Chrome browser no more updates for Windows 7

[StephenFord]

Just opened my laptop where I discovered 'Chrome' had an auto update, but came with the warning it's the last one I'll get. How on earth can they profess to have a 'green' agenda when they start to exclude older systems where people either have no interest in upgrading, or simply can't afford to change their hardware? The whole thing is just a farce! (FireFox updates still work on XP as a friend uses an older laptop for very limited online use!)

It's like having a 17 year old car and having the sale of lightbulbs discontinued as they'll only do LED ones as they consider them better & safer!

 

[alexp999]

Windows 7 has been unsupported (other than enterprises who paid for extended coverage to the end of this year) since 2020. 
 

It’s a security risk to be on an old unsupported operating system and is quite common practice for software like a browser to also no longer receive updates on unsupported operating systems. 
 

You should really be looking at updating to Windows 10 (should be free) or Linux to continue using your internet connected computer. 

[eddie eastwood]

Seeing the same message now for Google and Brave on Win 8.1

[StephenFord]

3 hours ago, alexp999 said:

It’s a security risk to be on an old unsupported operating system ...

That's a classic 'chicken & egg' statement, if it was supported by security updates, it wouldn't be a security risk...

[Eric Bloodaxe]

I hit the same thing a few years back with Vista. I had a hard think about what I was actually using the PC for nowadays. Originally it was to support the Mrs's home-based small business (for which I was Head of Finance and Admin😀) but now, apart from the odd spreadsheet and bit of printing, the answer was not a lot.

So I disconnected it from the internet, and started using a cheap tablet for web use (mainly sites like this!) combined with a cheap Wi-Fi printer, but even then its rarely needed, just take a screenshot on the phone to show tickets etc.

[alexp999]

3 hours ago, StephenFord said:

That's a classic 'chicken & egg' statement, if it was supported by security updates, it wouldn't be a security risk...

Old software can’t be supported indefinitely. They have to draw a line under it at some point. In the same way car manufacturers can’t produce parts forever. 
 

Windows 10 will run on the same hardware as 7 and you should be able to upgrade for free. 

[StephenFord]

7 minutes ago, alexp999 said:

Old software can’t be supported indefinitely. They have to draw a line under it at some point. In the same way car manufacturers can’t produce parts forever. 

That is exactly why I am quite happy I'm in the autumn of my life, I just can't abide the hypocritical mindset now of 'saving the planet', yet continuously designing stuff that has a planned obsolescence. Many phones now have a life cycle of just 36 months before 'security updates' are stopped, making them virtually unusable as banking apps etc will no longer work. (as well as other obvious IT equipment)

If there was genuine 'green' ethics in the mindset of people, they just wouldn't accept this way of life, but they do, and I'm past anger, I'm just resigned that most will follow a trench of disposability no matter what the cost, personal or environmental. 

...and yes, car manufacturers won't produce parts forever, but it's rare to hear of any car being scrapped purely because a part can't be obtained from somewhere...

 

 

[agraham]

To be fair Microsoft do bend over backwards to keep current Windows versions running programs from previous years. This is for their business user base because there are many historic business critical old applications running which will not or cannot be rewritten. Windows 10 and 11 have compatibility settings for Windows 64bit executables back to Vista and for Windows 32bit executables back to Windows 95! I am using Office 2002 which dates back to Windows XP which works fine with Windows 7 compatibility set.

 

[unofix]

29 minutes ago, alexp999 said:

Windows 10 will run on the same hardware as 7

Not always.

The big problem is that most of the programmes that run on windows 7 will not run on windows 10. It becomes a very expensive business having to replace software that you have already bought and paid for. On my laptop I run Microsoft Office 2010 professional which was an expensive bit of software. Windows 10 does not support that. I looked only last month into purchasing a new laptop with Windows 11 and then found out that 7 programmes I use are just not available for Windows 11 and others would have to be replaced at a cost of around £870. So for the moment I will keep my windows 7 system.

On aside note, all Air Traffic Control around the world are still using windows XP with full support from MS.

[StephenFord]

14 minutes ago, unofix said:

On aside note, all Air Traffic Control around the world are still using windows XP with full support from MS.

I was actually told that a while back by a neighbour who works for NATS as a senior engineer, wasn't sure if MS still had the contract to still support that. Stating the obvious, nothing inherently wrong with any OS as long as there is continued support for it...

[agraham]

1 hour ago, unofix said:

On my laptop I run Microsoft Office 2010 professional which was an expensive bit of software. Windows 10 does not support that.

I'm astonished if that is the case. I am a retired software engineer competent in Windows .NET and Java development and I have not yet found anything that runs on Windows 7 that will not run on Windows 10 or 11. 

[TomsFocus]

Depending on what you use MS Office for, OpenOffice is free and has about 95% of the same functionality for text docs and spreadsheets.  I haven't used MS Office in more than a decade since being made aware of it.

[Alan G H]

Support for Windows 10 will apparently be finishing October 14th 2025, and Windows 11 is not compatible with a lot of older computers. 

So, I guess there will be lots of new computers bought before then!

[unofix]

3 hours ago, agraham said:

I'm astonished if that is the case.

Prepare to be astonished !!

As I've already said Microsoft Office 2010 Professional, does not and will not run on windows 10 or 11

A very commonly used programme by members on this forum is FORScan which currently does not work correctly on window 11.

I could go on and list lots of other software that works on windows 7, but not on windows 10 or 11 but I think that would be a little pointless.

[alexp999]

10 hours ago, unofix said:

Prepare to be astonished !!

As I've already said Microsoft Office 2010 Professional, does not and will not run on windows 10 or 11

A very commonly used programme by members on this forum is FORScan which currently does not work correctly on window 11.

I could go on and list lots of other software that works on windows 7, but not on windows 10 or 11 but I think that would be a little pointless.

Another unsupported potentially insecure program that shouldn’t be used on an internet connected machine. 
 

The best thing about computers is that there is a thriving open source community keeping old hardware going. 
 

No one is telling you to scrap old computer hardware. If you can’t run the latest and secure versions of paid software, then don’t. Use the free open source software that still works and is kept up to date 

 

Using old unsupported and in some cases known insecure software is just opening you up to threats. 
 

A quick search of Forscan forums says it works fine on Windows 11. 
 

EDIT:

Car analogy, using old unsupported software and operating system is like driving around without working safety systems. You wouldn’t continue to use a car that was dangerous or didn’t have working seat belts. If the manufacturer no longer did the parts you turn to the community (used or third party). And if you don’t know how to set it up, get help like you would if you couldn’t fit the part to your car. 

[StephenFord]

Another very minor issue that I use to be an 'early adopter'. and had a Palm T3 PDA when first launched in 2003, I use the desktop application of the PDA to this day for contacts etc. It struggled with Windows 7 but someone at the time wrote a lovely patch for it so you could continue using it. Obviously, it doesn't work on Windows 10. 

I just can't be *rsed transferring over 300 contacts to something else LOL

[unofix]

On 4/24/2022 at 4:40 PM, Jimpster said:

Done my key this afternoon, what was i scared of. Hit a little snagette ............... windows 11 does not come with MSCOMCTL.OCX installed spent the last 2 hours working round it to install ELM. I'm not rolloing back to 10 incase that dont work either haha

 

[alexp999]

2 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

Another very minor issue that I use to be an 'early adopter'. and had a Palm T3 PDA when first launched in 2003, I use the desktop application of the PDA to this day for contacts etc. It struggled with Windows 7 but someone at the time wrote a lovely patch for it so you could continue using it. Obviously, it doesn't work on Windows 10. 

I just can't be *rsed transferring over 300 contacts to something else LOL

Does it have the option to export to csv or something? So you could import it into another program?

[alexp999]

3 minutes ago, unofix said:

 

Sounds like a driver issue with the ELM device. But the actual forscan program runs fine and they don’t generally recommend ELM devices anymore due to quality issues with the clones. 
Not to say it’s not a valid point but Forscan runs fine in Win 11. But ymmv installing the interface you are trying to use. I’m not aware of anything that can’t run in Win 10 that ran on 7 though. You can generally use win 7 drivers on 10. 

[Jimpster]

my ELM and forscan work fine on 11, had to download a few extra files, runtime pack usually sorts it