According to Microsoft, in its announcement made in January this year, the company had decided that PCs having Skylake CPUs will be receiving updates on Windows 7/8.1 until July 2017. Although, Windows 7 reaches its EOS (End of Support) in January 2020 and the support for Windows 8.1 ends in January 2023.
Due to this reason, the company reviewed its decision and decided to extend the support to July 2018. This time it also planned to provide critical updates to both operating systems until their official support ends.
But latest reports say that Microsoft has once again reconsidered its decision and decided to extend Windows 7 and 8.1 support for these processors until the lifetime of these Windows versions end. So now the computers running on Skylake CPUs will be provided with security updates until their EOS.
However, Microsoft will be providing updates to those Kaby Lake and Bristol Ridge processors that are running with Windows 10. Moreover, for all the silicon chips to be released from now, the latest version of MS operating system i.e. Windows 10, would be needed to get updates. Therefore, if you buy any future generations of CPU chips and want your system to receive all updates, then you must also use Windows 10. The earlier Windows versions won’t let you get all security updates.
Although, Microsoft did not provide much details about the reasons of changing the EOS dates, but company’s reports show that this way the customers will be able to “purchase modern hardware with confidence.” The company is getting in touch with its customers and effectively listening to their feedback.
Further, the company reported, “We recognize that, in some instances, customers have a few systems that require longer deployment timeframes. We listened to this feedback and today are sharing an update to our 6th Gen Intel Core (Skylake) support policy. * We have extended the support period from July 17, 2018 to the end of support dates for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1; and we will provide all applicable security updates.”
To check out whether a particular PC running Windows 7 and 8.1, can support Skylake chips check out the list at this link that provides a variety of PCs and OEMs. According to Microsoft, the list would be regularly updated as new computer models are added.