Microsoft will roll out a critical update for Windows 7 devices next month

Microsoft has already decided on the end-of-support dates for Windows 7 users and while it’s a couple of months away, there’s a chance that users could get locked out of Windows Updates soon.

Microsoft recently announced that they are moving to SHA-2 for better encryption. This is not a big news for Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 users but is a critical one for Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 SP1 and SP2 users as they still rely on SHA-1 encryption. Microsoft had initially planned to roll out an update in April to fix the issue so the older systems could support SHA-2 encryption. However, Microsoft has now moved the date to March and the fix will roll out with Patch Tuesday for all the Windows 7 users. It’s really important that everyone downloads the patch as it will make older OS compatible with SHA-2 encryption. After this update, Microsoft will be signing Windows Updates using SHA-2 which will not be supported on devices that don’t have the update. You can read more about this change on the Microsoft Support website.

Via: Windows Area