Windows 95/98/ME

End Of Support For Windows 98/Me

As of July 11, 2006 Microsoft brought to a close the Extended Support for Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Me. Microsoft retired public and technical support, including security updates from this date.

End Of Support For Windows 95

As of December 2001 Windows 95 entered its non-supported life. What this means in practical terms is that there will be no more security updates or patches for 95 systems and Microsoft will not test 95 for vulnerabilities nor support it in any way.

Insecure Versions

The Windows 9x stream is insecure generally and cannot be made properly secure. While using a firewall will help protect you from external attack when connected to the Internet, the 9x stream is old and out of date in many ways. Users of this stream are advised to upgrade to a currently supported and securable version of Windows if your hardware is up to it. If not you should seriously consider getting new hardware.

Blocked Access

Because of the above, as of this year, we will not be allowing any Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows ME equipped computers access to the College Network.

Allowed Access

Windows XP and Windows Vista are currently the Windows versions for desktops we recommend, however, Windows 2000 is accecptable as long as a third party firewall is installed and configured to meet College and University rules. Users should be aware of the differences between the Home and Professional versions of XP - see;

http://www-tus.csx.cam.ac.uk/pc_support/WinXP/XPoverview.html

In Windows XP, there are a number of things you should do to help protect your system, see;

http://www-tus.csx.cam.ac.uk/pc_support/WinXP/collegehome.html