If you’ve not been following Microsoft’s posts regarding lifecycle milestones for Windows and Internet Explorer, PC World’s article “Microsoft Patch Tuesday kills off Windows 8 and Internet Explorer 8, 9, and 10” (January 12, 2016) noted some important end-of-support events.

Microsoft will cease support for the 3 year, 2 month, and 17-day old operating system. That means Windows 8 is going the way of Windows XP; no more security updates, no bug fixes, nothing.

Users still on Windows 8 will have to upgrade to Windows 8.1 or make the jump to Windows 10.

Microsoft plans to discontinue almost all support for Internet Explorer 8, 9, and 10. This issue only affects Windows 7 users who haven’t upgraded to IE11, and Windows 8 users who must upgrade to Windows 8.1 or 10 to get the latest version of IE.

The only exception to the end of IE versions 8 through 10 will be Windows Vista, which will continue to get support for Internet Explorer 9. [Vista extended support ends in 2017.]

Check the “Windows lifecycle fact sheet” if you’re curious about other Windows versions.