Google, via its support page has announced that it will end support for Windows 7 and 8.1 early next year. This means the end of Chrome support for the said Windows versions, including the necessary security updates needed to ensure a safe browsing experience online.
Interestingly, despite Windows 7 and 8.1 being incredibly old, a considerable number of users and organizations still use them to date. Google will officially stop support for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 on February 7, 2023, this is when Chrome 110 is expected to be released.
After the update, older versions of Chrome will still work on the said Windows versions but users will no longer receive essential updates in the future. This translates to huge security risks online given the current state of cyber crimes prowling online these days.
“You’ll need to ensure your device is running Windows 10 or later to continue receiving future Chrome releases. This matches Microsoft’s end of support for Windows 7 ESU and Windows 8.1 extended support on January 10th, 2023,” adds Google. “If you are currently on Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, we encourage you to move to a supported Windows version before that date to ensure you continue to receive the latest security updates and Chrome features.”
A recent report by Atlas VPN showed that Google Chrome was the most vulnerable browser with 303 vulnerabilities and a cumulative total of 3,159 vulnerabilities as of 2022. These figures were based off of data from VulDB vulnerability database, covering January 1, 2022 to October 5, 2022.
As per the report, Chrome was the only browser with new vulnerabilities in the five days in October. Some of the vulnerabilities included CVE-202203318, CVE-2022-3314, CVE-2022-3311, CVE-2022-3309 and CVE-2022-3307. The database does not list details for these flaws, but the report said they can lead to memory corruption on a computer.
It is only rational for Chrome users using Windows 7 and 8.1 to upgrade to newer versions of Windows especially since support for Windows 7 ended in 2020 while the support for Windows 8.1 will end on January 10th, 2023.
