Google is killing support for Chrome version 53 and below. This will mean problems for folks using Vista and XP. Those operating systems won’t work with any version past version 49. The company is making the move to encourage users to move to the latest version of Chrome, version 55.
This move means there will be no security updates for the browser and no fixes for any bugs. It also means that at the end of 2017, the newer version of Gmail will stop working on the Chrome browser. If you stick with using Gmail on Chrome, your mail will be vulnerable to security risks and you won’t be able to access any new features or bug fixes. Users will be automatically redirected to the basic HTML version of Gmail.
If you’re using Windows XP, you really shouldn’t be online at all. Microsoft ended all security and bug support for this OS back in April of 2014. Support for Vista is ending in April of this year. Using a supported version of Chrome is slightly better than using they operating systems with non-supported versions of Internet Explorer, but with Chrome support gone, the insecure operating systems will be even more insecure.
Without support from Microsoft or Google, no third-party security software can keep either the operating system or the browser safe.
Firefox still offers some support for XP and Vista, but they are planning to reassess that support in September of this year and don’t promise to extend it after that. Like Google, Firefox strongly suggests that users upgrade to a version of Windows that is still supported by Microsoft.
~ Cynthia