A new year brings with it plenty of new technology, from new smart home assistants to new 5G wireless networks that make streaming, downloading, and communicating faster than ever before. But technology giants like Apple, Microsoft, and Google often need to clean house to make room for these new advancements. This means shutting down applications that haven’t garnered widespread success or putting a hold on support for software that’s a few years old.

2020 will be a particularly busy year for consumer shutdowns and support freezes. If you’re currently running any of the technology below, you may want to consider upgrading your devices, updating your software, or making the switch to a new product before you find yourself left without support.

Microsoft made huge waves when it announced it would end all Windows 7 support on January 14, 2020. This does not mean that Windows 7 products won’t work. Instead, users will not have access to security updates. We’ve seen in the past that old technology is the driving force behind some of the nation’s biggest data breaches. Without security updates, your technology will be left vulnerable to dangerous third-parties. Microsoft is encouraging any users of Windows 7 to update to Windows 10 immediately. They have a tool available to help!

Windows 7 isn’t the only Microsoft product losing support this year. Several popular products in the Office suite will also be losing support on October 13, 2020, including:

For a complete list of Microsoft technology losing support, visit Microsoft’s website.

For those of you using Internet Explorer, these changes should not affect you yet. Internet Explorer 11 will be supported for the life of Windows 7 (which has ended), Windows 8.1, and Windows 10. Prior versions of IE no longer have support for modern browsers. Windows 8.1 will have support until January 10, 2023, while Windows 10 will be supported through October 14, 2025.

For years, Adobe Flash has helped internet users watch videos and stream audio. However, support for the product will end on December 31, 2020. New technology, like HTML5, has rendered flash unnecessary. Interactive content is simpler to use and more effective than ever before.

Web browsers, like Edge, will automatically remove dependencies on Flash. However, older browsers, like Explorer, will not. Adobe is recommending that users of Flash install new updates to last them through the end of the year, and then migrate away from the product.

Google is creating new products so regularly, it can be hard to keep up with what’s still active and what’s been shut down.

Google Hangouts, a communication product for video sharing and messaging, will be shut down after eight years in December 2020. Google will be working to migrate its billion-plus users to the new Hangouts Chat, an application similar to Slack.

Meanwhile, Hire by Google will also be shut down in September 2020. The product helps businesses recruit job applicants, track candidates, and manage interviews. There are other applications businesses can turn to after the shutdown, including Zoho Recruit. (As a Zoho Partner, we’re glad to help you make this switch.)

If you are still using one of the above applications or devices, or had relied on Windows 7 Support, we encourage you to get in touch with our IT support team. They can help you make proper updates to your technology so that you’re safe from data theft, and recommend new technology that you can turn to.

There’s a lot to look forward to in 2020, and a lot of changes in store. Rest assured that you won’t have to handle these changes alone. Contact our team to learn more!