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03 Jul 2006
Microsoft will discontinue extended support for Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition and Windows Millennium edition from 11 July.
The move, which is being made in accordance with the Microsoft Support Lifecycle Policy, effectively means that the software giant will end public and technical support, including security updates, by this date.
Microsoft said that existing support documents and content will continue to be available through the Microsoft Help and Support website.
"Microsoft is retiring support for these products because they are outdated and can expose customers to security risks," the company said.
"We recommend customers who are still running Windows 98 or Windows Me to upgrade to a newer, more secure Microsoft operating system, such as Windows XP, as soon as possible."
Microsoft will also end all public assisted support for Windows XP Service Pack 1 on 10 October. This means that the firm will no longer provide any incident support options or security updates for this retired service pack.
"To enhance the security of your computer and to continue to receive updates for Windows XP, we recommend you upgrade your computer, for free, to Windows XP Service Pack 2," Microsoft said.
However, the company stated that it will make Custom Support Agreements (CSAs) available for "eligible enterprise customers under qualified conditions" .
But CSA customers are also encouraged to consider switching to Windows Vista as part of their migration plans.
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Do you agree?
98 ME RIP
I would love to run XP on my machines can anybody tell me how to run int on a 400Mhz machine with limited memory and still run anything else!
Posted by: Luddite 09 Aug 2006
Reply to MTW
MTW, Sorry, but Microsoft has supplied a little bit more than a week's notice. They have been telling us since XP was launched that they would eventually drop support for 98 and ME, just as they they warned us that they were dropping support for 95 and 3.1 and 3.0 and 2.0 and 1.0 not to mention DOS 6.2, 6.1 etc., etc. If you check out their website, you will probably find a "Roadmap" for currently supported software showing some date well in the future when they plan to stop supporting it. It doesn't mean that any of these versions won't work any more, it just means that MS won't fix any new defects found now. Stick your 98 machine behind a UNIX firewall, keep the last version of Zone Alarm that supports 98 and make sure that you have a "Disaster Recovery" backup.
Posted by: David 11 Jul 2006
W98 will live for quite a while yet
At least it will on my PC and laptop. Not that I actually use it on the PC, but it's still there in case Windows is needed to print something that I don't have a Linux driver for. I'll keep using W98 on my laptop until it dies, which hopefully won't be for a few years yet. I run Sygate's firewall and AVG's anti-virus software. For internet banking I use a clean boot from a Puppy Linux live CD to minimise the risk of being hacked. As for whether the other poster should have known about the end of support, it has been well published by Microsoft. Panic not, be careful, and enjoy the fast, small, old W98. A pity that MS can't issue a small OS today...
Posted by: Jeffrey Ross 06 Jul 2006
MS axe support for W98 and Me
1. A week's warning for customers. Should I have been aware that this was imminent? 2. If customers have to renew their software every few years this could work out expensive. 3. Is support going to come from elsewhere? 4. Zone alarm are also not providing support for W98 and ME
Posted by: MTW 03 Jul 2006