Some solace for XP users as Chrome updates will continue until December

17 Apr 2015

For anyone out there still working on Windows XP, your time is running out. Fast. However, Chrome is making life a little bit easier for you, supporting updates on XP until the end of the year.

Microsoft itself stopped supporting XP a little over a year ago, meaning your operating system is primed for malware attacks.

You haven’t received security patches in over a year and your operating system is becoming weak. Oh so weak.

So Chrome’s decision to extend its support of XP is a welcome respite for the “millions of people” still using it every day.

Knowing that not everyone is in a position to upgrade to a newer operating system, Chrome’s original dedication to supporting XP until this month has been extended.

“We want those people to have the option to use a browser that’s up-to-date and as safe as possible on an unsupported operating system,” said Mark Larson, director of engineering at Google Chrome.

“We previously announced that we’d keep supporting Chrome on Windows XP through ‘at least’ April 2015. It’s April 2015 now, and we’re extending that commitment. We will continue to provide regular updates and security patches to Chrome on XP through the end of 2015.

“At the operating system level, computers running XP are inherently in danger of being infected by malware and viruses, making it increasingly difficult for Chrome to provide a secure browsing environment. That’s why we strongly encourage everyone to update to a supported, secure operating system.”

Firefox, too, supports XP at the moment. Although the good times won’t last forever for XP users…

Chrome via Stephen Shankland on Flickr

Gordon Hunt was a journalist with Silicon Republic

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