Google has announced that it will End of official Chrome support for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 at the beginning of 2023, January 7 to be exact. After this date, users of these operating systems will stop receiving web browser updates with all the security risks this entails (and even more so in the case of an application permanently connected to the Internet).

Google explains that Chrome’s end of support for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 coincides with the end of extended support for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 and the end of standard support for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1, so the search giant strongly recommends migrating to a newer version of Microsoft’s operating systemwhich aims primarily to see a large number of machines on Windows 10 that do not meet the requirements of Windows 11. On the other hand, there is always the option of migrating to Linux or ChromeOS Flex, but that is another topic.

The question here is whether Mountain View will live up to its word, as with Windows XP it decided to extend Chrome support until years after the operating system’s end of life. The reason was obvious: a large number of users still maintained despite having no support.

Between some companies and institutions not migrating as quickly as they should, and the strong culture of resistance to change that has been installed among many Windows users, it is very common to see people using a version of said system that is not supported. The fact that the developers of many apps don’t remove their support when the time is right is just another way to feed, justify and perpetuate this bad habit, so it’s very bad of you in most cases (at least as far as home users are concerned).

We’ll see if Google keeps its word until the end or, with the deadline approaching, decides to grant an extension for at least one of the Windows versions that will soon lose Chrome support. To maintain a good level of security, it is strongly recommended to upgrade or migrate to a supported operating system.