Microsoft has announced it plans to cease security updates for Windows 7 beginning Tuesday 10 January.
The move will see users of Windows 7 Professional and Enterprise editions go without vital security protections unless they switch to a more recent operating system, the company confirmed in a recent update.
In addition, the company confirmed that support for Windows 8.1 will end on the same day.
Microsoft officially discontinued support for Windows 7 in January 2020. However, customers still using the legacy operating system were granted some security provisions as part of the company’s Extended Security Update (ESU) programme.
A key factor in continuing security support, Microsoft revealed at the time, was to provide users with “additional time” to transition from Windows 7 to supported operating systems such as Windows 11.
“But, during that time, as long as the device is still running Windows 7, Microsoft 365 won’t receive any new features updates,” the firm said.
The tech giant said that in order to “maintain the reliability and stability” of devices, it strongly recommended users upgrade to more modern PCs capable of running Windows 11.
Users can upgrade to Windows 10 as an alternative. However, the tech giant warned that support for this OS will end in October 2025.
“Most Windows 7 devices will not meet the hardware requirements for upgrading to Windows 11, as an alternative, compatible Windows 7 PCs can be upgraded to Windows 10 by purchasing and installing a full version of the software,” Microsoft said.
“Before investing in a Windows 10 upgrade, please consider that Windows 10 will reach its end of support date on 14 October 2025.”
Windows 7 officially launched in October 2009 and the operating system still caters to a significant global user base.
At present, the OS runs on around 11% of all Windows systems globally. Reports from January 2021 suggested that Windows 7 was still used on nearly 100 million devices, highlighting its popularity despite the series of more modern options available to users.
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