Google has announced that it will end support for its Chrome browser for Windows 7 and 8.1 on February 7, 2023. This means users holding on to this OS will not receive new features and security updates.
There is still a significant number of users of the operating system around the world, although Windows ceased updating it with new features and support in early 2022. This makes it a relatively vulnerable OS to use on your computer.
Windows 7 was one of the most popular operating systems in its heydays, loved for its simplicity and user-friendly interface. It’s estimated that it still enjoys a user base of about 0.12% globally cutting across individual and organizational users.
This means that the OS is on 10% of all Windows devices worldwide, or more than 100 million systems at the last count, while Windows 8.1, which is also losing Chrome support at the same time next year, is on 2.7%.
Google’s Chrome browser takes up a huge chunk of 65% share of the browser market. This means that once Google ceases its support for the browser on Windows 7 and 8.1, there will be a significant effect on a large number of users.
Google is encouraging Windows 7/8.1 users to switch to Windows 10 or 11 before Chrome’s official end-of-support date arrives if they want to keep using the browser safely and receive all the latest features and bug fixes in each release.
Windows 7 launched in 2009 and quickly gained popularity to become a favourite among users across the world.
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