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Windows 8.1 update said to arrive when XP ends

Mark your calendars. Early April promises Windows updates as well as the end of support for Windows XP.

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Brooke Crothers
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Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor
Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.
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Windows 8.1 update will be more mouse friendly, among other tweaks.
Windows 8.1 update will be more mouse friendly, among other tweaks. Dell

April 8 is the day support for XP ends. Though it may be cold comfort for XP users, it may also be the day that Microsoft updates Windows 8.1.

Early April is shaping up to be a watershed of sorts for Windows users. At the same time that support for Windows XP is ending, the Windows 8.1 update is arriving to the general public, according to Neowin, citing a tweet from Supersite for Windows.

That date "="" rel="follow">was also suggested earlier this month.

And April 8 is also the day for Microsoft's "Patch Tuesday," when it releases updates and fixes for a variety of Windows products.

But getting back to the Windows 8.1 update. A week before April 8, on April 2, MSDN users may be able to get the update, according to the same report.

Microsoft Vice President Joe Belfiore said at Mobile World Congress this week that the company wants to "make things better" for users without touchscreens.

Those changes may include new right-clickable context-sensitive menus, the ability to pin Metro apps to the Desktop task bar, and adding dedicated search and power buttons to the Start screen, as described earlier this month by ZDNet.

Meanwhile, the countdown for the end of support for XP continues. "There will be no more security updates or technical support for the Windows XP operating system," as Microsoft has made amply clear.