David,
Thanks for the detailed response.
Being a non-techie, may I ask if this means that when Avast offers a new program that I should decline to install it so long as I'm still running XP?
My plan was to continue running XP until my old Dell Vostro computer gives up the ghost (which shouldn't be too far off) and then buy a new computer bundled with Windows 7.
Any suggestions on that?
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You're welcome.
Bob gives some valuable advice to perhaps extend the life of your Dell Vostro, I rather doubt it would be as tolerant to an update to Vista (no way) or win7 (possibly, but generally uses more resources than XP).
If you can continue using XP with the obvious security implications after April 2014 (no more security updates) or go down the upgrade to win8.1; this would give you more time to consider what new system and OS to choose.
They are already talking about win8.2 in some of the technical media; I think MS still aren't happy that people haven't taken to win8 in the droves they had hoped for. One article I read indicated that win8 and 8.1 combined only had 9% of the OS Market share, whilst win7 had over 50% and the thorn in their side, XP still retained 34% market share. I guess MS are hoping that come April there will be lots more win8 customers for them, me, I think they may be surprised at the numbers still sticking with XP (many corporate users, and some reluctant home users).
By all accounts win8.2 is meant to make it more user friendly for those desktop/non touch screen users reluctant to change/upgrade.