Patch Tuesday Warmup: Internet Explorer Sunset and Windows XP Embedded End of Support

As we are waiting for the Microsoft Santa to slide down our Data Center air conditioning duct later today to deliver a delicious package of patches (did you leave some floppy disks and a can of red bull out for him?), we got a couple other announcements from Microsoft that should not be overlooked:

- January will be the last month Microsoft will provide updates for any Internet Explorer version other than Internet Explorer 11! Even Internet Explorer 10 will no longer be supported after January patch Tuesday (January 12th, 2016).

- Support will also end for Windows XP Embedded. This will also make it more difficult for other Windows XP left-overs that tricked their version to use the Embedded updates. But nobody should be running XP anyway (right?).

- Still running Windows 7 or 8.1 (sure way to stay on MSFT Santa's "naughty" list)? Rumor has it that with today's patch Tuesday, Microsoft may re-enable the auto-upgrade to Windows 10. You may flip the switch back to not update, but it will set itself to "on" once a day.

[1] https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/WindowsForBusiness/End-of-IE-support
[2] https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/search/default.aspx?=&alpha=Windows%20XP
​[3] http://www.computerworld.com/article/3012278/microsoft-windows/microsoft-sets-stage-for-massive-windows-10-upgrade-strategy.html#tk.rss_all