Only newer versions of Windows will be supported

Feb 18, 2016 09:18 GMT  ·  By

Windows XP no longer receives updates and security patches from Microsoft since April 2014, but approximately 10 percent of the desktops out there are still running it, despite the obvious security risks.

And because Internet Explorer on Windows XP is no longer a secure way to browse the web, third-party browser makers are still offering support for this particular Windows version. But starting today, the group of browsers still working on Windows XP is losing one important name: Opera.

Opera 36, the latest version running on Windows XP

Starting with Opera 37, the famous browser will no longer work on Windows XP and Windows Vista, so the new versions of Microsoft’s operating system will be the only ones supported. Windows XP users can continue running older builds of Opera on their systems, but no other updates will be released, the company has revealed in an announcement today.

“We do care for our loyal users, which you could recently observe with 12.18 security update. While Opera 36 will be last one with features additions on Windows XP and Vista, we are still going to provide security and crash fixes to XP and Vista platform,” the Opera team stated.

“You will not be able to run Opera 37+ on Windows XP and Vista, we advise you update to more recent OS, if possible. Otherwise, we will have Opera 36 for you.”

Google Chrome, another popular browser that’s still working on Windows XP, will lose support for this particular OS version in April this year, so slowly but surely, users who are yet to upgrade their computers will run out of choices when it comes to applications in general, and browsers in particular.

Certainly, running a 15-year-old operating system on a PC given the modern threats that are all over the place is a very risky decision, so those who are still on Windows XP should at least consider moving to a newer version of Windows in the coming months.