Yes, it has been mentioned it before and more than once, the support for Microsoft’s Windows XP and Office 2003 ends next year on April 8th.

What’s more, it is likely that new application programmes becoming available will not

work with XP, and as there will no technical support from the above date it could spell problems for you.

Now you may have decided that you couldn’t care less about going to Windows 7 or 8 but security issues are the reason for taking a more serious approach to this matter.

There is also a problem for users of Office 2003 which similarly will have no technical support from 2014.

If you come to the conclusion that perhaps you ought to move with the times then should you upgrade to Windows 7 or 8?

Firstly, decide whether you intend to invest in a new laptop or desktop or tablet computer. For the desktop computer Windows 7 will do the job for you, for a laptop with touchscreen it is Windows 8 and similarly for the Windows tablet [called Surface Pro], and if you prefer a laptop without touchscreen then Windows 7 could be your choice.

Most likely you’ll find that new machines on offer all come with Windows 8 installed irrespective of whether they have touchscreen or not, so it is a good idea to talk to Kapiti SeniorNet about your needs at one of the Q&A sessions to gain a better understanding of which options may serve your needs best.

As for the current Office Suite of programmes it likewise pays to get an opinion so you can gauge the need for an upgrade to Office 2010 or 2013 or whether to go to the gratis suites from LibreOffice or OpenOffice, which do most of things you can do with Windows Office.

Both Windows 7 and Windows 8 have a so-called compatibility mode to allow programmes that run on XP to still run on the newer operating systems. But XP operating system is now past its best before date by some margin.

So give it some thought, come and talk to Kapiti SeniorNet at the Q&A sessions and they quite often have speakers to bring you up-to-date with what’s happening in our world of technology. In fact I note the next session is on Thursday, 15 August at 09.30 at their Learning Centre, 200 Matai Road, Raumati Beach.  Good Opportunity!

Safe computing.