At one time, Microsoft’s Windows 7 was so successful that many users preferred this operating system for a long time and “skipped” both Windows 8 and Windows 8.1, switching immediately to Windows 10. Bad news for those who still use it: Microsoft announced the complete end of support for Windows 7, and now Windows 8.1.

In January 2020, Windows 7 stopped receiving updates with new functionality, and Microsoft then offered businesses extended 3-year security support for an additional fee. Well, that time has passed and now Windows 8.1 will stop receiving any support as of January 10th, and Windows 7 as of the 14th. It will be possible to use PCs with these OSes in the future, but already “at your own risk” – so we can say that for home users the fact of the end of support is not as critical as for businesses.

According to third-party data, Windows 7 is still used on about 10% of computers worldwide, while the share of Windows 8.1 is much lower – perhaps this is why Microsoft decided not to “mess around” with its extended support, but to “bury” both OSes at once. By the way, according to the latest, December Steam’s hardware and software survey, the share of Windows 7 and 8.1 even among gaming systems is slightly more than 2%.