WINDOWS UPDATES BLOCKED BY CHIPS

LATEST HARDWARE NOW KILLS WINDOWS 7 AND 8 UPDATES

IF YOU’VE BUILT a lovely new Ryzen or Kaby Lake system, and stuck with Windows 7 or 8, there’s a catch. According to a Microsoft Knowledge Base article, Windows Update now informs you that you have unsupported hardware when you try to update. The solution, naturally, is an upgrade to Windows 10. The cited reason is Microsoft’s “support policy.”

We knew this was coming—last year, Microsoft said that Windows 10 would be the only platform to support Kaby Lake, Qualcomm 8996, and AMD Bristol Ridge.

Not many people will be running the latest chips alongside older versions of Windows, so adding support would be unprofitable. But cutting off all updates does look mean-spirited. Older versions of Windows run perfectly well on new silicon; there’s no technical problem. This move leaves you out in the cold; you won’t even get basic security updates. Boo.