As the end of Windows XP’s support gets ever closer—just over a month to go—Microsoft has shown what it’s going to do to inform users of the change.
Windows XP machines that have automatic updates enabled will be sent a pop-up message on March 8 to tell them that Windows XP will lose support on April 8. From the message, XP users will be able to visit the end-of-support website. The message will pop up on the eighth of every month unless users elect to never see it again.
If you’re not sure if you’re using Windows XP or not, Microsoft has a site that will try to tell you. There are, no doubt, ways of getting it to tell Mac users that they’re running Windows XP, too, so we anticipate plenty of sarcastic pictures on Twitter.
Over the years, Microsoft has offered various migration tools for moving files and settings from one machine to another; Windows Easy Transfer and the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard are two examples. The company is now promoting a third tool to Windows XP users in its continued efforts to get them to upgrade to Windows 8.1—later this week, Laplink’s PCmover Express for Windows XP will be downloadable from Microsoft. This isn’t actually a new promotion, though, as Laplink has offered the software for free for a few months to those moving from XP to 8.1.