February is the end
Chrome is over: Why the Google browser will soon no longer be safe on 200 million PCs
The Chrome browser will soon be unsafe on many devices
© Pheelings Media / Getty Images
Google Chrome is the most used browser in the world. Some users will soon have to look for an alternative.
The race for access to the Internet hasn’t really been a race for years: Google’s Chrome browser is by far the most important, with almost two-thirds of global Internet access going through it. There will probably be fewer in the near future: Google is removing support for two older Windows versions.
With version 110, Google Chrome will no longer be available for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1, the company announced last week. The browser will first prompt the affected user to update the operating system. With the update to version 110 currently scheduled for February 7th, the browser will no longer receive any updates.
Update Off
The fact that Google will eventually stop supporting the two versions of Windows is not surprising in itself. Microsoft itself has not provided Windows 7 with updates for two years, and from January Windows 8.1 will also be on the list of retired old systems. In plain language, this means that the systems no longer receive updates, even if there are known security gaps, and are no longer safe for users to use.
Nevertheless, they are still used around the world – although Microsoft released Windows 10 in 2015 and the successor Windows 11 a year ago. For many users of company systems and vast numbers of private users, however, these are not usable due to company rules, unsuitable hardware and other reasons. According to “Statcounter”, Windows 11 only overtook the number of users of Windows 7 in July, almost 15 percent of Windows users rely on a Windows that is older than Windows 10. If you consider that, according to Microsoft, around 1.4 billion people use Windows 10 and 11, almost 200 million people are likely to be affected.
That means the end in concrete terms
The fact that Chrome is no longer supplied with updates does not automatically mean that it no longer works. However, it is clearly no longer recommended to use it. As access to the network, the browser is the greatest target for attack, even on outdated operating systems, because security gaps can be exploited simply by visiting websites. If the gaps remain instead of being closed, the probability of this increases drastically. After all, attackers can rest assured that their attacks will be successful over the long term.
The only really safe option is therefore to switch to an operating system that is still supported. If this is not possible, you should at least use a secure browser. The once popular Firefox is currently being updated for Windows 7 and Windows 8.
Source:Google, stat counter