Editing Windows 9x (section)

===End of support===

Over time, support for the Windows 9x series ended. Windows 95 lost its mainstream support on December 31, 2000, and extended support was dropped from Windows 95 on December 31, 2001 (which also ended support for older Windows versions prior to Windows 95 on that same day). Windows 98 and Windows 98 Second Edition had its mainstream support end on June 30, 2002, and mainstream support for Windows Me ended on December 31, 2003. Microsoft then continued to support the Windows 9x series until July 11, 2006, when extended support ended for Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition (SE), and Windows Millennium Edition (Me) – 4 years after extended support for Windows 95 ended on December 31, 2001.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifeselectindex |title=Windows 9x end of support lifetime. |access-date=2017-01-13 |archive-date=2015-03-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150307204602/http://support.microsoft.com/gp/LifeSelectIndex |url-status=live }}</ref>

Microsoft DirectX, a set of standard gaming APIs, stopped being updated on Windows 95 at version 8.0a.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=4846C891-D45D-4122-8230-69F3E5ECDEDE&displaylang=en|title=DirectX 8.1 Runtime for Windows 98 and Windows Me|website=Microsoft Download Center|publisher=[[Microsoft]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050115160444/http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=4846C891-D45D-4122-8230-69F3E5ECDEDE&displaylang=en|archive-date=January 15, 2005|access-date=April 20, 2019}}</ref> It also stopped being updated on Windows 98 and Me after the release of [[Windows Vista]] in 2006, making DirectX 9.0c the last version of DirectX to support these operating systems.

Support for [[Internet Explorer|Microsoft Internet Explorer]] on all Windows 9x releases have also ended. Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows Me all lost security patches for Internet Explorer when the respective operating systems reached their end of support date. [[Internet Explorer 5.5]] with Service Pack 2 is the last version of Internet Explorer compatible with Windows 95, while [[Internet Explorer 6]] with Service Pack 1 is the last version compatible with latter releases of Windows 9x (i.e. 98 and Me).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=1|title=Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1|website=Microsoft Download Center|publisher=[[Microsoft]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110627114118/http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=1|archive-date=June 27, 2011|access-date=April 20, 2019}}</ref> While Internet Explorer 6 for Windows XP did receive security patches up until it lost support, this is not the case for IE6 under Windows 98 and Me. Due to its age, [[Internet Explorer 7]], the first major update to Internet Explorer 6 in half a decade, was only available for [[Windows XP SP2]] and Windows Vista.

In 2011, Microsoft retired the Windows Update v4 website and removed the updates for Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, and Windows Me from its servers.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://msfn.org/board/topic/153149-i-cant-access-windows-update-v4/|title=I can't access Windows Update v4 - Windows 9x/ME - MSFN|website=msfn.org|date=27 August 2011 |access-date=April 25, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.betaarchive.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=21889|title=Where is Windows Update for Win98? - BetaArchive|website=www.betaarchive.com|access-date=April 25, 2021}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Cunningham |first=Andrew |date=2023-07-10 |title=Windows 95, 98, and other decrepit versions can grab online updates again |url=https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/07/windows-95-98-and-other-decrepit-versions-can-grab-online-updates-again/ |access-date=2024-08-05 |website=[[Ars Technica]] |language=en-us}}</ref> Despite this, an independent project named Windows Update Restored was created in 2022 that aims to restore the Windows Update websites for older versions of Windows, including all releases of Windows 9x.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tyson |first=Mark |date=2023-07-09 |title='Windows Update Restored' Site Provides Updates for Classic Windows Versions |url=https://www.tomshardware.com/news/windows-update-restored-site-provides-updates-for-classic-windows-versions |access-date=2024-08-05 |website=[[Tom's Hardware]] |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0" />

Microsoft announced in July 2019 that the Microsoft Internet Games services on Windows Me (and XP) would end on July 31, 2019 (and for Windows 7 on January 22, 2020).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/farewell-to-microsoft-internet-games-on-windows-xp/035d5144-6c1b-49bb-b3d5-37f6355fec39?auth=1|title=Farewell to Microsoft Internet Games on Windows XP, Windows ME, and Windows 7|website=answers.microsoft.com|language=en-US|access-date=2019-08-04|archive-date=July 14, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190714150805/https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/farewell-to-microsoft-internet-games-on-windows-xp/035d5144-6c1b-49bb-b3d5-37f6355fec39?auth=1|url-status=live}}</ref>