{"id":5063,"date":"2014-03-17T12:30:39","date_gmt":"2014-03-17T16:30:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.nccomputertech.com\/?p=5063"},"modified":"2014-03-17T12:30:39","modified_gmt":"2014-03-17T16:30:39","slug":"microsoft-woos-windows-xp-holdouts-with-50-gift-cards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/03\/17\/microsoft-woos-windows-xp-holdouts-with-50-gift-cards\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft woos Windows XP holdouts with $50 gift cards"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With the clock ticking down until Windows XP goes end-of-life on April 8, Microsoft&#8217;s dangling $50 gift cards to coax people into buying new PCs and fleeing the threat of perpetual zero-day attacks.<\/p>\n<p>A new Microsoft Store offer entices holdouts with a $50 gift card, 90 days of free support, and free data transfer (using Laplink&#8217;s software) to their new PC. The free support is par for the course for Microsoft, while the Laplink data transfer off is open to all Windows XP users, so the $50 is the only truly unique part of the offer. The deal, which has been going since the beginning of the month and noticed by The Next Web this weekend, persists until April 30.<\/p>\n<p>The $50 gift card has a few strings attached, however. You&#8217;ll only receive the bonus if you buy one of the 16 devices profiled on the offer page: There are four laptops, four tablets, four hybrids, and four all-in-ones to choose from, all running Windows 8.1. The simply superb Dell Venue 8 Pro tablet is the cheapest option, ringing in at $230, though the $50 discount can&#8217;t be applied to the purchase of the new device; it&#8217;s only good for future Microsoft Store purchases.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pcworld.com\/article\/2108467\/microsoft-woos-windows-xp-holdouts-with-50-gift-cards.html\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/windows-xp-50-gift-card-offer-100250699-large.png\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>A $50 gift card might not be as tempting to stubborn Windows XP lovers as a $50 discount might be, but it&#8217;s a nice touch for folks already looking to jump ship from the soon-to-be-sunk operating system. And hey: Grabbing a new PC means never having to see Microsoft&#8217;s annoying &#8220;Run from Windows XP!&#8221; pop-ups again.<\/p>\n<p>Buying a new PC isn&#8217;t the only option for Windows XP owners, though. If you don&#8217;t have the cash or desire to buy a whole new PC but don&#8217;t mind trying something new, these three free Linux operating systems make it easy to migrate from Windows XP and they work just fine on older hardware. And if you absolutely, positively can&#8217;t break loose from the operating system\u2014like, say, because you have a critical program that only works on Windows XP\u2014be sure to check out PCWorld&#8217;s guide to staying secure after the Windows XPocalypse hits.<\/p>\n<p>Either way, you should be thinking about how you&#8217;re going to get away from Windows XP: Sticking with the operating system past April 8 is a security risk. Every single bulletin in this month&#8217;s Patch Tuesday touched Windows XP in some way, and after the OS goes end-of-life, those exploits will be wide-open &#8220;hit me!&#8221; signs for hungry hackers.<\/p>\n<p>via <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pcworld.com\/article\/2108467\/microsoft-woos-windows-xp-holdouts-with-50-gift-cards.html\" target=\"_blank\">Microsoft woos Windows XP holdouts with $50 gift cards | PCWorld<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With the clock ticking down until Windows XP goes end-of-life on April 8, Microsoft&#8217;s dangling $50 gift cards to coax [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5,11],"tags":[680,683,971,1214],"class_list":["post-5063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-microsoft","category-windows","tag-microsoft-2","tag-microsoft-store","tag-shopping","tag-windows-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/papNkV-1jF","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6418,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/09\/11\/windows-8-1-overtakes-windows-8-worldwide-as-windows-xp-refuses-to-die\/","url_meta":{"origin":5063,"position":0},"title":"Windows 8.1 overtakes Windows 8 worldwide, as Windows XP &#8216;refuses to die&#8217;","author":"NCCT","date":"September 11, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Microsoft staff will likely be raising a glass or two, thanks to the latest available data. According to new data released by StatCounter on Tuesday, the latest version of Windows 8.1 has overtaken its predecessor Windows 8 for the first time, in terms of internet usage worldwide. The research firm's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Microsoft&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Microsoft","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/microsoft\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/windows8-1-hero-610x343.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/windows8-1-hero-610x343.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/windows8-1-hero-610x343.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8744,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2015\/11\/11\/8744\/","url_meta":{"origin":5063,"position":1},"title":"Chrome to drop support for Windows XP, Windows Vista, and older Mac OS X versions in 2016","author":"NCCT","date":"November 11, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"By Ian Ginos | Neowin Google Chrome, by some estimates the world's third most popular desktop web browser, will cease to support older versions of Microsoft's Windows and Apple's OS X operating systems. In a recent blog post, Google announced that it intends to discontinue support for Chrome on Windows\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Apple&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Apple","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/apple\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5980,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/07\/15\/future-java-7-security-patches-will-work-on-windows-xp-despite-end-of-official-support\/","url_meta":{"origin":5063,"position":2},"title":"Future Java 7 security patches will work on Windows XP despite end of official support","author":"NCCT","date":"July 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Oracle has dispelled rumors that the upcoming security update for Java 7 and those it will release in the future might not work on Windows XP. \u201cWe expect all versions of Java that were supported prior to the Microsoft de-support announcement to continue to work on Windows XP for the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Security&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Security","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/security\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5652,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/06\/04\/windows-8-1-finally-overtakes-windows-8-in-usage-share\/","url_meta":{"origin":5063,"position":3},"title":"Windows 8.1 finally overtakes Windows 8 in usage share","author":"NCCT","date":"June 4, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Slowly but surely, Microsoft is getting users to leave Windows 8 behind and move on to Windows 8.1. According to Netmarketshare, usage of Windows 8.1 reached 6.35 percent of the overall operating system market share in May, finally moving ahead of Windows 8, which snagged 6.29 percent. While Windows 8\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Microsoft&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Microsoft","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/microsoft\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6235,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/08\/15\/how-long-before-microsoft-windows-xp-disappears\/","url_meta":{"origin":5063,"position":4},"title":"How long before Microsoft Windows XP disappears?","author":"NCCT","date":"August 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Netmarketshare's monthly updates on the state of the operating system and browser markets are useful not because the numbers are accurate \u2014 they clearly have a margin of error \u2014 but because they show trends. The most obvious trend at the moment is the decline of Microsoft's ancient Windows XP.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Microsoft&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Microsoft","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/microsoft\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/ziff-xpv7-2014-july-600-x-320-600x320.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/ziff-xpv7-2014-july-600-x-320-600x320.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/ziff-xpv7-2014-july-600-x-320-600x320.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7981,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2015\/04\/02\/a-year-after-its-demise-windows-xp-still-has-more-users-than-windows-8-and-8-1-combined\/","url_meta":{"origin":5063,"position":5},"title":"A year after its demise, Windows XP still has more users than Windows 8 and 8.1 combined","author":"NCCT","date":"April 2, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"With the upcoming anniversary of Windows XP reaching the end of its life, the OS still has more users than Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 combined. According to NetMarketShare, Windows XP still holds a market share of 16.94% as of March 2015. In the same report it shows that Windows\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Microsoft&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Microsoft","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/microsoft\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5063\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}