Mozilla extends Firefox support on Windows 7 once again

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Two years ago, Mozilla released Firefox 115, the final version to support Windows 7, 8, 8.1, and a bunch of macOS releases. A year later, Mozilla revealed its plans to extend support for outdated Windows versions by releasing additional security updates for Firefox 115 ESR. After that, developers postponed the end of support two more times, and they are doing it once again.

Mozilla published a notification on the official Firefox release calendar website with details about the end of Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 support. It says the following:

We decided to extend support for ESR 115 only on Windows 7-8.1 and macOS 10.12-10.14 up to March 2026. We will re-evaluate this decision in February 2026 and announce any updates on ESR 115's end-of-life then.

Firefox is the only mainstream browser that still gets security updates for Windows 7, 8, and 8.1, which went out of support in January 2023. Mainstream Windows 10 support is ending in one month, and manufacturers and developers are already planning their strategy to end drivers and software support. Mozilla, meanwhile, still releases updates for Firefox 115 ESR on Windows 7.

In late 2024, one of Mozilla's engineers said that supporting Windows 7 with its tiny market share is not free, and it is "getting increasingly painful due to the divergence which naturally happens over time." However, the browser still has enough Windows 7 users to justify expenses on backporting security updates to Firefox 115 ESR.

Considering that Mozilla used the same message as the last time it decided to extend Windows 7 support, it is possible that we would see more updates for Firefox 115 ESR on Windows 7 beyond February 2026. You can find more information about Firefox releases on the official website.

Windows doesn’t need another Start menu redesign. It needs Microsoft to rebuild confidence — one transparent decision at a time.
A clean, editorial‑style illustration of the Windows logo with a subtle, hairline crack running through it — not shattered, not broken, just fractured. It visually communicates the theme: Windows isn’t collapsing, but the relationship between Microsoft and its users is strained.
(Image credit: Microsoft | Edited with Gemini)
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Windows 11 is, by most objective measures, a strong operating system. It’s fast, stable, secure, and far more coherent than Windows 10 ever managed to be. The engineering teams have done impressive work modernizing the platform, albeit slowly for some (yes, I hear you people who just want to move your TaskBar).

A graphic showing a Microsoft Surface and a stylus with a circle behind it that says, "Windows Central From the Editor's Desk."

And yet, if you spend even five minutes in any Windows community, you’ll find a level of frustration that feels wildly out of proportion to the OS’s actual technical state. Just look at this week's Patch Tuesday fiasco, which keeps on going and going and going.

That disconnect is the real story. Windows doesn’t have a feature problem. It has a trust problem. Case in point: This week's other big news with the FBI and BitLocker.
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Over the past decade, Microsoft has slowly chipped away at the goodwill of its most loyal users — not through catastrophic failures, but through a steady drip of decisions that make people feel sidelined. Forced changes to the taskbar and Start menu. Ads are creeping into the Start menu, Settings, and File Explorer. Copilot appearing on the taskbar and Edge, whether you asked for it or not. Telemetry settings that feel scattered and opaque. Insider feedback that often seems to vanish into a void.

None of these things is individually disastrous, but together they create a sense that Windows is something being done to users, not built with them.

It’s the erosion of agency — the feeling that Microsoft is prioritizing its own strategic goals over the preferences of the people who actually use the product every day.

People don’t hate change. They hate surprise. They hate feeling like they’re not part of the conversation. They hate waking up after Patch Tuesday and discovering that something they relied on has moved, changed, or been replaced without warning, e.g., Start menu changes. And they especially hate the creeping sense that the OS they paid for is slowly becoming a billboard for Microsoft’s services.

The irony is that Windows 11 itself is not the villain here. The OS is good (sorry, but I really believe that). The problem is emotional, not technical. It’s the erosion of agency — the feeling that Microsoft is prioritizing its own strategic goals over the preferences of the people who actually use the product every day. When users lose trust, even good features feel like intrusions.

Microslop logo on a Microsoft Azure data center
(Image credit: Photo via Lexi Critchett/Bloomberg via Getty Images. Microslop logo by u/SaucyStrawberries, edit by Jez Corden (sorry).)

There's a reason why 'Microslop' is trending, after all.

What people want is simple: clarity, consistency, and control. They want to know what’s changing and why. They want ads out of core system UI. They want privacy settings that are easy to understand. They want AI features to be opt‑in, not bolted onto their workflow by default. They want the Insider Program to feel like a partnership again, not a one‑way bug‑report pipeline.
The fix: Microsoft needs a Windows Social Contract

A clean, editorial‑style illustration of the Windows logo with a subtle, hairline crack running through it — not shattered, not broken, just fractured. It visually communicates the theme: Windows isn’t collapsing, but the relationship between Microsoft and its users is strained.
Microsoft’s real Windows problem isn’t ads or updates — it’s the trust gap growing between the company and its users. (Image credit: Microsoft | Edited with Gemini)

None of this requires a reinvention of Windows. It requires a reinvention of the relationship between Microsoft and its users. A kind of “Windows Social Contract” — a public commitment to transparency, respect for user choice, and a clear boundary between the OS and Microsoft’s marketing ambitions. A promise that Windows will evolve, but not at the cost of user trust.

Windows doesn’t need another Start menu redesign. It needs Microsoft to rebuild confidence — one transparent decision at a time. Because the OS is in good shape. It’s the relationship that needs the update.

Imagine a simple, public commitment — a “Windows Social Contract” — that includes:

No ads in core system UI
No forced feature rollouts without opt‑in
Clear, centralized privacy controls
Transparent communication about roadmap changes
A meaningful Insider feedback loop
User choice in AI integrations

This isn’t radical. It’s respectful. And it would rebuild more goodwill than any new feature ever could.

Windows is not in crisis. But the relationship between Microsoft and its users is strained. And relationships don’t heal through silence or surprise updates.

They heal through clarity, consistency, and respect.

Microsoft has the engineering talent to build the best operating system in the world. Now it needs to rebuild the trust that makes people excited to use it.

One transparent decision at a time.

Hooray.... am still a old fan of 7

What we need is Windows Seven 2.

The digital clock has finally run out for holdouts clinging to the past, forcing a critical decision for millions of PC users worldwide.

Mozilla has confirmed that it will officially terminate security updates for Firefox on Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 by the end of February 2026.

The organization is the last major browser maker that still supports the discontinued Windows operating systems.

Windows 7 support ended in January 2020 officially, but Microsoft introduced Extended Security Updates for business customers. These allowed businesses to extend support for up to three years, for a price.

Windows 8 and 8.1 support ended in January 2023, which is also the month that Windows 7 ESU support ended officially.

While Mozilla continued to support Firefox on Windows 7 after January 2023, Microsoft ended support for its Edge browser in the same month. Google followed a month later, when it released Chrome 109, the last official version of the web browser that supported the two operating systems.

Mozilla has now confirmed that it won’t release new updates for Firefox 115 ESR, the last version to support Windows 7 and 8/8.1, after February 2026.

Firefox 115 is now the last version supported on Windows 7, 8 and 8.1.
Updates will be delivered through the ESR channel until the end of February 2026.

The organization recommends that users upgrade the operating system to a supported version to “continue receiving Firefox security and feature updates”.

However, this could be problematic for a number of reasons, at least when upgrades to newer versions of Windows are considered:

The next direct upgrade is Windows 10. Microsoft has ended support and ESU updates are only provided until October 2026 for Home and Pro editions. Mozilla plans to continue supporting Firefox on Windows 10 though.
Windows 11 is supported, but it has stricter system requirements. Systems that do not meet the requirements can’t be upgraded as easily, if at all (there are some that can’t be bypassed).

Affected users might consider switching to Linux. It is a daunting task, but things have improved significantly in this regard over the years. Yes, some apps or games are not available directly, others may not run, but the vast majority of apps and games should run on Linux.

Firefox 115 ESR will continue to work after February 2026, but Mozilla won’t release any new updates for the version of the open source browser.