Microsoft is preparing to send notifications to Windows 8.1 users reminding them that support will cease on January 10th, 2023. As a key reminder leading up to the January 2023 support termination, the software giant will start delivering warnings to current Windows 8.1 devices next month.
The messages may be similar to those Microsoft has used in the past to alert Windows 7 users about support end dates. Microsoft initially ended support for Windows 8 in 2016, but the Windows 8.1 update will completely end support in January 2023.
Companies won’t allow you to purchase more security patches because Microsoft won’t offer an Extended Security Update (ESU) program for Windows 8.1, so you’ll either have to upgrade or accept the possibility of using software that doesn’t have security updates.
The main purpose of Windows 8.1 was to fix Windows 8’s reception. Although Windows 8 introduced a new touch-centric vision for Microsoft’s future, many PC users rejected it since it did away with the standard desktop and Start button in such a significant way.
Customers’ preferences did not align with the mobile-first OS, so Microsoft admitted its mistake by reintroducing the Start button in Windows 8.1.
Despite the improvements in the Windows 8.1 update, Microsoft and many of its customers may be willing to forget the Windows 8 era. Faced with competition from the iPad, Microsoft attempted to update Windows but instead alienated many of its devoted customers.
When Windows 10 debuted in 2015, it reversed many of Windows 8’s most radical changes. Windows 11 has gone much farther by removing the Start menu’s Live Tiles and revamping numerous other long-standing features that have been present in Windows for many years.
