Support Policy
Technical support is available for any installation, development, debugging and redistribution issues related to the purchased product. To resolve your support issue, it may be necessary for you to update your development system to use the current SocketTools release.
Free support options are available, and if a customer has additional support requirements, they may select one of the several paid support options. Support options fall into one of the following categories:
Standard Support
Standard Support includes unlimited e-mail support, and you should typically receive a response by the next business day. Licensed developers are entitled to free updates for the current release and are notified whenever a new release has been published. Standard support also includes access to all online support resources such as the knowledge base and technical reference documentation.
Priority Support
For customers who require additional support, Priority Support offers a guaranteed, priority response to technical support issues on the same business day. Corrections which require a source code change and/or documentation change to resolve a problem will be made available as a hotfix at no additional charge, and whenever there is a new product update or hotfix, customers will be automatically notified by e-mail.
Premium Support
For customers who have critical support needs, an annual Premium Support agreement offers both telephone and e-mail support, and a guaranteed four hour response time during business hours. This support option also includes all of the benefits of priority support, including hotfixes, source code analysis and assistance with example code. In addition, Premium Support also includes free upgrades if a new version of the product is released while the support agreement is active, ensuring that the customer is always working with the latest version. Please note that if Premium Support is ordered with a SocketTools Subscription, it will not extend the subscription renewal date.
Supported Platforms
Products developed for the Microsoft Windows platform follow Microsoft's product life cycle policy for their desktop and server operating systems. Support for an operating system will be provided during the mainstream and extended phases of the platform's life cycle and terminated when the operating system reaches the end-of-life.
Once support has ended for a platform, developers may continue to use self-help resources. However, technical support, product updates and hotfixes will be unavailable unless the reported problem can be reproduced on a supported platform.
The following table lists the version information and the end-of-life dates for the Windows operating system. Those versions of Windows which have reached end-of-life are no longer supported.
| Operating System | Minimum Version | End of Support |
|---|---|---|
| Windows 3.11 | 3.11 Build 2.09 | December 31, 2002 |
| Windows 95 | 4.00.950B OSR2 | December 31, 2002 |
| Windows NT 3.51 | 3.51.2012 | December 31, 2002 |
| Windows 98 | 4.10.1998 | July 11, 2006 |
| Windows Me | 4.90.3000 | July 11, 2006 |
| Windows NT 4.0 | 4.00.1381 SP6a | December 31, 2004 |
| Windows 2000 | 5.00.2195 | July 13, 2010 |
| Windows XP | 5.10.2600 | April 8, 2014 |
| Windows Server 2003 | 5.20.3790 | July 14, 2015 |
| Windows Vista | 6.0.6000 | April 11, 2017 |
| Windows Server 2008 | 6.0.6001 | July 10, 2018 |
| Windows 7 | 6.1.7600 | January 14, 2020 |
| Windows Server 2008 R2 | 6.1.7601 | January 14, 2020 |
| Windows Server 2012 | 6.2.9200 | January 10, 2023 |
| Windows 8 | 6.2.9200 | January 10, 2023 |
| Windows 8.1 | 6.3.9600 | January 10, 2023 |
| Windows Server 2012 R2 | 6.3.9600 | January 10, 2023 |
| Windows 10 | 10.0.10240 | October 14, 2025 |
| Windows 11 (22H2) | 11.0.22621.1555 | October 8, 2024 |
| Windows Server 2016 | 10.0.14393 | January 11, 2027 |
| Windows Server 2019 | 10.0.17763 | January 9, 2029 |
| Windows Server 2022 | 11.0.22000 | October 14, 2031 |
Windows 10 and Windows 11 uses a different lifecycle from previous versions, based on whether it is a long-term service release for the Enterprise edition, or a version which receives updates via the semi-annual channel (SAC). The date shown above for Windows 10 uses the fixed lifecycle policy. For more information refer to the Microsoft Windows lifecycle fact sheet.
Microsoft ended support for Windows XP in 2014 and extended paid support for Windows XP was discontinued in April, 2019. SocketTools support for the platform was extended through version 10.0.1268.1982. As of March 30, 2021 SocketTools is no longer supported on Windows XP, Vista or Windows Server 2003. More information is available in a technical article which discusses Windows XP support.
Support for Windows 98 and Windows Me was discontinued on July 11, 2006. Support for Windows NT 4.0 Workstation was discontinued on June 30, 2004 and support for the Windows NT 4.0 Server platforms was discontinued on December 31, 2004. For more information about the Windows product life cycles, please visit the Microsoft Windows website.
On December 31, 2002 the Windows 3.x, Windows 95 and Windows NT 3.x operating systems reached their end-of-life and technical support will no longer be available for those platforms. Technical support for 16-bit components, both on 16-bit and 32-bit platforms using 16-bit emulation, were also discontinued at that time.
Product Upgrades
A product upgrade is a chargeable upgrade indicated by a change in the major version number for the product. A product may be upgraded to the current version at no charge under the following conditions:
- A previous version of the product was purchased no more than thirty days prior to the release date of the current version.
- A support contract was purchased which provides product upgrades at no charge. Premium support includes free major version upgrades while the support agreement is active.
- A product was purchased which includes support and upgrade protection as part of the package. The SocketTools Subscription includes free major version upgrades while the subscription is active.
- If the product was purchased more than thirty days ago and there is no active support contract, there is a fee to upgrade to the current version.
Hotfix Updates
A hotfix is an intermediate correction to a product or specific component in a product and is indicated by a change in the build revision number, but not the major or minor version number. Hotfixes are not complete product updates and typically consist of the updated program or component, along with documentation about the correction. A hotfix may not be regression tested and may contain changes that are not documented in the current online help or technical reference documentation.
- A hotfix may be created to correct a problem that was reported by a developer or internally during product maintenance.
- A fee-based hotfix is made immediately available to the developer who has purchased the correction or has a priority support contract.
- A hotfix will no longer be supported after the subsequent release of a new build which contains a later version of the programs and/or components included in the hotfix.
Hotfixes are designed to address critical problems that require immediate attention. A hotfix should only be installed when it is determined that it corrects a specific problem affecting the developer, or when specifically directed to do so by a technical support representative. In most cases, is it recommended that developers wait for the release of the next build rather than install individual hotfixes.