If you use the Google Drive desktop app on a PC running either Windows Vista or Windows XP, I have some important news for you.
Google is planning to stop supporting Google Drive on those older, no longer supported versions of Windows on January 1, 2017.
According to this post on Google’s blog, the app will continue to work after that date, but there will be no further security updates or support available to users who choose to keep using Google Drive on those abandoned Windows versions.
In a nutshell, if a problem arises with the app or your Google Drive account gets hacked, you’ll be on your own with no reasonable expectation of help from Google.
While some users will certainly be inconvenienced by the coming lack of support, I fully understand why Google is taking this step. Both Windows Vista and Windows XP have been basically abandoned by Microsoft, so it makes little business sense for Google to continue supporting them with no help from Redmond.
Bottom line: If you wish to continue using Google Drive on a Windows Vista or XP computer after January 1, you’ll have no choice but to upgrade to either Windows 7, Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 if you wish to continue receiving updates and support from Google.
Of course another option is to simply move on to a newer computer with a more up-to-date version of Windows. But whatever you decide, I wish you the very best!
Note: Google plans to stop supporting Google Drive on Windows Server 2003 as well, but that version is used by very few people and businesses these days. Hence the emphasis on Windows Vista and Windows XP in this post.
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