Beginning on December 1, 2018, new Avast/AVG Antivirus products will no longer be delivered for the Windows XP and Windows Vista operating systems. As customer demand grows for Windows products for Windows 7 and other new versions, demand for products that support Windows XP and Vista decreases. In order to receive new feature releases of the Avast/AVG antivirus software, users will be required to update their Windows operating system.
This means that as of December 2018, existing users on the Windows XP or Windows Vista OS will remain on version 18.8 or older rather than migrating to version 19.1 scheduled to be released in December of 2018. However, please note that all Windows XP and Vista users will continue to receive virus definitions updates from the Avast Threat Labs database after this date and Avast/AVG Antivirus versions 18 and older will continue to work as usual providing full protection, but will not receive regular automatic updates of new program versions with new features.
Glad to know what Avast is planning. I was getting tired of once a month or so major program upgrades, even though for the most part, they worked just fine.
Well we now have an official announcement rather than rumours. Good that Avast def updates will still be updated, just program version will be left at 18. This is similar position for Firefox Opera etc who maintain older versions with security updates only.
Since except for the UI, they are practically the same product, I highly doubt that AVG would be any different than Avast.
Remember, Avast purchased AVG.
I kinda expected it…
In 2019 the Microsoft Extended Support for POSReady2009 is gonna end, so I kinda expected that Avast was going to drop support for XP with Avast 19.
As long as definitions updates are provided, it’s not gonna be a big deal, especially 'cause there are already many functions in Avast 18 and it’s a really complete antivirus.
Hopefully, the latest 18.x stable release will be perfect and bug free, so XP users will have a bullet-proof product for the years to come.
I’ve been using Fedora, but I also have Windows XP installed in a VM for many tasks that I can’t do in Linux.
I’ve been an Avast Beta Tester since 2013 when I purchased Internet Security and then Premier in 2015.
I’m gonna renew my Premier licence in a few days and my “journey” with Avast is not over yet; I’m just sad that I’m not gonna be a beta-tester anymore.
Thank you for everything you have done during these years! :')
yes, it will still be possible after Jan 2019 to download the online installer and install it on 17-year old Windows XP/Vista. It will install the version 18.x. If you use the same installer on Windows 10 it will install version 19.x.
I recently upgrade my Avast Free version from 18.3.2333 to latest v.18.5.2342 on my Dell Inspiron XP SP4 1150/ Pentium 4 processor and runs good. The GUI takes lots of resources (unfortunately) but other then that the software is running efficiently and effectively.
Nice.
Out of curiosity: I only use File, Web & Behavior Shields in Avast Free on both Windows 10 and XP PRO computers.
Will the Full Offline Installer still let us install just those under Windows XP or is the XP compatability just limited to
some of the other features that not everyone needs or uses ?
FYI:Offline installation is officially no longer supported on Vista and XP (since V17.4) because new CEF (only one bundled in offline installer because of size) is not supported there and the online installer will download the correct CEF version.
I currently do use the Full Offline Installer on both XP & Windows 10 computers. It always installs the latest build on both computers. Personally, they should get rid of the On Line Installers as they can and have for some users, caused issues with the program installation or upgrades.
I have a very efficient PC running Widows XP SP3 on a Samsung 850 Pro 128 SSD. It has a well set up data disk and until a few months ago ran perfectly.
I have been using Avast Free for several years on this arrangement with no problem.
The problem I have now is that it freezes randomly on boot just before the desktop loads. It will not load any icons. A reboot or forcing another instance of Explorer in Task Manager solves the problem
This problem appears to me to be due to the last two “Program Updates” of Avast. It now interferes with the boot process. I am assuming that Avast does not “fully” support XP, at this moment in time which I can understand as support is ending. I run a minimal Avast as well.
I have completely re formatted the SSD and loaded a fresh Windows XP and associated programs.
This did not solve the problem.
I have run “bootlog” and there seems to be drivers loading several times when the problem is there as well as when it boots OK.
I would appreciate any comments on my problem before I uninstall Avast and try another Virus checker ( that may still support XP ).
