Anti-Virus Companies Are Sticking With Windows 7 (For Now)

With support officially ending for Windows 7 earlier this month, one of the biggest concerns for using remaining on the platform was how their online security would be affected from this point on. With Microsoft likely to no longer provide any patches or updates (beyond any hugely notable security vulnerabilities) many may be wondering what the situation will be for third-party anti-virus companies.

Well, in a report via AVTest, the news is generally positive. The vast majority of them will continue supporting Windows 7 for at least 2 more years.

Windows 7 Anti-Virus

In the report, a full list has been provided on the current status of Windows 7 support from the various anti-virus providers. While there is still confirmation pending on a significant number, the good news is that most of them seem keen to stick with the operating system.

• AhnLab
  • No end of support announced, at least another 2 years
• AVG & Avast
  • No end of support announced, at least another 2 years
• Avira
  • Support ends in November 2022
• Bitdefender
  • No end of support announced, at least another 2 years – further details…
• BullGuard
  • No end of support announced, at least another 2 years
• Carbon Black
  • No end of support announced, at least another 2 years
• ESET
  • No end of support announced, at least another 2 years
• FireEye
  • No end of support announced, at least another 2 years
• F-Secure
  • No end of support announced, at least until December 2021
• G Data
  • No end of support announced, at least another 2 years
• Ikarus
  • No end of support announced, at least another 2 years
• Kaspersky
  • No end of support announced, at least another 2 years
• K7 Computing
  • No end of support announced, at least another 2 years
• McAfee
  • No end of support announced, at least until December 2021 – further details…
• Microsoft (Security Essentials)
  • End of support for program updates, still offering only signature updates (without an end date) – further details…
• Microworld
  • No end of support announced, at least another 2 years
• PC Matic
  • No end of support announced, at least another 2 years
• Quickheal
  • No end of support announced, at least another 2 years
• Seqrite
  • No end of support announced, at least another 2 years
• Sophos
  • Support on-premise until December 2020, Cloud-managed until June 2021
• Symantec / NortonLifeLock
  • No end of support announced, at least another 2 years
• ThreatTrack / Vipre
  • No end of support announced, at least another 2 years
• TotalAV
  • No end of support announced, at least 1 year
• Trend Micro
  • No end of support announced, at least another 2 years

Why Are They Continuing Support?

While the news is generally positive for those of you still using Windows 7, you shouldn’t be fooled into thinking that they’re going this for charitable reasons. With official support ending for the operating system, they are likely banking on the chance that a number of users will opt to pay for anti-virus protection to attempt to ‘fill the void’ created by Microsoft.

Will they do it? We daresay that the vast majority of users will not. Still, if you are sticking with it, the good news is that your anti-virus provider probably is too.

What do you think? – Let us know in the comments!