Antivirus for Windows 7: support continues

All antivirus solutions remain supported on Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system after Microsoft ended support for it on January 14, 2020.
The Windows 7 operating system has a large usage base even after support end. While the trend showed a decline for some time, latest NetMarketShare usage stats suggest that it is still installed on over 30% of desktop devices worldwide.
Enterprise customers and businesses may buy support extensions for up to three years; Microsoft decided against making the same offer to users of Home versions of Windows 7.
While Microsoft's support ended in January, some of the company's products and most third-party products continue to support Windows 7 at least for the time being.
Antivirus solutions are essential for devices that connect to the Internet or public networks, especially if the operating system itself is out of support and won't receive security updates anymore.
Tip: Home users may use the solution provided by 0Patch to receive some free (some paid) security patches for Windows 7 after support end.
Antivirus solutions never provide 100% protection and that is even more so the case when it comes to operating systems that are not supported with security patches anymore. A good antivirus solution may however prevent certain attacks or reduce the impact that these attacks have, especially if it is updated regularly.
German antivirus testing institute AV Test wanted to know which antivirus solutions would continue to support Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system after support end, and for how long.
The institute contacted antivirus companies to find out and published a table of its findings on its website. According to the information, most antivirus solutions continue to be supported on Windows 7 for at least two years. All companies continue to support their antivirus solution with signature updates for the time being.
Here is the summary:
- Microsoft Security Essentials -- no more program updates, but signature updates continue to be provided.
- Sophos -- on premise support until December 2020, cloud-managed support until June 2021.
- McAfee -- at least until December 2021.
- F-Secure - at least until December 2021.
- Avira -- support ends November 2022.
- AhnLab, AVG, Avast, Bitdefender, Bullgard, Carbon Black, ESET, FireEye, G Data, Ikarus, Kaspersky, K7 Computing, Microworld, PC Matic, Quickheal, Sqqrite, Symantec/NortonLifeLock, ThreatTrack / Vipre, TotalAV, Trend Micro -- support for at least 2 years.
Now You: Still on Windows 7? What do you plan to do about it? (via Born)


What mental age of reader are you targeting with the first sentence? 10?
Why not write an article on how to *avoid* upgrading from W10 to W11. Analogous to those like me who avoided upgrading from 7 to 10 for as long as possible.
If your paymaster Microsoft permits it, of course.
5. Rufus
6. Ventoy
PS. I hate reading these “SEO optimized” articles.
I used Rufus to create an installer for a 6th gen intel i5 that had MBR. It upgraded using Setup. No issues except for Win 11 always prompting me to replace my local account. Still using Win 10 Pro on all my other PCs to avoid the bullying.
bit pointless to upgrade for the sake of upgrading as you never know when you’ll get locked out because ms might suddenly not provide updates to unsupported systems.
ps…. time travelling?
written. Jan 15, 2023
Updated • Jan 13, 2023
This happens when you schedule a post in WordPress and update it before setting the publication date.
Anyone willing to downgrade to this awful OS must like inflicting themselves with harm.
I have become convinced now that anybody who has no qualms with using Windows 11/10 must fit into one of the following brackets:
1) Too young to remember a time before W10 and W11 (doesn’t know better)
2) Wants to play the latest games on their PC above anything else (or deeply needs some software which already dropped W7 support)
3) Doesn’t know too much about how computers work, worried that they’d be absolutely lost and in trouble without the “”latest security””
4) Microsoft apologist that tries to justify that the latest “features” and “changes” are actually a good thing, that improve Windows
5) Uses their computer to do a bare minimum of like 3 different things, browse web, check emails, etc, so really doesn’t fuss
Obviously that doesn’t cover everyone, there’s also the category that:
6) Actually liked W7 more than 10, and held out as long as possible before switching, begrudgingly uses 10 now
Have I missed any group off this list?
You have missed in this group just about any professional user that uses business software like CAD programs or ERP Programs which are 99% of all professional users from this list.
Linux doesn’t help anyone who is not a linux kid and apple is just a fancy facebook machine.
Microsoft has removed KB5029351 update
only from windows update though
KB5029351 is still available from the ms update catalog site
1. This update is labaled as PREVIEW if it causes issues to unintelligent people, then they shouldn’t have allowed Preview updates ot install.
2. I have installed it in a 11 years old computer, and no problems at all.
3. Making a big drama over a bluescreen for an updated labeled as preview is ridiculous.
This is probably another BS internet drama where people ran programs and scripts that modified the registry until they broke Windows, just for removing stuff that they weren’t even using just for the sake of it.
Maybe people should stop playing geeks and actually either use Windows 10 or Windows 11, but don’t try to modify things just for the sake of it.
Sometimes removing or stopping things (like defender is a perfect example) only need intelligence, not scripts or 3rd party programs that might mess with windows.
Windows 11 was a pointless release, it was just created because some of the Windows team wanted to boost sales with some sort of new and improved Windows 10. Instead, Microsoft cannot support one version well let alone two.
Windows 11 is the worst ugly shame by Microsoft ever. They should release with every new W11 version a complete free version of Starallback inside just to make this sh** OS functionally again.
motherboard maker MSI has recently released a statement regarding the “unsupported processor” blue screen error for their boards using Intel 600/700 series chipsets & to avoid the KB5029351 Win11 update:
https://www.msi.com/news/detail/MSI-On–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–Error-Message-of-Windows-11-Update-KB5029351-Preview-142215
check out the following recent articles:
Neowin – Microsoft puts little blame on its Windows update after UNSUPPORTED PROCESSOR BSOD bug:
https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-puts-little-blame-on-its-windows-update-after-unsupported-processor-bsod-bug/
BleepingComputer – Microsoft blames ‘unsupported processor’ blue screens on OEM vendors:
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-blames-unsupported-processor-blue-screens-on-oem-vendors/
While there may be changes or updates to the Windows 10 Store for Business and Education in the future, it is premature to conclude that it will be discontinued based solely on rumors.
My advice, I left win 15 years ago. Now I’m a happy linux user (linuxmint) but there is Centos, Fedora, Ubuntu depending on your needs.
motherboard maker MSI has recently released new BIOS/firmware updates for their Intel 600 & 700 series motherboards to fix the “UNSUPPORTED_PROCESSOR” problem (Sept. 6):
https://www.msi.com/news/detail/Updated-BIOS-fixes-Error-Message–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–caused-BSOD-on-MSI-s-Intel-700-and-600-Series-Motherboards-142277
I try to disable the Diagnostics Tracking Service (Connected Devices Platform User Services) but it wont let me disable it, any help will be greatly appreciated.
Tank you for your help