Google Chrome Could Be a Problem on Your Parents’ Computer
Many of our parents’ computers are essentially held together by duct tape. How these ancient hippos manage to gain strength every day is an eternal mystery. But if your parents are using an older version of Windows, especially Windows 7, 8, or 8.1, be aware that Google Chrome will soon become unstable.
Google will end support for Chrome on Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 on January 10th. While this news may seem short-lived, it really isn’t. Chrome 109 will be the last version released for these systems. Google planned to end support for these legacy versions of Windows initially on July 15, 2021, but delayed everything until January 15, 2022 after COVID broke out. Apparently, January of last year has come and gone, and Google has pushed back the launch of old Chrome to this Tuesday.
Let’s be clear: no one should be running Windows 7, 8, or 8.1 on their PCs, especially our parents . These versions of Windows are no longer supported by Microsoft, which means that they are completely vulnerable to any security vulnerabilities that hackers and other attackers might find. Microsoft won’t fix these security flaws, which leaves anyone using the OS exposed.
That’s why apps like Google Chrome are jumping ship. (Many of these already exist.) At this point, the software is simply too outdated for the developers to justify the resources for support. Big names like Google have the ability to keep their popular apps running for longer, so Windows 7 can still run Chrome as of this writing.
Now the browser will still work , but it will not be safe to use it. Just like Microsoft doesn’t release security updates for Windows 7, Google won’t release security updates for these versions of Chrome. Anyone using this combination of software is putting their security at risk and should upgrade to currently supported software.
Even if people try to hang on to these platforms after this point, everything will most likely collapse soon. Since Chrome remains at version 109, sites and services will stop working with the browser. Eventually, the lack of functionality will keep people moving forward, so it makes even more sense now.
[ Metro ]