Google is urging its Gmail users to start getting into the latest version Chrome. By the end of the year, support for older versions will be coming to a halt. According to Google, the latest version has been equipped with important security updates. Gmail users using older versions of the Chrome will be more vulnerable to security risks and will not be able to access any of the new features and bug fixes.
The Chrome 55 was just rolled out back in December of last year. The version would default to HTML5 5 instead of Adobe Flash and made tweaks to V8 JavaScript, which reduced RAM consumption. "Google does not typically announce when we discontinue support for older versions of Chrome browser because of our current supported browser policy, which states that only the most recent versions of Chrome is supported," says Google in the G Suit blog post.
Users of Windows XP and Windows Vista are the ones that need to seriously consider the update as the latest version that supported their operating systems was version 49. Microsoft already abandoned maintenance of the systems in 2015. "This announcement was made given the expected impact on Windows XP and Windows Vista users and known security risks," the blog post continues.
To make sure users get the message, the Gmail interface will be pasted with a banner that will encourage users to finally get to updating by the time Feb. 8, 2017 arrives. Gmail will be giving users enough time as it will still be able to function on Chrome 53 and previous versions until the end of 2017. After that, Chrome users who decide to continue using older versions could be either redirected to Gmail's basic HTML5 version or have the site stop working. For complete access to the new Gmail features, users should at least update to version 54.
