Antivirus makers to support Windows 7 through 2022

Microsoft might be done with Windows 7, but the world isn't. As Windows 7 continues to age-it passed its 10-year anniversary last fall-it'll likely become more and more of a target for viruses and malware. For those who can't or won't upgrade, though, you don't have to worry. Third-party anti-virus testing firm AV-Test reports that all the big players will be providing support for Windows 7 antivirus through at least 2022.

Companies like AVG, Bitdefender, Kaspersky, Symantec, and Trend Micro among many others have promised at least two years of support with no formal end date yet announced. Some providers will end support sooner; McAfee has only promised support through December 2021, and Avira is ending support in November 2022.

Webroot is notably absent, but company reps have said as recently as last month that the company "has no plans of discontinuing support any time in the near future." It seems like that's mostly a lack of a formal statement factoring into the company's absence from the list. Microsoft will continue to offer signature updates for its Security Essentials software with no end date in sight.

AV-Test also notes that both Google and Mozilla plan to support their browsers through at least mid-2021. Browsers are the main entry point for viruses and malware, so modern browsers will help protect those machines.

Upgrade if you can

There are a variety of reasons a user might not be able to upgrade to Windows 10. Factory production machines will often use old software that doesn't work correctly on modern hardware. Home users might only use their computer for a few minutes here and there; the cost of upgrading far outweighs the benefit for those users. AV-Test does, however, note that users with valid Windows 7 keys can use those keys to upgrade to Windows 10 free of charge. The firm urges those who can do the upgrade to do so.

Microsoft ended support for Windows 7 just over two weeks ago, on January 14, 2020. The company had warned of the end-of-life date for a long time, ensuring that those users who can upgrade had a long time to do so.

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