Microsoft officially announced the end of support for Windows 8.1 on January 10, 2023. Windows 7’s three-year extended software support also now met its end.
This means anyone continuing to use Windows 7 or 8.1 PC will be much more vulnerable to security risks moving forward.
Due to its popularity among users, Windows 7 that officially ended support on January 14, 2020 got an Extended Security (ESU) program for three more years of software support. Unfortunately, this won’t be the case for Windows 8.1 as Microsoft noted in a statement.
Microsoft recommends buying a new Windows 11 PC and that makes sense as PCs built with Windows 7 are running technology that is over a decade old already.
It said that there aren’t any free upgrade paths from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10/11, and that the free upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10 already ended in 2016.
Upgrading to a newer software is still possible, but it gets quite complicated depending on the version. Most Windows 7/8.1 PC should be compatible with Windows 10, and you may upgrade for a price. Windows 11 however imposes much stricter system requirements such as the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0.
Take note that your Windows 7/8.1 computer will continue to function. End of support means that your computer will not get security updates anymore, and Microsoft customer service will no longer provide technical support for the outdated operating systems.
Windows 7 debuted in 2009 while Windows 8.1 shortly came after three years. Microsoft governs its fixed lifecycle policy of 10 years minimum of extended software support, thus Windows 10 is also about to reach its end in 2025.
Windows 11’s free upgrade from Windows 10 still runs as of writing, where users can directly upgrade to version 22H2.
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