Vista RTM reaches end of support

Stephen Withers
Wednesday, 14 April 2010 11:17

Business IT - Technology

The originally released version of Windows Vista will no longer be supported by Microsoft.

Microsoft has warned those still using the original ('released to manufacture') version of Vista that it is no longer being supported as of April 13, 2010 (US time).

This means that this month's Patch Tuesday security updates will be the last for Vista RTM.

The company is urging its customer to update to Vista SP1 as a minimum, and preferably to SP2. It may be necessary to install various other updates before SP1.

Microsoft recommends the use of Microsoft Update or Windows Update to keep its operating systems and other software up to date. Larger organisations tend to prefer to test the updates centrally and then deploy them to the PC fleet.

Vista SP1 or SP2 isn't the only option. "Alternatively, users may wish to consider trying out the additional features and benefits in Microsoft's latest operating system, Windows 7," company officials said.

Other versions of Windows go out of support in coming months - please read on.