Mozilla definitively cuts Firefox support for Windows 7, 8, and 8.1
Mozilla had planned to end support for Firefox on Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 in 2024. Extended support now ends in February.
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Firefox 115 still supported Windows 7, 8, and 8.1. After users of these operating systems were directed to Firefox ESR version 115, this version is now also reaching its end of support. This means support for the outdated operating systems will also end in February.
The Mozilla developers explain this in a current support article. "Microsoft ended official support for Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 in January 2023. Unsupported operating systems do not receive security updates and contain known vulnerabilities. Without official support from Microsoft, maintaining Firefox for outdated operating systems becomes costly and risky for users," they state.
Still safe browsing possible on outdated Windows?
The programmers answer the question of whether Firefox still enables safe browsing on the mentioned Windows versions very clearly: "Mozilla will provide important security updates via the Firefox-ESR channel until the end of ESR version 115 in February 2026. After that, there will be no further security updates, and it is strongly recommended to upgrade to a still-supported Microsoft Windows version." However, they also offer the tip of considering alternative operating systems if necessary: "If your current hardware does not support Windows 10 or higher for any reason, you can switch to a Linux-based operating system. The vast majority of Linux distributions ship with Firefox as the default browser."
Switching to another web browser is also not an option, as Google Chrome, for example, has already discontinued support for Windows 7, 8, and 8.1. The same applies to Microsoft Edge.
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It has been clear for a long time that Firefox is ending support for the old Windows versions. Original plans even envisioned September 2024 as the cutoff date -- at which point the old macOS versions 10.12, 10.13, and 10.14 were also supposed to fall out of support. The Mozilla Foundation also announced there that affected Firefox installations would be automatically switched to the Firefox-ESR-115 branch.
(dmk)
