Microsoft ends Windows 7 Extended Security Updates

Pour one out for Windows 7, the decade-old operating system that at this time reached the end of the security line. Some three years after Microsoft known as time on mainstream help of Windows 7, the technology big will now not present security updates, leaving the remaining users the choice to improve to a newer operating system or stay vulnerable to ongoing security threats.

Windows 7 was sunset in January 2020 after greater than a decade in service, however Microsoft allowed prospects to pay for extended safety support to assist keep legacy or older tools that isn’t straightforward to upgrade, like hospital scanning tools and manufacturing line methods.

Those extended security updates got here to an finish today. It’s not identified precisely what number of Home windows 7 machines are still operating (or connected to the web, which will increase their threat), however some market share data places the quantity as high as about one in 10 desktop computer systems.

Without prolonged security updates, Home windows 7 will proceed to run, however will now not obtain patches for new and existing security vulnerabilities.

Windows 8.1, the working system model that succeeded Windows 7, additionally hit its end-of-support milestone on Tuesday, nearly 10 years after it was released. Microsoft stated it’s not offering prolonged safety updates for Windows 8.1, which can be due to its historic low utilization, provided that many skipped the working system and updated on to Windows 10.

Meanwhile, the most recent version of Microsoft Edge (version 109), scheduled for release on Thursday, is the most recent model to help the no-longer-supported Windows 7 and Windows 8.1.