Even though Microsoft has knocked out Windows 7 and Windows 8, a fairly large number of people are stuck with older operating systems – but Google may finally get people to upgrade as it has announced that it will no longer update its Chrome web browser for these operating systems.
This is important news because Chrome is the most popular web browser in the world – and by quite a margin, so Google’s decision is likely to affect many users of the older version of Windows.
Google’s decision to stop updating Chrome has serious implications as it means any security holes may not be fixed, nor will there be any protection against emerging threats such as new malware.
This can lead to users using an outdated version of Chrome being at serious risk when browsing the web, especially when Microsoft no longer updates Windows 7 or Windows 8.
Sorry Windows 7 fans, time to move on
While few people will mourn the death of Windows 8, its predecessor, Windows 7, remains immensely popular. Even though Windows 7 came to an end (the point where Microsoft no longer maintains or updates the operating system) on January 14, 2020, millions of people are still using it. According to Statcounter, 9.62% of Windows users are still using Windows 7compared to 18.13% for Windows 11.
While I certainly sympathize with people who want to stick with a familiar operating system, I cannot stress enough the risks of using an outdated or unpatched web browser or operating system.
So what should you do for Windows 7 users who rely on Chrome? You can switch to another web browser that still supports Windows 7, such as Firefox. However, Mozilla, the company behind Firefox, may soon announce the end of support for older versions of Windows, meaning this may just be a temporary move. It would also allow you to continue using the old operating system that no longer receives updates, which is not ideal.
The best you can do is bite your head and upgrade to either Windows 10 or Windows 11. Both operating systems are pretty solid these days, and you won’t experience massive culture shock if you switch – it’s still Windows, after all, and there are plenty of tweaks that you can try to make Windows 10 and Windows 11 look and work like Windows 7.
If your laptop or PC cannot run a newer version of Windows, and you can’t afford or don’t want to buy a newer device, you may want to consider another operating system, such as Linux. This open source operating system comes in different versions (known as distros or distros for short) and many of them are designed to run easily on older hardware, and Chrome is supported on most.
When switching from Windows 7 to a Linux distribution Is more of a culture shock, some are very user friendly like ubuntu and others like linux mint have a very similar UI to windows 7 which makes it much easier to get used to.
As always, you should also make sure you’re using the best antivirus software you can afford to keep yourself fully protected online.