Best Buy attempts to lure Windows XP refugees with a $100 trade-in credit

By Mike Epstein Published April 4, 2014

Best Buy is making a move likely in an effort to capitalize on last-minute Windows XP migrants prior to Microsoft’s April 8 end-of-support deadline. Starting Sunday, Best Buy will offer people who trade in their Windows XP PC a $100 credit towards the purchase of a new PC, Mac or Chromebook.

Although ditching Windows XP is certainly not mandatory, using the 13-year old operating system once it stops receiving support could come with serious risks. Both private and government entities have warned of the dangers that could come with continued use of Windows XP. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has advised that people who continue to use XP should switch to a Web browser other than Internet Explorer after April 8. Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Opera will continue to receive XP support, though Chrome and Firefox only support Windows XP Service Pack 2 or later.

Recommended Videos

Best Buy’s trade in is similar to the one announced by Microsoft a few weeks ago, which offered owners of XP-powered PCs $100 towards the purchase of select Windows 8 PC priced $599 or higher.

If you’re one of the stubborn XP users who simply refuses to budge, feel free to check out our guide on how to survive the end of Windows XP support.

What do you think? Sound off in the comments below.

Former Associate Editor, Gaming

Michael is a New York-based tech and culture reporter, and a graduate of Northwestwern University’s Medill School of…

Topics

Computing

Apple’s Hide My Email feature has an unfixed bug that leaves email addresses exposed

100% exploitable in limited testing, known since June 2025, and still unfixed as of today.

apple-merging-sign-in-with-apple-hide-my-email-icloud+

Apple has been selling Hide My Email to keep your real email address hidden, but it has a vulnerability that does the exact opposite. The worst part is that the company has known about it for a year.

Hide My Email, part of Apple’s paid iCloud+ subscription, lets users generate anonymous email addresses for signing up to a website, so that their personal or work email remains free of promotional emails and spam.

Computing

I hate sharing my Mac, but a face-unlocking app finally cured my privacy paranoia

Someone finally built the app locker every Mac user has been asking for.

FaceGate in action on Mac

If you have ever handed your Mac to a friend, family member, or coworker for "just a minute," you know the mild panic that follows. Sure, your Mac has a lock screen, but once someone is past it, they can open Messages, Photos, Notes, Mail, WhatsApp, and your browser.

iPhones had the same issue, but Apple solved it by adding an app lock feature with the iOS 18 update. Sadly, no such feature exists for macOS. That’s where the new FaceGate app for Mac can help you. It’s a free and open-source app that lets you lock apps on your Mac and even has some novel tricks up its sleeve. So, let’s talk about it, shall we?

Computing

The charm of a tiny Windows tablet is apparently at Microsoft. Long live the Surface Go!

Microsoft’s budget Surface era may be over

Microsoft Surface Go 3 stand.

Microsoft might be cleaning up its Surface lineup. According to Windows Central, Microsoft has stopped manufacturing the Surface Go and Surface Laptop Go lines, with no successors currently planned. Surface Go 4 and Surface Laptop Go 3 are reportedly out of stock in most places, and once remaining retail stock is gone, that may be it.

If this is true, then we are looking at the end of the brand's budget Surface PCs as Microsoft has plenty of premium Windows hardware.