January 2, 2024 at 03:46PM
Steam officially stopped supporting Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 on January 1, with users urged to upgrade to a newer Windows OS. Microsoft’s extended support for Windows 7 ended in 2023. Windows 10 will reach end of support in 2025, making Windows 11 a better option. Steam warns unsupported versions could be vulnerable to security threats.
From the meeting notes, we can gather the following key points:
1. Steam has officially stopped supporting Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 as of January 1, 2024. This means that existing Steam client installations on these operating systems will no longer receive updates, including security updates.
2. Microsoft stopped supporting Windows 7 on January 14, 2020, and Windows 8.1 reached the end of support on January 10, 2023. The enterprise two years of extended security updates service plan for Windows 7 expired in January 2023, leaving Windows 7 installations unsupported and unprotected from new vulnerabilities and cybersecurity threats.
3. Steam recommends users upgrade to a supported version of Windows, such as Windows 10 or 11, as future versions of Steam will require Windows feature and security updates only present in Windows 10 and above.
4. While the Steam client is still functional on Windows 7 and 8.1, Steam cannot guarantee continued functionality after January 1, 2024, due to core features relying on an embedded version of Google Chrome, which no longer functions on older versions of Windows.
5. Only 0.89% of users are currently using the unsupported Windows versions, as indicated by the December 2023 Steam Hardware Survey.
6. Steam has been tightening security by requiring SMS-based security checks for game developers pushing updates on the default release branch. However, it is suggested that stronger protection should require multi-factor authentication using security keys or authentication before developers can publish updates due to increasing threat actor activity targeting Steam developers.
These key points highlight the end of support for older Windows operating systems, the need for users to upgrade to supported versions, and the emphasis on boosting security measures within the Steam platform.