Google has announced that it will put End of official Chrome support for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 in early 2023, more specifically on January 7. After that date arrives, users of these operating systems will stop receiving web browser updates, with all the risks that this entails in terms of security (and even more so in the case of an application that is permanently connected to the Internet).
Google explains that the end of Chrome support for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 coincides with the end of extended support for the former and end of standard support for the latter, so the search giant strongly recommends migrating to a newer version of Microsoft’s operating systemwhich aims to be mainly Windows 10 seeing the large number of machines that do not meet the requirements of Windows 11. On the other hand, there is always the possibility of migrating to Linux or ChromeOS Flex, but that is another topic.
Here the question is whether the Mountain View corporation will stand by its word, since with Windows XP it decided to extend Chrome support until years after the operating system reached its end of life. The reason was obvious: the large number of users it was still retaining despite not having support.
Between some companies and institutions that do not migrate as fast as they should and the strong culture of resistance to change that has been installed among many Windows users, it is very common to see people using a version of said system that is not supported. The fact that the developers of many applications do not remove their support when it’s time is just another way to feed, justify and perpetuate this bad habit, so doing so on your part is very wrong in most cases (at least when it comes to home users).
We will see if Google keeps its word until the end or if, as the deadline approaches, it decides to give an extension to at least one of the versions of Windows that will soon lose Chrome support. Upgrading or migrating to a supported operating system is highly recommended to maintain good security levels.
