As the hours tick away Microsoft has been encouraging people to ditch Windows XP
Support for the venerable Windows XP operating system ends this Tuesday.
It means that there will be no more official security updates and bug fixes for the operating system from Microsoft.
Some governments have negotiated extended support contracts for the OS in a bid to keep users protected.
Security firms said anyone else using the 13-year-old software would be at increased risk of infection and compromise by cyber-thieves.
Old code
Statistics suggest 20-25% of all users have stuck with XP despite the fact that there have been three major releases of Windows since its debut in 2001.
Some of those existing XP users have struck deals to get security fixes from Microsoft while they complete their migration away from the ageing code.
The UK government has signed a £5.5m deal for extended support. Similarly the Dutch government has signed a "multi-million euro" deal to obtain help for the 40,000 PCs running XP used by the nation's civil servants.
Anyone currently running Windows XP already faced a disproportionate risk of falling victim to malware, said David Emm, a senior research analyst at security firm Kaspersky.
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