Microsoft now supports only its two-digit operating systems. Don’t expect any more updates for those of you still on single-digit platforms.

According to Microsoft’s website, the third year of extended security updates has ended, so Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 will no longer receive updates. Any security bugs that are discovered will no longer receive official patches. According to the latest Steam survey, not many people use these two/three operating systems anymore, with only 2.18% of gamers still on one of these OSes. One of our editorial staff keeps using it, saying, “if this PC is old, it’s staying on it.”

Traditional support for Windows 7 ended on January 14, 2020, and since then, Microsoft has only released critical security updates. The Redmond tech firm advises that “If devices do not meet the technical requirements to run a more current release of Windows, we recommend that you replace the device with one that supports Windows 11.” Re. And who will fund that, dear Microsoft? Those of you who don’t use your PCs for video games (modern ones!) are not alone because according to Statcounter, at the end of 2022, Windows 7 accounted for 11.2% of PCs running Windows operating systems, Windows 8.1 had 2.6%, and Windows 8 took 0.66%. (And we’ll mention Windows XP: its share was 0.49%. We dare not even think how THAT rate came to be!)

So from now on, users of machines below Windows 10 should browse the internet with caution, and those who can’t/won’t upgrade to it may want to switch to Linux. What is interesting, though, is how low the Windows 8 percentage has become and how high the 7 percent has remained. It also shows how successful 7 was after Windows Vista, not shoving ads into the Start menu in our faces with no unusual Metro UI interface seen in 8, which eventually led to the release of 8.1.

Source: PCGamer