As of January 1st, 2024, Steam has officially stopped supporting the Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 operating systems. After that date, existing Steam Client installations on these operating systems will no longer receive any updates, including critical security updates. Steam Support will be unable to offer technical assistance to users still on these older operating systems. Steam also cannot guarantee the continued functionality or security of the Steam client and games purchased through Steam on unsupported Windows versions. Users are strongly encouraged to update to a newer Windows 10 or 11 version to ensure Steam and its games continue functioning properly beyond the January 1st cutoff date.

This change is necessary because core Steam features rely on an embedded version of Google Chrome that no longer functions on older Windows. Future Steam versions will also require Windows features and security updates only present in Windows 10 and later. With Microsoft having ended security updates and technical support for Windows 7 in 2020 and Windows 8.1 in 2023, these older operating systems are increasingly vulnerable to new malware exploits when connected to the internet. This malware can negatively impact PC performance, cause Steam and games to crash, or be used to steal Steam account credentials. Updating to a supported Windows version is highly recommended for all Windows 7/8/8.1 users to continue securely running Steam.

Valve has confirmed that its Steam platform will no longer support the Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 operating systems as of January 1st, 2024. Valve discontinued support for Windows XP and Windows Vista back in 2019.

Valve says that after that date, the Steam Client will no longer run on those versions of Windows and users will need to update to a more recent release. The reason behind such a move, according to Valve, is that the newest features in Steam rely on an embedded version of Google Chrome which no longer functions on older versions of Windows, and that the future of Steam will require Windows features and security updates only present in Windows 10 and above.

Declines continued for the traditional PC market as global shipments totaled 74.3 million units during the third quarter of 2022 (3Q22), according to preliminary results from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker. Cooling demand and uneven supply have contributed to a year-over-year contraction of 15.0%. However, shipment volumes remain well above pre-pandemic levels when PC volumes were largely driven by commercial refreshes due to the looming end of support for Windows 7.

"Consumer demand has remained muted though promotional activity from the likes of Apple and other players has helped soften the fall and reduce channel inventory by a couple weeks across the board," said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for IDC's Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers. "Supply has also reacted to the new lows by reducing orders with Apple being the only exception as their third quarter supply increased to make up for lost orders stemming from the lockdowns in China during the second quarter."

Remember that hideous, remotely exploitable vulnerability on Windows' Print Spooler service, which would enable remote attackers to run code with administrator privileges on your machine? Well, Microsoft seems to be waking up from this particular instance of PrintNightmare, as the company has already issued critical, out-of-band security updates (meaning that they're outside Microsoft's cadenced patch rollout) for several versions of windows. Since the Print Spooler service runs by default and is an integral part of Windows releases (likely since the NT platform development), Microsoft has even pushed out patches to OSs that aren't currently supported.

Microsoft has issued correctives for Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows 8.1, Windows RT 8.1, a variety of supported versions of Windows 10, and even Windows 7. As per Microsoft, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2016, and Windows 10 Version 1607 products are still missing the security patches, but they're being actively worked on and should be released sooner rather than later. The security patches include mitigations for both the PrintNightmare issue (CVE-2021-34527), as well as another Print Spooler vulnerability that's been previously reported (CVE-2021-1675). The mitigations are being distributed via Windows Update, as always, and the relevant packages are KB5004945 through KB5004959 (depending on your version of Windows).

TechPowerUp has today released an update to widely popular ThrottleStop software made by Kevin Glynn. Used as a tool to "monitor for and correct the three main types of CPU throttling", the new ThrottleStop software received a major update that brings a heap of new features and improvements. Starting off, one of the biggest changes in the new version 9.2, is that the tool finally restores Windows 7 compatibility, which was unavailable for that OS in the previous version 9.0. Now, the tool also brings a few more options to the table like a new TS Bench feature that allows for random MHz testing, adds support for devices that use connected standby, and fixes base clock MHz reporting when using Core Isolation.

DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp ThrottleStop 9.2The change-log follows.

Windows 10 2004 May update is set to bring a heap of new features to the OS, along with performance improvements in the form of a fixed search indexer. According to the latest report form Windows Latest, we have information that the update version 2004 will reintroduce Bluetooth A2DP sink, a feature from Windows 7 era. The Bluetooth A2DP sink allows users to stream audio from their phones to PC speakers, using Bluetooth technologies. This is a useful feature is you want to play music via your phone on louder speakers connected to your PC, and we are sure users are going to appreciate this. The Bluetooth A2DP sink feature was present in Windows 7 OS, however, Microsoft has later disabled that in Windows 8 OS and it hasn't been available since. The Windows 10 May update is expected to roll out between May 26th and May 28th.

Microsoft's Windows 10 operating system has historically been rising in market share thanks to the slow depreciation of Windows 7 OS, and Microsoft's efforts to push it as only Windows OS available for desktop users. However, according to the information by NetMarketShare, a company providing statistics about the market share of Internet Technologies (browsers and OSes), Windows 10 has seen a decrease in market share. This news is a surprising discovery, given that the OS is expected to be gaining new market share slowly, given that Windows 7 has reached the end of life in January.

From 57.37% of market share in February, Windows 10 got down to 57.34% in March and 56.08% in April. While this may seem just like a few percentage decrease, given the massive amount of PCs available, it can be counted in thousands. What could be the reason behind this is the current COVID-19 related pandemic and slower demand for office PCs, as everyone is working from home now. This was a big growth sector for Windows 10 as the previous version of Windows, the 7, was very popular in office space before its EoL. Of course, this is just a speculation which you should take with a big grain of salt. Some of the interesting things to point out is that Ubuntu, a Linux kernel based operating system, has massively increased its market share from 0.27% in March to 1.89% in April.

NVIDIA today released the latest version of its GeForce software. Version 442.59 WHQL of the software comes game-ready for "Call of Duty: Warzone," which went live earlier today. The drivers also fix a handful of issues. For starters, it fixes game crashes with "NBA 2K20." A blue screen crash when plugging in a VR headset to a notebook. The Windows 7 version of the drivers come with a check for Windows SHA2 patches during installation. Without these patches, the installer won't continue. Grab the drivers from the link below.

DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 442.59 Game ReadyThe change-log follows.

Microsoft's Windows 10 operating system has been a mix of old and new designs since its launch, however, Microsoft decided to modernize its UI look by providing a fresh set of icons. If you are a user of Microsoft Office suite, then you already know how the new icons look for Office applications like Excel and Word. The material design present on those apps is now transferring to the rest of Windows 10 stock applications like Calendar and Calculator. In the effort to modernize the look of Windows 10 and end the Windows 7 inspired UI, Microsoft will be pushing the updated icon set over few following months. The updates icons are already available for Windows 10 Insiders, and specifically for Preview Build 19569. Regular users can expect to get the update in the coming months.

BIOSTAR, a leading brand of motherboards, graphics cards, and storage devices, today announces windows 7 x64 SP1 support for Intel B365 series motherboards. BIOSTAR's Windows 7 x64 SP1 support will be further extended to the RACING B365GTA and the B365MHC motherboards as Windows 7 x64 SP1 still remains the second most-used Windows operating system worldwide, used in many homes, offices, schools and government organizations, all BIOSTAR consumers who have the need to use Windows 7 x64 SP1 will have an extended lifetime for their Windows 7 x64 SP1 experience.

The RACING B365GTA and the B365MHC, are ATX and Micro-ATX motherboards equipped with Intel's B365 Chipset supporting the 9th and 8th generation Intel processors. The two motherboards are packed with the latest features and functionality that is versatile for any use case. With the latest support patch for Windows 7 x64 SP1, BIOSTAR consumers who are looking for Windows 7 x64 SP1 supporting products will be related to have the latest high-end hardware supporting their favorite operating system further.

Despite Microsoft ending Windows 7 support on January the 14th and declaring it End-Of-Life (EOL), most of the antivirus providers are still providing their services to Windows 7 users. With a large portion of the users unable to switch to the newer and supported OS versions like Windows 10, antivirus providers see a good opportunity to gain new customers that want to protect their PCs from the possible threats. Thanks to the AV-Test report we have a list of antivirus providers that are going to support Windows 7, and it includes all of the big players with a plan to support their software on Windows 7 until 2022. So some of the Windows 7 users unable to upgrade to the newer OS are going to be at least semi-protected against possible vulnerabilities, with exception of course for those found in OS level.

When it comes to the number one source of the threats, the browser, there is some good news there as well. Google plans to support its Chrome browser to at least July 2021, while Mozilla declared no official information about their support plans, however, if they behave as they did with Windows XP and its support ending, your Firefox browser will likely get some more mileage out of it.

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Today, on January the 14th, Microsoft is officially ending support for Windows 7 operating system. After more than 10 years since its launch, Windows 7 has remained a primary operating system on many PCs, especially OEM PCs manufactured before 2015, when Windows 10 came out. The user transition from Windows 7 to Windows 10 has not been an easy task for Microsoft, however, by declaring that the product has reached End-Of-Life, Microsoft is trying to make millions of users pull the trigger and embrace the new operating system.

When January 14th arrives, Microsoft will stop giving Windows 7 users technical support, software updates with new features, and most importantly security updates. The official recommendation from Microsoft is to upgrade to the latest version of Windows, meaning Windows 10. As some of the older PCs may have compatibility issues with newer OS, it is also recommended to check your PC specifications. If you are a customer of the Extended Security Updates (ESU) program, you will continue to see further support in the future, however, for regular users, the support period is over.

NVIDIA in reponse to a support question stated that it will end Quadro driver support for select Windows versions from 14th January, 2020. These include all editions of Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2008 R2. NVIDIA will continue to provide driver updates that include bug fixes and security patches until 14th January. After that, NVIDIA will no longer release new Quadro drivers that support these operating systems. NVIDIA will focus on providing driver updates for Windows 10 client, enterprise, and server versions, and encourages people to upgrade. The door for extended support from specific enterprise users remains open, they are asked to contact their NVIDIA representative.

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NVIDIA has found a total of five security vulnerabilities with its Windows drivers for GeForce, Quadro and Tesla lineup of graphics cards. These new security risks are labeled as very dangerous and have the potential to cause local code execution, denial of service, or escalation of privileges, unless the system is updated. Users are advised to update their Windows drivers as soon as possible in order to stay secure and avoid all of these vulnerabilities, so be sure to check your drivers for latest version. Exploits are only accessible on Windows based OSes, starting from Windows 7 to Windows 10.

However, one fact that's reassuring is that in order to exploit a system, attacker must have local access to the machine that is running NVIDIA GPU, as remote exploit can not happen. Bellow are the tables provided by NVIDIA that show type of exploit along with rating it carries and which driver versions are affected. There are no mitigations for this exploit, as driver update is the only available solution to secure the system.

BIOSTAR, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and storage devices announced the release of Windows 7 support for its latest Intel and AMD motherboards including the A10N-8800E and H310MHG. Windows 7 remains to be the second most-used Windows operating system for many home, office, schools and government organizations, PC's still running this operating system can continue to do so with BIOSTAR's latest Intel and AMD platform motherboards. See the full list of compatible motherboards and BIOS updates below.

Whilst Microsoft may be ending support for the older Window 7 operating system, users can still secure their machine with the upcoming SHA-2 Security Update. It is vital for legacy OS users to install the security update, machines without the security patch will be vulnerable. For advanced data security, the BIOSTAR H310MHG motherboard also comes with a TPM header for TPM modules making it perfect for government organizations that require the highest level of data security. TPM modules are used in conjunction with other security technologies such as biometric verification, antivirus software, firewalls, smart cards, and others.

In what is likely to create a good deal of controversy along with a few cheers, Blizzard will be adding DirectX 12 support to World of Warcraft on Windows 7 thanks to a bit of effort from Microsoft. You might be wondering how that is possible? Well after seeing massive performance gains in WoW when Blizzard released their DirectX 12 update for Windows 10 in late 2018, resulted in the company wanting to bring those performance improvements to gamers still holding out on Windows 7. To facilitate this, they began talking with Microsoft who after getting a great deal of feedback from Blizzard decided to act on it. To achieve this Microsoft decided to port the user mode D3D12 runtime to Windows 7, which will unblock developers, thereby allows them to take advantage of the latest improvements that the DirectX 12 API offers while still giving full support to customers on older operating systems.

For now, World of Warcraft is the first game to run in DirectX 12 on Windows 7 with the latest 8.1.5 patch. However, they will not be the last as more developers are working on porting DirectX 12 games to Windows 7 with more announcements to follow. Microsoft, of course, has taken it upon themselves to remind everyone that the best possible performance with DirectX 12 will still be had on Windows 10 due to numerous OS optimizations. How true this is remains to be seen, but for many curmudgeons still holding out on Windows 7, this will likely be seen as a form of vindication for sticking with the now venerable OS.

Intel today introduced the B365 Express desktop motherboard chipset as an in-between to its B360 Express and H370 Express chipsets. This model is part of Intel's optical enlargement of its motherboard chipsets to the 22 nm HKMG+ silicon fabrication node, to free up 14 nm++ for processors. Despite this, the TDP of the chipset remains unchanged at 6 Watts. The B365 has a couple of feature additions and subtractions over B360. To begin with it has a wider PCI-Express downstream root-complex, with 20 gen 3.0 lanes, on par with H370 Express. The B360, if you'll recall, only has 12 downstream PCIe lanes. This means B365 motherboards will have additional M.2 and U.2 connectivity.

According to the ARK specifications page for the B365 Express, this chip completely lacks integrated 10 Gbps USB 3.1 gen 2 connectivity. Perhaps the expanded downstream PCIe is really meant for motherboard vendors to use third-party USB 3.1 gen 2 controller chips. You still get eight 5 Gbps USB 3.0 ports (notice we didn't say USB 3.1 gen 1, because don't expect fast-charging features). The chipset also loses the latest generation Wireless AC integrated MAC. All of these point to the possibility of the B365 Express being a re-branded Z170 with locked CPU overclocking. Adding credence to this theory is the fact that while the B360 uses ME version 12, the B365 uses the older ME version 11. Much like the H310C, the B365 could include platform support for Windows 7.

AMD has released today the Radeon Software Adrenalin 18.12.1 beta drivers. Overall this release merely adds support for Just Cause 4, which is set to release on December 4, 2018. While it is good to see AMD improving support for games ahead of their release, this driver offers nothing else tangible, meaning no performance boosts in other titles, changes or fixes to speak of. That said, AMD has listed a few known Issues with these drivers, such as; mouse lag on multiple displays when they are enabled but one is powered off, and Assassin's Creed: Odyssey may crash at specific locations on Windows 7 systems. We have of course uploaded these latest drivers to our download section.DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 18.12.1 Beta

AMD today made available the latest version of their Radeon software drivers, Adrenalin Edition 18.11.2, for supported graphics solutions. This brings with it support for the hotly anticipated Battlefield V game title, as well as some fixes to issues that users have been awaiting. Driver software notifications no longer list erroneously the current installed driver version and, more importantly, the annoying bug affecting some RX Vega users of elevated memory clocks even during system idle states has been resolved.

The driver also brings with it support for a Vulkan extension, VK_AMD_memory_overallocation_behavior, that "allows controlling whether explicit overallocation beyond the device memory heap sizes is allowed or not" as AMD puts it themselves. Things are not all rosy, however, with known issues including potential crashing of Assassin's Creed: Odyssey at some locations on Windows 7 systems and possible mouse lag with multi-display setups with at least one display enabled but powered off. This is disappointing considering an older driver update from September had seemingly fixed it too. The drivers are up for download at the link below, hosted directly on TechPowerUp for your convenience, and the change log is available past the break for those interested.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 18.11.2

The minimum and recommended PC specs for Capcom's upcoming Devil May Cry 5 have been announced, and it seems the game will have some thunderous requirements to start. First of all is the fact that Capcom lists as minimum an Intel Core i7-4770, paired with 8GB of RAM and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760. There's not much to say on the graphics card and - it's a relatively mundane requirement these days - but the number of CPU threads is slightly higher than usual. Shadow of the Tomb Raider, for example, listed as minimum a Core i3-class CPU.

Interestingly, the recommended specs maintain the RAM and CPU requirements where they stand, and only increase graphics card performance to a GTX 960. An interesting development, to say the least - the minimum is also the recommended. Windows 7 and 35 GB of available storage space round out the requirements for both configurations. Here's hoping this Devil May Cry 5 is as good as Ninja Theory's DmC.

AMD today released version 18.8.2 Beta of their Radeon Adrenalin drivers. This driver version brings with it support for Strange Brigade, so if you're planning on partaking in some gaming over that title's waters, you should have this driver suite. Apart from that, there are just some known issues with this driver release: minor corruption on Strange Brigades' Vulkan renderer on Windows 7 systems; application hangs on V-Sync and FreeSync (at the same time) enabled systems (also on Windows 7); and Radeon Overlay's functioning in multiple-GPU configurations under the Vulkan renderer. Grab these drivers from the link below.DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 18.8.2 Beta

Without making too much noise about it, Intel sneaked in a revision of its H310 Express entry-level chipset with support for Windows 7. Microsoft, if you'll recall, restricted support for newer processors (Intel "Kaby Lake" and newer, and AMD "Zen" and newer) on the 9-year old operating system, late-2016. There are ways around this restriction. The revised H310 chipset is pin-compatible with its predecessor, and hence major motherboard manufacturers are putting out revisions of their H310 motherboards with the newer chipset, being referred to as either "H310C" or "H310 R2.0."

To bolster this change, Intel is also releasing Windows 7 drivers for the chipset (INF Update Utility); integrated USB 3.0 controllers, the SATA AHCI controller, and even Management Engine Interface (MEI). What you don't get (yet), however, is Windows 7 versions of Intel UHD 6xx Graphics drivers, so you're restricted to using discrete graphics cards. Windows 7 refuses to die down, not just in enterprises, but also among PUBG gamers from China.

AMD today rolled out Radeon Software Adrenalin 18.5.2 Beta drivers. This includes drivers for 32-bit Windows 10 and Windows 7. While the drivers don't coincide with any AAA game launches; they pack a number of bug fixes. To begin with, they fix a system hang noticed on "Sea of Thieves" after the splash-screen. A "white screen" that was noticed in "The Crew" in daylight maps, is now fixed. Shader Cache failing to enable on some games, has now been fixed. Certain FreeSync displays putting out a blank screen when FreeSync is enabled in the middle of a game, is fixed. Texture issues with zombie models in "Arizona Sunshine" is fixed. "Warhammer: Vermintide 2" experiencing an application hang upon changing resolution, has also been fixed.DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 18.5.2 Beta