“Every Windows product has a lifecycle. The lifecycle begins when a product is released and ends when it’s no longer supported. Knowing key dates in this lifecycle helps you make informed decisions about when to upgrade or make other changes to your software.” Quote from Windows lifecycle fact sheet.
If you have Windows XP then you are on your own – Microsoft have washed their hands of you. So if a vulnerability comes out now then no-one is likely to fix it for you, making your PC at risk. The same applies to Windows Vista.
You might have thought that you were safe with Windows 7, but as of January 2020 this is also out of support and you really need to upgrade to Windows 10. This is still possible without any costs involved but will depend upon your hardware. Contact me and I can advise.
Make sure you are as up to date as possible as this will reduce the risk of security issues.
| Client operating systems | Latest update or service pack | End of mainstream support (ie new features may be added until then.) | End of extended support (ie security updates only – no new features) |
| Windows XP | Service Pack 3 | April 14, 2009 | April 8, 2014 |
| Windows Vista | Service Pack 2 | April 10, 2012 | April 11, 2017 |
| Windows 7 | Service Pack 1 | January 13, 2015 | January 14, 2020 |
| Windows 8 | Windows 8.1 | January 9, 2018 | January 10, 2023 |
| Windows 10, released in July 2015 | see below | October 13, 2020 | October 14, 2025 |
Windows 10
If you have Windows 10, make sure you keep up to date as Windows will not be updating the OS name, simply issuing half-yearly updates of ‘versions’. As for the old operating systems these will get out of date.
| Version | Servicing option | Availability date | OS build | Latest revision date | End of service: Home, Pro, Pro Education, Pro for Workstations and IoT Core | End of service: Enterprise, Education and IoT Enterprise | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Semi-Annual Channel | 2020-05-27 | 19041.508 | 2020-09-08 | 2021-12-14 | 2021-12-14 | |
| 1909 | Semi-Annual Channel | 2019-11-12 | 18363.1110 | 2020-09-16 | 2021-05-11 | 2022-05-10 | |
| 1903 | Semi-Annual Channel | 2019-05-21 | 18362.1110 | 2020-09-16 | 2020-12-08 | 2020-12-08 | |
| 1809 | Semi-Annual Channel | 2019-03-28 | 17763.1490 | 2020-09-16 | 2020-11-10 | 2021-05-11 | |
| 1809 | Semi-Annual Channel (Targeted) | 2018-11-13 | 17763.1490 | 2020-09-16 | 2020-11-10 | 2021-05-11 | |
| 1803 | Semi-Annual Channel | 2018-07-10 | 17134.1726 | 2020-09-08 | End of service | 2021-05-11 | |
| 1803 | Semi-Annual Channel (Targeted) | 2018-04-30 | 17134.1726 | 2020-09-08 | End of service | 2021-05-11 | |
| 1709 | Semi-Annual Channel | 2018-01-18 | 16299.2107 | 2020-09-08 | End of service | 2020-10-13 | |
| 1709 | Semi-Annual Channel (Targeted) | 2017-10-17 | 16299.2107 | 2020-09-08 | End of service | 2020-10-13 |