On the Computers of Your Parents, Google Chrome is About to Become a Problem

Most of the computers that our parents have been held together with duct tape. How these ancient giants keep going day after day is a mystery that will never be solved. But if your parents are still using an old version of Windows, like Windows 7, 8, or 8.1, beware: Google Chrome is about to get rough.

On January 10, Google will stop supporting Chrome on Windows 7, 8, and 8.1. Even though this may seem like short notice, it’s not. Chrome version 109 will be the last one for these systems. Google had planned to stop supporting these old versions of Windows on July 15, 2021, but COVID pushed that date back to January 15, 2022. It’s clear that January came and went, and Google put off killing off old Chrome until this Tuesday.

Let’s be clear: No one, especially our parents, should run Windows 7, 8, or 8.1 on their PCs. These versions of Windows are no longer supported by Microsoft. This means that hackers and other bad people can take advantage of any security flaws they find. Microsoft won’t fix these security holes, so anyone who uses the OS is wide open.

Because of this, apps like Google Chrome are leaving. (Most of them have already.) At this point, the software is just too old for developers to find it worth their time to keep supporting it. Big companies like Google have the power to keep their popular apps running longer, which is why Chrome can still run on Windows 7 as of this article.

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Now, you can still use the browser, but it won’t be safe to do so. Google won’t release security updates for these versions of Chrome, just like Microsoft doesn’t release security updates for Windows 7. Anyone who uses this combination of software puts their security at risk and should upgrade to software that is currently supported.

Even if people try to keep using these platforms after this point, things will probably fall apart soon. Sites and services won’t work with Chrome as long as it stays on version 109. People will eventually leave because it doesn’t work, so it’s even more important to leave now.