San Francisco, Jun 13 (IANS): Chip-maker Nvidia is planning to drop support for Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 later this year.

The Nvidia drivers will be exclusively available for Windows 10 in October this year, with only critical security updates available on Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 through September 2024.

Microsoft has already dropped support for Windows 7 and Windows 8 and even the extended support for Windows 8.1 will end in January 2023, The Verge reported.

"The vast majority of our GeForce customers have migrated to Windows 10 Operating System," reads a support note from Nvidia.

"In order to ensure GeForce owners experience the best possible security, support and functionality, Nvidia will now focus on Windows 10 operating system," it added.

According to the report, there are now 1.3 billion active Windows 10 devices but Windows 7 is still in use in many parts of the world.

Statcounter estimates that Windows 7 still accounts for 15 per cent of all Windows versions.

Windows 10 dominates steam usage, though making up nearly 93 per cent with Windows 7 at just under 2 per cent.

Microsoft is also expected to launch a new version of Windows likely to be named Windows 11 in October.

Nvidia's last driver to officially support these old versions of Windows will be made available on August 31 with an October 4 release being the first to only support Windows 10.