As of April 8, Microsoft will no longer service or update the popular operating system Windows XP, the company announced online. When the security updates begin to stagnate, computers running on Windows XP will become vulnerable to viruses and information breaches that Microsoft previously protected against, the announcement continued, and both software and hardware utilized by PCs will no longer be compatible with Windows XP systems.
Many computers at MHS, including the desktop computers that every teacher and computer lab on campus has, still runs on the Windows XP operating system, Principal Kenneth Schlaff said. Although most teachers who requested a laptop have received one from the school, the outdated desktop computers remain in their rooms to use, Schlaff said.
“A lot of [teachers] just go on the internet for Ares, for taking attendance, and most of them don’t even use the desktop for that, they just use the laptop,” Schlaff said. “Once those [desktops] go down, we don’t replace them, we just get rid of them. Every teacher that wanted a laptop has a laptop.”
The majority of the (x number of) computers available for student use in the L building and J building computer labs and the MHS library run the compromised operating system, according to (Sean from IT; he needs to respond to me). Although Chromebooks, smartphones, and personal laptops are becoming more ubiquitous on campus, many students still use the school desktop computers for classes and for personal use (someone I guess, hopefully Sean). However, as more Windows XP computers become compromised by lapses in security, these desktop computers will no longer be secure methods of printing documents from students’ emails, or for using websites where students must enter private login details, source.
“Next year, though, all of those [lab computers] are going away, except the printers. All that stuff becomes mobile; [Ms. Yanaska] will have the laptops she uses for mobility, all the other stuff is gone,” Schlaff said. “We have the Wi-Fi and the connectivity, we’re not going to replace that stuff with a desktop. All that stuff’s getting traded over. There’s nothing else.”
