Older versions of Windows may not be supported by Microsoft, increasing your risk of contracting viruses and other malicious programs. Malware evolves, and your operating system has to keep up. Taking the time to perfect your system’s update settings is worth doing for the following reasons: There are good reasons why Microsoft and other OS developers push for updates, though. Why Operating System Updates Are Important Windows 8 and 10 have made installing updates fast and user-friendly, and our step-by-step guides below will walk you through the process of updating your PC to keep your system as secure as possible. While system updates don’t protect you in the same way an antivirus does, updates help keep your computer safe from the latest malware and other internet security threats, which often target vulnerabilities in outdated software. Your computer is more vulnerable when its operating system is out of date. Why Operating System Updates Are Important.

On Twitter, Facebook, Google News, and Instagram. While it looks like that one-year deadline was never enforced for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users who have still been able to upgrade, we will soon find out whether Microsoft will continue down the path it began with Windows 10 and offer a free upgrade to Windows 11 at the Microsoft event that is set to take place later today.įollow HT Tech for the latest tech news and reviews, also keep up with us It is interesting to note that Microsoft had initially announced that Windows 10 would remain free to upgrade for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users - but only for one year, and only if they had an existing valid Windows licence. Upon examination of the product key configuration (PKe圜onfig) files on Windows 11 by XDA, it was revealed that Microsoft has added support for upgrading from Windows 7 and Windows 8.1, while there is no reference to Windows 8 – this suggests that Windows 8 users will need to upgrade to Windows 8.1 before they can upgrade to Windows 11.Īlso read: Alert! Here's why you shouldn't download the leaked Windows 11

Meanwhile, according to a report by XDA Developers, it looks like Windows 11 might actually allow users to upgrade from Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 to Windows 11 after all. Microsoft has raised a protest against this and wants it to be removed. Here's why it's possible that Windows 11 could also be a free Windows upgrade this year:Ī leaked build of Windows 10 recently started doing the rounds on the web, and users have been installing the build, even though it might not be the safest thing to do.

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