From today Vista gets no more security fixes. Find every computer still running it or XP, move banking, card payments, email and website logins to a supported machine, change those passwords, and replace the rest.

The end of support

Microsoft's support for Windows Vista ends today. Weaknesses discovered from now on will not be fixed, however serious they turn out to be.

Nothing visible happens. The computer at the front desk will start tomorrow exactly as it did this morning, which is why plenty of Vista machines will still be in use next year.

Vista arrived on new computers in early 2007, so most machines still running it are about ten years old. Windows XP, which lost support three years ago, is still on some of them too.

The question for a small office is not whether the old computer still works. It is what that computer is trusted with.

What changes from today

Windows receives regular fixes for weaknesses as they are found. Vista will now keep every weakness found from here on, and the people who write malicious software know that.

The rest of the software on these machines is already falling away. Chrome stopped updating on Vista and XP a year ago, and Internet Explorer on Vista stops at version 9.

That version cannot use the newer secure connection standards banks and payment pages are moving to, and card payment pages must stop accepting the oldest ones by the end of June next year.

Antivirus makers will drop Vista on their own schedules, but no antivirus can repair Windows itself.

What not to do on an old computer

The third is the one owners forget. Malicious software that collects passwords from an office computer is a common way into small business websites, and once inside, intruders add spam pages, redirects and hidden code.

Why banking comes first

Software that watches for banking logins settles most easily on machines that no longer receive fixes. On a business account, money moved by someone using your own login can be very hard to recover.

Check what your business banking agreement says about the computers used to sign in. Responsibility for their security may rest with you.

Moving banking to a supported computer takes an afternoon at most, and it does not need to wait for anything else on this list.

Finding the old machines

Walk around the office and check every computer, including the laptop in the cupboard and the spare kept for the day the main one fails.

On Vista and Windows 7, open the Start menu, right-click Computer and choose Properties. The window that opens names the version of Windows near the top.

XP is easier to spot: a green Start button with the word start on it. The sticker on the case shows what the computer came with, though not always what it runs now.

Write down what each machine is used for, who uses it and what software it needs. That list decides everything that follows.

A worked example

A sixteen-room motel at the edge of a lakeside town has one computer at the front desk, bought in 2008 and still running Vista.

It runs the reservation program, the bank's web page for taking card payments over the phone, the owners' email, online banking and the login to the website's booking calendar. Every password is saved in the browser.

Asked this month, the reservation program's supplier offered a current version for Windows 10 and said it would move the booking history across. A new front desk computer is on order.

Card payments moved this week to a standalone terminal on the counter, so card numbers no longer pass through the computer's browser at all.

Banking moved to the owners' newer laptop the same afternoon. From that laptop they changed the passwords for the bank, the email, the website and the hosting account, since the old machine had seen them all.

Change passwords from the new machine

Moving logins to a new computer is only half the job. Any password typed or saved on the old one should be treated as possibly known to someone else.

Change them from the supported machine: banking, email, the domain registrar, the hosting account, the website's admin and any card payment accounts.

Give each person their own login wherever the service allows it, so the next change does not depend on remembering who knew the shared one.

Where the bank, the email provider or the registrar offers two-step verification, a code sent to a phone as well as the password, turn it on while you are there.

Upgrade or replace

Vista was never offered the free upgrade to Windows 10, which ended last July anyway. Upgrading means buying a licence for hardware that may struggle to run it.

For a computer about ten years old, a replacement with Windows 10 already installed usually makes more sense than putting money into the old one.

Before buying, list the programs each machine needs and confirm they have versions for Windows 10. Printers, accounting software and older specialist programs are the usual surprises.

Set a date to retire the old machine once its replacement is running. Otherwise it lingers on a desk as a spare, until someone uses it for banking again.

The counter-case

A Vista computer that never connects to the internet and does a single job, such as driving a label printer, carries far less risk, provided nobody uses it for email or browsing.

A machine sitting unplugged in a cupboard poses no risk until someone plugs it back in. Offices on Windows 7, Windows 10 or Macs have nothing to do today; Windows 7 is supported until January 14, 2020.

But from today, no computer on Vista or XP should be used for banking, payments, email or the website.

Moving off Vista

  1. Check the version on every office computer.
  2. Include laptops, spares and home machines.
  3. Move banking to a supported computer today.
  4. Change every password from that computer.
  5. Ask software suppliers about current versions.
  6. Order replacements for the rest.
  7. Wipe old drives before they leave the building.

Step four is the step that tends to slip once the new computer is running. Moving the logins stops new exposure, but only new passwords close off whatever the old machine may already have given away.

Hidden code that reaches a website by a different route is covered in free premium themes from download sites.

Frequently asked questions

What happens to Vista computers after today?

They keep working, but Microsoft releases no more security fixes for Vista, so any weakness discovered from now on stays open on every machine running it.

Is Windows XP still safe to use?

No. XP lost support three years ago and has gone without security fixes since. The same advice applies: no banking, payments, email or website logins on it.

How can I tell which Windows a computer runs?

On Vista or Windows 7, open the Start menu, right-click Computer and choose Properties. The version of Windows is named near the top of the window that opens.

Why not log in to the website from it?

Malicious software that collects passwords from office computers is a common way into small business websites, where intruders then add spam pages, redirects and hidden code.

Can a Vista computer be upgraded to Windows 10?

Vista was never offered the free upgrade. A licence can be bought, but most computers around ten years old are better replaced than upgraded.

What about software that only runs on Vista?

Ask the supplier about a current version first. If there is none, keep that machine off the internet and away from email until it can be replaced.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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