14 DAY TRIAL // Starting March 8, Microsoft will assault users still running Windows XP with upgrade notifications in order to make sure everyone on this platform is aware that end of support is coming.
While this is clearly a very aggressive strategy that might annoy plenty of users still on Windows XP, it’s worth mentioning that the messages will be delivered to computers following a patch shipped on March 8 via Windows Update, so it should be very easy to block it.
And still, we’re receiving plenty of questions from users curious to find out whether the notifications could be disabled or not.
Well, it turns out that the notifications displayed on Windows XP computers will come with a small option that says “Don’t show this message again” which basically means that once users enable it, no other warnings would be provided to their computers.
“On March 8th, 2014, Windows XP customers using the Home or Professional editions who have elected to receive updates via Windows Update will receive an official notification on their desktop screen via Windows Update informing them that support for Windows XP will end on April 8th, 2014,” Microsoft said in a blog post published yesterday.
At the same time, the notification will also include a link to the Windows XP end of support page that will provide information on what you need to do in order to successfully move to Windows 7 or Windows 8.1.
“The notification will include a link to our Windows XP End of Support website where Windows XP users can find all the information they need on the end of support for Windows XP and what it means and how they can stay protected against security risks and viruses after April 8th,” the company also noted.
Unless you disable it, the notification will be displayed on the 8th of each month, so you’ll basically get to see it once a month if you do not turn it off.
Windows XP continues to be the second most-used operating system worldwide, with a market share of 29 percent, while market leader Windows 7 is installed on nearly half of desktop PCs.
Of course, Microsoft still hopes that Windows XP users will move on and switch to either Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 as soon as possible, especially because support for its ancient operating system will come to an end on April 8, 2014 so no other patches and security fixes will be delivered to users.