Starting in March 2022, users will need to upgrade to a newer operating system or will be left with only an online application on OneDrive.

Early next year, Microsoft’s first-page cloud storage users will be given less than a gentle nudge to update to a newer OS system. Microsoft will stop supporting the OneDrive desktop program in Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 on March 1, 2022, according to a post on its technical support site. Users must upgrade to Windows 10 or 11 if they wish to preserve their backup and sync features.

Those on Older Operating Systems Will Still Be Able to Use OneDrive

For users on older operating systems, OneDrive will not become utterly useless: the data themselves will not be lost, and the OneDrive system (along with updated, synchronized content) will still be accessible via Microsoft accounts on the web. The iOS and Android OneDrive apps are unaffected. It should be noted that, since this is a fairly arbitrary end of the service, Microsoft could give preference to Google’s Drive and Dropbox, among other competitors to cloud storage.

Despite the fact that Windows 7 and 8.1 have been out of support for a long time, security updates will continue to be provided until January 2023. Microsoft, on the other hand, would like individuals who are still using previous versions of the operating system to catch up and go with the flow for resource management, branding, and, of course, money. If you are curious, complete support for Windows 10 will be available until October 2025.

Recommendations for Users

Windows 11 is still quite new, and we would not advise everyone to update right now, especially if they are still on Windows 10. If you do, you should first look at how to best optimize it for gaming (many of popular titles for playing are also widely popular for gambling on casino platforms, such as best SkillOnNet casino sites and many more), especially since VBS (Virtualization-Based Security) may be enabled on some PCs.

VBS is a Windows 11 (and Windows 10) security feature that generates an isolated memory space for security features. This virtual secure mode is isolated from the rest of the operating system and is produced using Windows hypervisor. VBS, according to Microsoft, can lessen the impact of kernel viruses infections and malware attacks. Memory integrity, often known as Hypervisor-protected code integrity (HVCI), is a fundamental security feature offered by VBS. All kernel-mode drivers and binaries are checked before they are started, and unsigned drivers or system files are stopped.

VBS is not a new feature in Windows 11; it has been present for years on Windows 10. The enforcement of the feature, on the other hand, is new. In late 2019, Microsoft began activating VBS by default for select PCs, despite the fact that it was optional in Windows 10. Furthermore, the Redmond behemoth is encouraging OEMs to activate VBS by default on PCs that come pre-installed with Windows 11. VBS may be disabled if you manually update from Windows 10 to Windows 11, but it is almost certainly enabled if you buy a new Windows 11 laptop or pre-built PC.

Conclusion Despite Microsoft’s evident campaign to convince users to upgrade to Windows 10, we would advocate moving to Windows 10 for the time being. There have simply been too many issues with Windows’ most recent operating system, even if they are progressively being resolved.

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