in 2020! See here : http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/lifecycle

If a PC is never connected to the internet, it can't pick up any malware that way.  However, it could still contract some illness from files which are copied on to it!  Therefore, it's important that before files are copied over, they are scanned with your current system's anti-virus to ensure they are safe.  

Cheers,
Ged

Hi Ged, Alec and all of our members,
Can I also add that this isn't a thread to start hitting the panic buttons (Just yet!)
I think if everyone has a fairly decent XP Setup and that everyone whom owns an XP Operating System, that as long as backup's are done and a decent Malware, antivirus & firewall program and it is kept up to date I don't foresee any issues.....
Microsoft have stated elsewhere that they are keen to rectify the faults with Windows 8 in their next release of Windows 9; which they say should be out by next year! Just don't hold you're breath on that one!
Cheers
Andy

Having thought about this I realised that we are all missing the proverbial elephant in the room; namely the potential dearth of electricity to run our computers! The lack of investment in power stations whether they be coal, gas or nuclear means that in a very short time power cuts are a distinct possibility!         

Unlike Andy, I do foresee issues for people still running XP on an internet-connected computer.

Anti-virus software will not protect it against all attempts at hacking and the anti-virus software developers will slowly reduce their support for XP as well. I suspect there are hackers (twisted minds that they are) sitting around rubbing their hands because is will soon be open season on people who continue to use XP.

The only safe solution is to take an XP machine off the internet and off any network that has access to the internet. Otherwise there is a risk.

Bob.