Gmail service likely to stop from Feb 8; confirms Google

Google has confirmed that Gmail will stop working on Chrome Browser version 53 and below, starting February 8, 2017. Gmail users that are still on Windows XP and Windows Vista are the most likely to be affected, because v49 was the last released version which supported those operating systems. As previously announced in April 2015 and November 2015, these systems are no longer maintained by Microsoft, and we strongly encourage you to migrate to more secure and supported systems.

Google will show a banner at the top of the Gmail interface for users who are still on Google Chrome Browser v53 and below to encourage upgrading to the latest version of Chrome, currently on version 55. Chrome Browser v55 contains several important



security updates.

According to Google, the Chrome browser’s versions lower than 53 are open to security risks, mainly because Microsft had stopped the OS support for Windows XP and Vista. This means that if you are still using Chrome v53 or lower, be ready to likely get affected by attacks. Moreover, there will be no bug fixes or security patches available to you. According to Google, you will be able to continue using the Chrome browser till the end of the year, but it will be in the basic HTML version only. Google wrote on the blog, “Gmail users that are still on Windows XP and Windows Vista are the most likely to be affected because v49 was the last released version which supported those operating systems.”