Avast continues support for Microsoft’s Windows 7

[SpikeSpiegel]

https://blog.avast.com/avast-still-supports-windows-7

 

If you are a user of the operating system and are wondering what will happen to your Avast Free or Premium Security, we have good news

You probably heard that Microsoft officially stops support for Windows 7 on Jan. 14th 2020. If you are running the popular operating system, your computer will still function but Microsoft will no longer provide technical support for any issues, software updates, or security updates or fixes. 

“While you could continue to use your PC running Windows 7, without continued software and security updates, it will be at greater risk for viruses and malware,” Microsoft says. 

In light of that security warning, you might be wondering what will happen to your antivirus. Will Avast still be working?

Yes, we have you covered and we will fully support Avast antivirus products on Windows 7.

“Worldwide, roughly 26% of PC users are still running Windows 7, the operating system (OS) that as of January 14 will no longer receive technical support in the form of updates and patches from Microsoft,” says Martin Zima, Avast senior product manager for protection products.

We have you covered and we will fully support Avast antivirus products on Windows 7.

"According to our own research, more than a third of our PC users have Windows 7 installed, which is largely due to ongoing preference for the product versus newer versions.” 

Zima said ending technical support for Windows 7 leaves the machines on which it’s installed vulnerable to cyberattacks that seek to exploit unpatched flaws. “In the interest of our users’ security and privacy, Avast will continue to provide virus definition updates and product updates for Windows 7 for those who are unable or do not wish to make the switch to a newer version of Windows.” 

How long will Avast continue support for Windows 7? For at least two years. So far we don’t foresee a speedy increase in the migration of users to the newer Windows versions, and haven’t set any hard deadline for our support.

What will happen if I purchase an Avast Premium Security license and decide to change my OS later?

You are always able to transfer your subscription. You will simply require an activation code or Avast account login credentials. You can find more information about that on our support pages.

[emosun]

5 minutes ago, CalintzJerevinan said:

“While you could continue to use your PC running Windows 7, without continued software and security updates, it will be at greater risk for viruses and malware,”

way ahead of you microsoft lol

[SpookyCitrus]

Even if you will still be able to use Avast, other programs will stop supporting it, not to mention when sites and browsers stop and you can't visit a website because your security certificate is out of date. They've given you 5.5 years to upgrade/switch to Windows 8/10, if you haven't switched yet it's your own fault if you can't do the things you need on the computer.

[Sauron]

THIS IS STILL A BAD IDEA FOR SECURITY.

 

Viruses are far from the only threat you face by running an unsupported operating system.

[SpikeSpiegel]

1 minute ago, SpookyCitrus said:

Even if you will still be able to use Avast, other programs will stop supporting it, not to mention when sites and browsers stop and you can't visit a website because your security certificate is out of date. They've given you 5.5 years to upgrade/switch to Windows 10, if you haven't switched yet it's your own fault if you can't do the things you need on the computer.

I switch to Windows 10 on 12/25/19.  However my last PC which is a extremely slow laptop still has Windows 7.  I barely use it for the internet.  Just an AFK machine for one game.

[emosun]

2 minutes ago, Sauron said:

Viruses are far from the only threat you face by running an unsupported operating system.

such as...

[Roswell]

5 minutes ago, emosun said:

such as...

OS and software vulnerability.

[emosun]

4 minutes ago, Vitamanic said:

OS and software vulnerability.

so a virus , got it

[TempestCatto]

This is likely for those few enterprises paying for updates from MS. Avast made a smart business decision here by possibly being one of very few to continue support 7. Some businesses that will continue to use it may see the need to switch to them, thus earning them more in profits. Nothing wrong with that at all, though.

[TetraSky]

Not surprised, they did support Windows XP for a long time after the end date, too....

Heck they still do!

https://www.avast.com/windows-xp-antivirus

[SpikeSpiegel]

4 minutes ago, TetraSky said:

Not surprised, they did support Windows XP for a long time after the end date, too....

Heck they still do!

https://www.avast.com/windows-xp-antivirus

Yeah they kept supporting Windows XP until Windows XP Embedded POS Ready 2009 was finally phase out of support.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Embedded_Industry

 

Windows Embedded for Point of Service (WEPOS)	- Mainstream support ended on April 12, 2011[2] - Extended support ended on April 12, 2016[2]

 

 

Windows Embedded POSReady 2009	- Mainstream support ended on April 8, 2014[3] - Extended support ended on April 9, 2019[3]

 

 

https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=220639.0

 

Beginning on December 1, 2018, new Avast/AVG Antivirus products will no longer be delivered for the Windows XP and Windows Vista operating systems.  As customer demand grows for Windows products for Windows 7 and other new versions,  demand for products that support Windows XP and Vista decreases.  In order to receive new feature releases of the Avast/AVG antivirus software, users will be required to update their Windows operating system.

This means that as of  December 2018, existing users on the Windows XP or Windows Vista OS will remain on version 18.8 or older rather than migrating to version 19.1 scheduled to be released in December of 2018. However, please note that all Windows XP and Vista users will continue to receive virus definitions updates from the Avast Threat Labs database after this date and Avast/AVG Antivirus versions 18 and older will continue to work as usual providing full protection,  but will not receive regular automatic updates of new program versions with new features.
 

[Roswell]

38 minutes ago, emosun said:

so a virus , got it

No... 

 

A virus is one result of having a vulnerable system. Another is data exposure, browser exploits, etc. The list goes on. Are you not old enough to remember what happened to XP after support ended?

[emosun]

16 minutes ago, Vitamanic said:

Are you not old enough to remember what happened to XP after support ended?

Yeah every disc copy of XP spontaneously combusted and became irradiated to the point that every xp user needed to be quarantined. to this day a computer running windows xp is not possible without opening a portal to the sand worm dimension. 

[SpikeSpiegel]

2 minutes ago, emosun said:

Yeah every disc copy of XP spontaneously combusted and became irradiated to the point that every xp user needed to be quarantined. to this day a computer running windows xp is not possible without opening a portal to the sand worm dimension. 

Windows XP had a lot of security problems same with Windows 10.  These hackers aren't going to stop LOL.

[Quinnell]

I'll say the same thing I tell my clients... how much is your security and data worth to you?  Just came across a Server 2003 system today that got knocked out because it got infected.  Internet facing machine that has been highly vulnerable for over a decade.  You wanna resist change, then I won't sympathize if you get hit.

[emosun]

7 hours ago, CalintzJerevinan said:

These hackers aren't going to stop LOL.

Yeah theres thousands of hackers making viruses for Geos to this day

[Sauron]

11 hours ago, emosun said:

such as...

 

11 hours ago, emosun said:

so a virus , got it

Viruses are just one specific kind of malicious software, have you ever wondered why there's a distinction between an anti-virus and an anti-malware? Some types of vulnerability don't even require software to be run natively to be exploited, they can be abused through webpages or spoofed access points.

 

Just think of specter, there's a lot of software mitigation that went into plugging that hole and that would not have happened on an unsupported operating system. An updated anti-virus wouldn't have helped.

11 hours ago, CalintzJerevinan said:

Embedded POS

That name though

[20_below]

When I worked in the radio industry back in 2014-2016 there were tons and TONS of software companies that would only have Windows XP versions of their software and nothing else as they feared if they stopped supporting XP and moved onto Windows 7 and beyond it would alienate their customer base since a majority of stations couldn't afford to upgrade their systems past XP. The amount of systems still running on 2000 and XP in the radio industry, especially in very small markets and small stations is astonishing. It's like a blast in the past everyday. There were so many stations, especially college stations, that had their entire automation system on a Windows XP machine. It was nonsense.

 

This is probably similar for Avast, trying to support the businesses that haven't made the push yet to upgrade from Windows 7. 

[Commodus]

1 hour ago, 20_below said:

When I worked in the radio industry back in 2014-2016 there were tons and TONS of software companies that would only have Windows XP versions of their software and nothing else as they feared if they stopped supporting XP and moved onto Windows 7 and beyond it would alienate their customer base since a majority of stations couldn't afford to upgrade their systems past XP. The amount of systems still running on 2000 and XP in the radio industry, especially in very small markets and small stations is astonishing. It's like a blast in the past everyday. There were so many stations, especially college stations, that had their entire automation system on a Windows XP machine. It was nonsense.

 

This is probably similar for Avast, trying to support the businesses that haven't made the push yet to upgrade from Windows 7. 

I've long maintained that Microsoft's earlier "legacy support above all else" attitude has become a curse.  It trained a legion of companies to believe they would never have to upgrade Windows, and if they did that Microsoft would ensure their ancient database software would continue to run for all eternity.  Microsoft now has a situation where many of its customers not only haven't upgraded, but can't see themselves upgrading.  And as we saw with WannaCry, that has dangerous ramifications for society as a whole, not just a company's bottom line.

 

Ideally, Microsoft's stance would be somewhere between this old approach and Apple's more ruthless model (where it cuts off support after several years).  Give companies a healthy amount of support, but don't let it last more than a decade and make it clear that when support is over, it's over (no special contracts or exceptions).  Emphasize that you have to upgrade if you want to stay secure and use the latest features.

[Mira Yurizaki]

15 hours ago, emosun said:

so a virus , got it

Vulnerabilities aren't viruses. For example, the Heartbleed issue on OpenSSL. If you poke at it in a certain way, you can get the OpenSSL library to tell you things that it shouldn't.  Obviously this is bad. However, this does not mean OpenSSL is a virus.

 

Viruses are purposely built to perform malicious things. An application that exploits the Heartbleed flaw is a virus (or basically just malware, since the definition of a virus includes replicating itself)

[LogicalDrm]

Not really surprising. But as many other popular software will stop support, like Steam and browsers, eventually even the most hard headed Win7-lovers-while-hating-Microsoft will have to end their long goodbye's and switch.