Windows XP is headed for the great, green rolling-pasture wallpaper in the sky starting early this April, and people are beginning to freak out about it, with Microsoft's help.

Microsoft is ending support for its ancient operating system Windows XP on April 8. Honestly, it's about time (considering XP first rolled out in 2001) and Microsoft is no longer being gentle about it.

"Our guidance is that you need to get off XP. It's really that black and white," said Tom Murphy, Microsoft's spokesman handling the end of XP support, to the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday. Microsoft really wants Windows XP users to move on, preferably by buying a new Surface laptop, of course. But the company is nearly at the point of saying any newer Microsoft operating system will do.

For those on XP worried about what will happen, the question is, "What does 'ending support' mean?" According to Microsoft, which is no longer dancing around the issue, "End of support means that software updates for Windows XP will no longer be distributed by Microsoft or its hardware partners. This includes security updates that help protect PCs from viruses, spyware, and other malicious software that can steal or damage personal information. It also includes maintenance updates that improve reliability and performance and ensure that Windows XP works well with other software and hardware."

If that warning, in the guise of a definition, is enough to get users to switch from XP, here are the system requirements for Windows 7 (pretty doable, even for an older machine), Windows 8.1, and a guide for switching from Windows Vista or XP to Windows 8.1.

The ATM Problem

While upgrading an OS at home is relatively easy (or just buy Grandma a cheap Chromebook), what about one of the most common public computers throughout the world, 95 percent of which use Windows XP? They handle your money, they're running a soon-to-be abandoned operating system, and they're a pain to update: Automated Teller Machines, or ATMs.

The end of Microsoft's XP support is an "XP Armageddon," according to Scott Kinka, chief technology officer at Evolve IP, who spoke to ABC News. About 200,000 ATMs rely on Windows XP but only 15 percent of banks are ready for the loss of support before the deadline, according to Kinka. That's partly because, while new ATMs can be updated remotely, older machines actually have to have a technician visit and upgrade the software manually.

Machines that are not updated will be vulnerable to hackers, said Kinka, but don't run out and pull your savings just yet. If you're a customer, you're safe because, among other reasons, accounts are FDIC insured, and no one would be able to pull enough money out of an ATM to breach that limit. Also, the banks would be liable in that situation, not you. And while Jeffrey Dudash of NCR, the country's largest ATM manufacturer, optimistically told ABC that as much as one third of banks will meet the XP deadline, some banks are also reportedly contracting with Microsoft for continued custom XP support while they make the change-over.

But keeping an eye out for unauthorized withdrawals is always a good idea, anyway, in this day and age -- after all, some hacker in Russia might be selling your debit card number right now.