Image: Microsoft
All the major antivirus software makers plan to continue supporting their products past the Windows 7 end of life (EOL) date.
Most vendors, with a few exceptions, have confirmed that their products will continue to run on Windows 7 systems for at least two years, until 2022, ensuring that Windows 7 users have security products at their disposal to protect their systems.
These antivirus products are direly needed as Microsoft has stopped providing free security updates for the Windows 7 OS, which reached its official EOL two weeks ago, on January 14, 2020.
The only ones who are still eligible for Windows 7 security updates are enterprise customers, however, this program, known as the Extended Security Updates (ESU), is only available for selected businesses and comes with a pretty hefty price tag.
Many small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), along with all home consumers, are not elligible for the Windows 7 ESU program, meaning they’ll have to look into installing an antivirus software in order to ward off attacks and malware strains that may try to take advantage of new Windows 7 bugs.
Remaining on Windows 7 without signing up for ESU incurs significant security risks. Microsoft has advised companies to migrate to Windows 10 and has started nagging Windows 7 users to do so using pop-ups and fullscreen adverts starting last year.
The table below lists all the top antivirus vendors and the time their antivirus software packages will be supported on Windows 7.
The table was compiled by AV-TEST, a German antivirus testing laboratory, which took advantage of its connections in the antivirus industry and inquired each vendor about its plans in regards to Windows 7 support.
| Manufacturer | Support information |
|---|---|
| AhnLab | No end of support announced, at least another 2 years |
| AVG & Avast | No end of support announced, at least another 2 years – further details |
| Avira | Support ends in November 2022 – further details |
| 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 |
| Emsisoft | Supported until March 31, 2021 – further details |
| 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 – further details |
