Soooo... what are our options? Can we safely muddle by for a while?
No. It's practically guaranteed that criminals have been stockpiling exploits, waiting for the day XP goes out of support. Why release a virus or trojan today, when Microsoft might find it and fix the problem, when you can just wait a few weeks and profit from your malware indefinitely?
This is a really good point. But just to clarify what is going on for those who haven't heard.
Usually, cybersecurity is a cat and mouse game. The hackers release a virus, Microsoft finds the virus, figures out how it breaks things and fixes the problem. Or, Microsoft finds a problem, fixes it and the hackers look at the fix that gets released and say "oh so thats how we hack that." They develop a virus that exploits the bug that has been fixed and release it hoping to get all the people who don't update their operating system (so even if you do upgrade to a different operating system BE SURE TO ALWAYS ALLOW UPDATES).
So what Microsoft is doing is saying "Windows XP is really old, we have better products that people should use. Thus starting April 8th we aren't going to play the security game anymore for it"
So after April 8th, your Windows XP machine will never get another security update. Every time a hacker makes a virus, Microsoft wont release a fix to close the hole. So I agree with warfreak2, you cant safely muddle by for a while. You need to upgrade to something else immediately.
Options:
1) Either upgrade your windows installation and continue using all of the same programs:
Windows 7, $99
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00H09BB16/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00H09BB16&linkCode=as2&tag=kayaklines-20Windows 8, $99
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EDSI7QO/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00EDSI7QO&linkCode=as2&tag=kayaklines-202) Or not spend any money and try a linux distribution. You will not be able to use any of the software you have purchased for your windows XP machine (without getting really technical) but there are free alternatives available for almost any task. You can also try most linux distributions for free without changing your computer at all. Use whats called a "Live CD" put it in your computer and reboot. A live CD will not make any changes to your computer but will work as a linux box until you take the CD out and reboot again. If you decide to go Linux full time after trying out the CD, you can usually just double click the "install" icon it will show on the desktop. Two versions that are usually recommended for Linux Beginners are:
Ubuntu Linux, Free
http://www.ubuntu.com/desktopMint Linux, Free
http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php3) Keep Windows XP, and if you are connected to the internet you will get hacked and have at least your email hacked and possibly your credit card numbers stolen.
Your Choice.