In a Wednesday post, Microsoft’s in-house Windows blogger Brandon LeBlanc reiterated the company’s October-last-year announcement of the imminent “end of support for certain Windows XP and Windows Vista versions;” thereby hinting that the company will end support for some older Windows versions in the first half of 2010.

Specifically speaking, while April 13 will mark the end of Microsoft’ support for Windows Vista RTM; July 13 will the company’s support ending for Windows XP SP2, all Windows 2000 versions, and Windows Server 2000. With the official support coming to an end for the mentioned products, Microsoft will stop issuing security updates for these products.

Furthermore, on July 13, Windows Server 2003 will be moved from Mainstream Support to Extended Support – implying that Microsoft will not thereafter provide warranty coverage, no-charge incident response, or feature requests and design changes for the server.

Noting that the ‘termination of support’ dates are drawing near, LeBlanc suggested that users “still on Windows XP SP2 install the latest service pack available via the Microsoft Update Web site - Windows XP Service Pack 3 - or look at moving to Windows 7.”

LeBlanc further recommended that all users should keep ‘Windows Update’ turned on – for free, new security updates and Windows service packs; as well as for latest updates to products like Microsoft Security Essentials and Internet Explorer 8.