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.