GOOGLE Chrome users browsing on an older version of Windows are racing to upgrade to a newer edition.
The search engine is set to halt technical and security support for the browser running on Windows 7 next week.
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Google tabled plans to ditch its support offering in July 2021.
But it pushed the deadline back to January 2022 and then to January 2023 due to Covid-19 pushing more households to make use of old PCs and laptops.
Microsoft, the company behind Windows, stopped support for Windows 7 in January 2020.
Windows users must now make sure their devices are running on Windows 10 or later to continue receiving future versions of Chrome.
Windows 7 came out nearly 12 years ago and has been succeeded by three newer versions over the past decade.
Microsoft estimated a couple of years ago that at least one billion devices were running on Windows 10 – one of its newer editions of Windows.
And yet, Windows 7 is still used by at least 100million PCs over the world, according to ZDNet last year.
“Older versions of Chrome will continue to work, but there will be no further updates released for users on these operating systems,” Google said in an update.
“If you are currently on Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1, we encourage you to move to a supported Windows version to ensure you continue to receive the latest security updates and Chrome features.”
Windows 11 is the latest version available.
According to reports, the next major version – which expected to be called Windows 12 – should be arriving in 2024.
Users can upgrade to a newer version of Windows at any time by selecting Start > Settings > System > Windows Update.
The update will require your PC to restart, so be sure to save all open documents beforehand.
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