{"id":84606,"date":"2016-01-12T19:47:46","date_gmt":"2016-01-12T17:47:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onsoftware.en.softonic.com\/?p=84606"},"modified":"2025-07-02T00:06:19","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T07:06:19","slug":"bye-bye-windows-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/bye-bye-windows-8\/","title":{"rendered":"Bye bye Windows 8"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today we are saying goodbye to one of Microsoft\u2019s shortest-lived operating systems<\/strong>. Windows 8 will end its short three-year life cycle later today – Tuesday January 12, 2016 \u2013 when it receives one final security update.<\/p>\n

Windows 8 users need not worry however, simply by downloading the free upgrade to Windows 8.1<\/a> \u2013 which Microsoft considers a service pack – you will still be able to receive ongoing support and security updates<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

If you are happy with Windows 8, and are thinking of sticking with it, you should be aware that you are leaving yourself open to security breaches<\/strong> with Microsoft no longer supporting it. So, with vulnerabilities to any new threats going unpatched, considering the upgrade to Windows 8.1<\/a> or Windows 10<\/a> is seriously recommended.<\/p>\n

That said, if you would truly H8 to give up 8, then a good antivirus<\/a> is a must <\/strong>\u2013 as can be seen by users who are still using Windows XP as their primary OS. And, though we do not recommended, the desire to retain a vintage operating system does earn our respect.<\/p>\n

Talking of vintage software, versions of Internet Explorer before\u00a0Internet Explorer 11<\/a> (IE11) will also cease to receive security updates from today. If you are running Window 7 or later you can upgrade to IE11 for free<\/strong>, Vista and XP users should consider alternatives like Mozilla Firefox<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Source: Softpedia<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/em>200 million users for Windows 10<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Just last week we received a press release from Microsoft in which the last article revealed that Windows 10 is now installed on in 200 million devices<\/strong>. This is thanks to a huge boost from Black Friday sales, with a whopping 40% of new devices running the OS.<\/p>\n

It is true that the adoption rate is very high: 140% faster than Windows 7 and 400% faster than Windows 8 <\/strong>\u2013 an OS that was an important step towards Windows 10, but which was criticized by users.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Looking at a chart from StatCounter<\/a>, Windows 8 represents less than 3% of global operating systems worldwide. Note also that the steady growth of Windows 10 means it is already surpassing Windows 8, while Windows 7 is declining at the same rate \u2013 yeah, Microsoft ending its support for 8 is making a lot more sense suddenly<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

We could say that we will miss Windows 8, but we all know that is not true. Long live Windows 10<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Related Stories<\/h3>\n

Internet Explorer is dying: a history of the world\u2019s most hated browser<\/a><\/p>\n

Which Windows 10 version should I get?<\/a><\/p>\n

5 alternatives to Internet Explorer<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today we are saying goodbye to one of Microsoft\u2019s shortest-lived operating systems. Windows 8 will end its short three-year life cycle later today – Tuesday January 12, 2016 \u2013 when it receives one final security update. Windows 8 users need not worry however, simply by downloading the free upgrade to Windows 8.1 \u2013 which Microsoft … Continue reading “Bye bye Windows 8”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2058,"featured_media":84608,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":0},"categories":[],"tags":[2564],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-84606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-app-subdomain-redirectionwindows-8"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2058"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84606"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84606\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":329388,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84606\/revisions\/329388"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84606"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=84606"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=84606"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=84606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}