Windows 7 Professional and Enterprise versions will no longer receive extensive security updates for critical vulnerabilities starting Tuesday, January 10, 2023.
Microsoft launched Windows 7 in October 2009 and ended support in January 2015, with the "extended support" phase ending in January 2020. In the latest news updated by Taimienphi.vn , the software giant will officially end extended security update support for Windows 7 this coming Tuesday.
Windows 7 security updates have ended.
Specifically, Windows 7 Professional and Enterprise versions will no longer receive extended security updates for critical bugs and vulnerabilities after Tuesday, January 10, 2023.
The Extended Security Update (ESU) program is the last resort for customers who still need to run older Microsoft operating systems such as Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1.
To explain this, Microsoft states that most Windows 7 devices will not meet the hardware requirements to upgrade to Windows 11. Therefore, compatible Windows 7 PCs can be upgraded to Windows 10 by purchasing and installing the full version of the software, or by referring to the instructions here.
Additionally, the company recommends that customers replace devices that do not meet the technical requirements for newer Windows releases with devices that support Windows 11 to take advantage of new features and ensure security.
According to Statcount GlobalStats, Windows 7 currently still accounts for over 11% of all Windows systems worldwide, while Windows 8.1 is only used by 2.59% of Microsoft customers.
Similarly, web browsers will gradually stop supporting Windows 7.
Microsoft Edge 109 will be released next week and is the final version of the web browser to support Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1. It will also be the last version of Microsoft Edge to support Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, and Windows Server 2012 R2.
A similar announcement was made by Google in October when the company stated that version 110 of the Google Chrome web browser might also stop supporting Windows 7 and 8.1 starting in February 2023.
Users can continue using Microsoft Edge 109 and Google Chrome 110 on Windows 7, but these versions will no longer receive security updates and bug fixes, leaving them at security risk.
Other vendors, such as Nvidia and Safari, had already stopped supporting Windows 7 before the operating system officially ended support.