

Perhaps no other iteration of Windows has created such a bad reputation for itself than Windows Vista. Universally loathed, Microsoft was quick to move on after Vista and didn’t quite look back. However, since it was a major platform release, the company has had to support it for a very long time. Now, a decade after it was first launched, Microsoft today announced that Windows Vista support has officially ended.

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What this means is that after April 11th, 2017, Windows Vista users will no longer get any new security updates, non-security hotfixes, additional support options, or any other online technical content updates from Microsoft.

The company says in a post on its website that it has provided support for Windows Vista for the past 10 years “but the time has come for us, along with our hardware and software partners, to invest our resources towards more recent technologies.”

Windows Vista PCs will still work but they will be more vulnerable to security risks because Microsoft will no longer be providing any security patches that protect it from the latest threats. Moreover, software and hardware manufacturers will continue to optimize their products for more recent versions of Windows, which will result in more apps and services no longer working properly with Vista.

Microsoft recommends that Vista owners upgrade to Windows 10 but it’s unlikely that PCs from Vista’s early days will be able to support the latest iteration. Some customers may have to buy new PCs that come with Windows 10 installed, fortunately for them, there are tons of options in all price ranges.

Filed in . Read more about Microsoft, Windows, Windows 10 and Windows Vista. Source: support.microsoft