Several antivirus firms will continue supporting Windows 7 for at least 2 years

Windows 7

There are hundreds of millions of PCs still running Windows 7, and while usage will decline now that Microsoft is no longer pushing out free security updates to its legacy OS, it won't plummet over night. If you are one of the holdouts, here's a bit of good news—many antivirus companies have committed to pushing out virus definition updates for at least another two years.

It's a welcome decision by AV firms who have chosen to continue supporting Windows 7 indefinitely, given how many Windows 7 PCs there are in the wild. It's also not all that surprising. After all, even Microsoft has stated it will still push out definition updates for Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) on Windows 7 systems, though the built-in AV software program itself will never again be updated.

As to which third-party programs will keep the party going, here's a list compiled by AV-Test, an independent testing laboratory.

  • AhnLab—at least 2 years
  • AVG/Avast—at least 2 years
  • Avira—until November 2022
  • Bitdefender—at least 2 years
  • BullGuar—at least 2 years
  • Carbon Black—at least 2 years
  • ESET—at least 2 years
  • FireEye—at least 2 years
  • F-Secure—at least until December 2021
  • G Data—at least 2 years
  • Ikarus—at least 2 years
  • Kaspersky—at least 2 years
  • K7 Computing—at least 2 years
  • McAfee—at least until December 2021
  • Microworld—at least 2 years
  • PC Matic—at least 2 years
  • Quickheal—at least 2 years
  • Seqrite—at least 2 years
  • Sophos—on premise until December 2020, cloud-managed until June 2021
  • Symantec/Norton LifeLock—at least 2 years
  • ThreatTrack/Vipre—at least 2 years
  • TotalAV—at least 1 year
  • Trend Micro—at least 2 years

If you're running Windows 7, it's now more important than ever to maintain an AV program, whether it's MSE or one of the third-party solutions available. It's an even better idea to upgrade to a supported OS, whether it's Windows 10 or Linux.

Don't overlook updates for your browser of choice, as well.

"Browsers, especially those used for surfing the web, ought to always be up-to-date, as they may also contain vulnerabilities and offer proprietary defense mechanisms," says AV-Test. "Google has made it totally official in assuring its Chrome users that it will provide further security updates at least until July 2021. As the latest version of Microsoft Edge for Windows 7 relies on the same HTML engine as Chrome, it ought to have security updates. There has been no official word on this yet from Firefox."

Many of the AV programs listed above do not have an end date associated with them, so it's possible support will extend beyond 2022. 

Paul Lilly

Paul has been playing PC games and raking his knuckles on computer hardware since the Commodore 64. He does not have any tattoos, but thinks it would be cool to get one that reads LOAD"*",8,1. In his off time, he rides motorcycles and wrestles alligators (only one of those is true).

Latest in Security
An FBI wanted poster for alleged hacker Zhou Shuai.
US Justice Dept announces $10 million bounty on at-large 'hacker-for-hire' cabal it says targeted China critics, religious missionaries, and the Treasury
Kinzie, in an FBI jacket, uses a computer with the logo of the Third Street Saints on it
Have I Been Pwned adds over 284 million compromised passwords from latest breach
A still from a YouTube video of Senator Mark Warner speaking
Telecoms hack on US government officials is 'worst in nations history' and 'the barn door is still wide open' says senator
HDMI cable
Hackers can wirelessly spy on your display by collecting HDMI signal leaks and churning them through an AI, but I wouldn't break out the tin foil just yet
Computer code and text displayed on computer screens. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg
Forcing users to periodically change their passwords should go the way of the dodo according to the US government
An original Apple Macintosh Model M0001, as they celebrate 40th anniversary, is on display in between 2024 Apple models at the independent Apple products store chain Amac, on January 24, 2024 in Utrecht, The Netherlands. Based on the Motorola 68000 microprocessor, the Macintosh was the first successful mouse-driven computer with a graphical user interface.
Major browser providers scramble to patch an 18-year-old vulnerability affecting MacOS and Linux systems but Windows remains gloriously immune
Latest in News
Image of Ronaldo from Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves trailer
It doesn't really make sense that soccer star Ronaldo is now a Fatal Fury character, but if you follow the money you can see how it happened
Junah beginning a battle in Metaphor: ReFantazio.
Today's RPG fans are 'very sensitive to feeling like they wasted time' when they die, says Metaphor: ReFantazio battle planner—but Atlus still made combat hard anyway
Image of Cersei Lanniser from Game of Thrones: Kingsroad Steam early access trailer
A new Game of Thrones RPG is coming to Steam today with a cast of 'familiar faces,' which is good because it's really the only way to tell it's a GoT game at all
The new Prime Asset featured in the upcoming update for the Outlast Trials.
The Outlast Trials puts its already paranoid players under surveillance for a time-limited story event
A Viera looking confused in Final Fantasy 14.
Old armor continues to fall victim to Final Fantasy 14's bizarre two-channel dye system, unless you're super into changing the colour of teeny-tiny eyelets: 'Why even bother at this point?'
Starfield: Shattered Space
By the time Bethesda was on Starfield, you'd 'basically get in trouble' for breaking schedule, says former dev: 'A lot of the great stuff within Skyrim came from having the freedom to do what you want'