Steam no longer officially supports Windows 7, 8, or 8.1

The fateful day has arrived: If you're still using Windows 7, 8, or 8.1, you may need to upgrade to Windows 10 or 11 soon, since Valve's hugely popular digital storefront, Steam, no longer officially supports Windows 10 or 11. This is the oldest operating system.

Valve revealed for the first time that it will drop support for older Windows versions in Publish the support page Last March. The message explained that starting January 1, 2024, Steam users on Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 will no longer receive new client updates of “any kind,” including security fixes. As a result, Valve is warning users of these operating systems to upgrade “sooner rather than later” to avoid malware and other malicious attacks.

In the post, Valve also clarified that Steam Support will no longer provide technical support for issues related to these older versions of Windows. Valve also cannot guarantee that Steam will remain usable on these older operating systems going forward.

However, to be clear, Valve isn't flipping a switch and killing Steam on Windows 7. It's just saying that things might start breaking soon, and if they do, they won't be fixed.

“We expect the Steam client and games on these older operating systems to continue to work for some time without updates after January 1, 2024,” Valve wrote. “But we are unable to guarantee continued performance beyond that date.”

Why is Steam ending support for Windows 7?

Valve says one of the main reasons for cutting support for Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 is because Google Chrome no longer supports these older operating systems. This is a problem for Valve, as Steam relies on a built-in version of the browser. The company behind half life And outlet He also mentioned that future versions of the Steam client will “require” Windows features and security updates found only in Windows 10 and 11.

Valve ended its post encouraging players to upgrade to Windows 10 or 11 soon.

“Computers running this [older] Valve warned that operating systems, when connected to the Internet, are vulnerable to new malware and other exploits that will not be patched. “This malware can cause your PC, Steam, and games to perform poorly or crash. This malware can also be used to steal credentials for your Steam account or other services.

While some people may now have to upgrade or even buy a new PC to continue playing on Steam, it seems reasonable for Valve to go ahead and leave behind Windows 7, which was released in 2009. It's a hell of a long time when it comes to technology, Valve's support for this operating system for nearly 15 years is impressive.

However, if you upgrade to Windows 10, get ready to upgrade again soon as Microsoft does Ending security support for this operating system in October 2025. As someone who is a die-hard fan of Windows 10, I'm counting the days.

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