No more updates: Windows 7 and 8.1 are no longer supported

 Windows 7 and 8.1 from Microsoft has finally rung its death knell

Google Chrome is also ending support for these systems

Microsoft ended the last phase of support for Windows 7 and 8.1 this week. As of January 10th of this year, computers running these OSes will no longer receive technical support or software updates.

Windows 7 was released in 2009 and was maintained until 2015, when it moved from the main phase of technical support to the extended support mode, where it no longer received any new features, but only security updates. This software care intended exclusively for businesses ended in January 2020, but selected entities could still pay extra for additional support. But that also ended yesterday. A similar story also applies to Windows 8.1 from 2013, but in the case of this system, Microsoft does not offer any additional paid support. No wonder - apart from being a flop, it focused on ordinary consumers.

According to statistics, Windows 7 runs on about 11 percent of computers worldwide, Windows 8.1 on about 2 percent. Both systems will continue to run, but their users run the risk of not being protected against the latest types of vulnerabilities. Microsoft therefore recommends switching to a newer one - either Windows 10 or on Windows 11 if the computer meets the increased hardware requirements.

Google Chrome also ends support for Windows 7 and 8.1

The end of support for Windows 7 and 8.1 may also mean that newer versions of some programs will not run on these systems. One of them is the Google Chrome internet browser, which was released this week in version 109. It is the last one that will be able to run on older Windows – the next version 110 will no longer be able to be installed. The same applies to the Microsoft Edge browser, the next version of which will also only work on Windows 10 and later. This represents another security weakness in old Windows.