Windows 8.1 is nearing its end. On January 10, 2023, Windows 8.1 is scheduled to reach end-of-support. The corporation is starting to step up its efforts to transition consumers to its most recent OS, Windows 11.
Windows 8.1 will now tell users that security updates will stop at the start of next year. This will come with a full-screen alert when they login to the operating system.
The message states: “Microsoft will no longer provide security updates or technical support for PCs running Windows 8.1 after January 10, 2023. We are now contacting you to express our appreciation for your loyalty and to assist you in getting ready for the future.”
End of Service for Windows 8.1
As already mentioned, Windows 8.1 is nearing its end. Users can defer the message by selecting “Remind me later” or “Remind me after the end of support date,”. This will postpone for 35 days or until January 2023, respectively, on the Microsoft website.
The update was released as part of the KB5015874 cumulative update on July 12, 2022. A supplementary EOSnotify2 program that is configured to notify users once per day and the recently launched EOSnotify.exe software both run the popup.
Enterprise and Pro subscribers using business-oriented devices won’t get the notification.
A DiscontinueEOS option can be used to disable the popup for all Windows 8.1 users. But the warnings are meant to be obstructive by default. This is because using an outdated OS without security upgrades can be dangerous.
This information comes after the company said that it will stop providing security updates for Microsoft 365 on Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 devices and would prohibit the installation of any new Office apps on those outdated systems. Windows 8 was released in the latter part of 2012, and the main update 8.1 came out a year later. This means that the OS will continue to function for about ten years before being completely retired.
