Millions of PC users who browse the internet through Google Chrome are being warned it may become buggy and unsafe next week.

The browser is undergoing a major change affecting anyone who uses Windows 7 and Windows 8.1.

The operating systems were recently dropped, and will no longer be supported by new versions of Google Chrome.

This means anyone using them will no longer get important security updates which are important for protecting your data from hackers.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus:

The next version of Google Chrome will only work on Windows 10 and Windows 11.

The latest version, Chrome 110, is expected to be released to the public on February 7.

Google warned: “Older versions of Chrome will continue to work, but there will be no further updates released for users on these operating systems.

“If you are currently on Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1, we encourage you to move to a supported Windows version to ensure you continue to receive the latest security updates and Chrome features."

Chrome users warned over previously undiscovered security flaw

The warning comes a month after Google discovered a security flaw within Google Chrome that left users vulnerable to attacks from hackers.

Google confirmed that the security weakness is being exploited by malicious parties but has avoided divulging specific details as to avoid further danger to users.

However, the company revealed that the 'high severity' flaw involves a type of confusion bug used in the V8 JavaScript engine, according to Google.

This type of software flaw could leave a computer vulnerable to hackers accessing protected memory, hacker-induced crashes, or malicious codes.

In a statement on its developer blog, Google said that specifics will be "kept restricted until a majority of users are updated with a fix.

"We will also retain restrictions if the bug exists in a third party library that other projects similarly depend on, but haven’t yet fixed."

Adding: "We would also like to thank all security researchers that worked with us during the development cycle to prevent security bugs from ever reaching the stable channel."