Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Millennium Edition Support ends on July 11, 2006

Final customer notification about the end of Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Millennium Edition Extended Support

Support for Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Millennium Edition (Me) ends on July 11, 2006. Microsoft will end public and technical support by this date. This also includes security updates. Microsoft is providing final notifications to customers to end the extended security update support for these products.

Microsoft is ending support for these products because they are outdated and these older operating systems can expose customers to security risks. We recommend that customers who are still running Windows 98 or Windows Me upgrade to a newer, more secure Microsoft operating system, such as Windows XP, as soon as possible.

Key dates:

* Paid incident support and critical security updates for Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Me will end on July 11, 2006. No other security updates will follow after this date.
* Online self-help support will be available at the Microsoft Support Web site until at least July 11, 2007.
* The Windows 98 and Windows 98 Second Edition Extended Support end date was moved from January 16, 2004 to June 30, 2006.
* In January 2006, Microsoft announced an adjustment to the Microsoft Support Lifecycle expiration dates, moving the Extended Support end date for Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Me to July 11, 2006. Details about the announcement can be found at http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifean17/.
* No-charge incident support and extended hotfix support for Windows Me ended on December 31, 2003, and for Windows 98 and Windows 98 Second Edition ended on June 30, 2003.

Microsoft announced Product Support Lifecycle Policy as early as October 15, 2002.

http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifean18