Microsoft Officially Ending Support for Windows 7

While the majority of PC users are running Windows 10 and Windows 11, millions of people around the world still run Windows 7. In fact, according to Statcounter GlobalStats, 11% of the world’s Windows systems are running version 7. That’s bad news for a multitude of reasons, not least of which being Microsoft’s decision to finally end support for Windows 7 once and for all.

If you thought Microsoft already ended support for Windows 7 a while back, you’re right. The company dropped support for Windows 7 back in January of 2020. With some minor exceptions, there have been no consumer updates for the software in the past three years, leaving those users vulnerable to security threats.

However, Microsoft has been running an Extended Security Update program for any customers who need to run Windows 7 for specific apps and programs. For a fee, Microsoft continued to issue security updates for these customers running Windows 7, but no longer. As of this morning, Tuesday, Jan. 10, Microsoft is officially done with Windows 7 for all users.

It’s not just Microsoft who’s done with Windows 7, either. Other developers have dropped support for their apps and services as well over the years. The latest high-profile developers to do so are Google and Microsoft itself, both of whom will stop supporting their browsers on Windows 7 starting today. If you use Chrome or Edge on Windows 7, you won’t see any updates going forward.

While the headlines concern Windows 7, the same can be said for Windows 8.1: Microsoft is also ending extended support for this version of Windows, meaning the oldest supported version of Windows is now Windows 10.

That’s bad news for millions of people around the world still running these legacy Windows versions. To anyone running software older than Windows 10, we strongly urge you to update as soon as possible. Without Microsoft issuing security updates for this software, you put yourself at risk for any security vulnerabilities that are discovered. Bad actors can attack you, potentially holding your data ransom, and Microsoft will not step forward with a future patch.