What is the true status of avast free for XP

[davexnet]

This page proudly presents avast for XP

Antivirus for Windows XP | Free Download Here | Avast

but it doesn’t even install, it says WIndows 7 required.

It’s a shame XP support has been dropped, kept a lot of old PC’s running

[DavidR]

Support for XP ended many years ago, the last supported version of Avast for XP was version 18.8. That could still get virus definitions but later even virus definition support ended.

Even if you managed to get 18.8 it would be unsupported in all regards. The program when installed would try to check for updates and that is where the error message comes from.

That old page needs to be removed from the website.

[davexnet]

Hi DavidR,
it seemed as if it was working up until the last few days, when suddenly csrss.exe and AvastSvc
were using constant high CPU. Tried the repair, but ineffective.
Finally, Safemode and avastcear
I guess it’s a miracle it worked it worked for as long as it did.

[DavidR]

You certainly got a bit lucky in being able to use it for a while.

But for any update attempt it is always going to try to load the latest program version report back XP isn’t compatible/supported. Its surprising it lasted as long as it did, way longer than Microsoft’s support for XP.

[davexnet]

That’s true. I guess for people in my situation, who use it seldom in a dual boot scenario
with Windows 10, it’s going to be a bit of a challengs now …

[DavidR]

Unfortunately so, as your previous topic relating to XP support hasn’t changed and possible got worse,

Does the XP install still work?

Hello - long time since I’ve been in this forum. I have an XP install I rarely use, opened it today and it tells me avast free has expired. Booted safemode, ran avastclear, rebooted normal mode and reinstalled avast. Seemed like it worked, untill I rebooted and it tells me it’s expired again. It’s version 18.8.2356, installed automatically via the web install. I see Bob3160 has the full install of 18.5.2342 in his google drive - should I install this version instead? This is what I see, af…

[davexnet]

Yes, that was the first I noticed anything wrong.
After taking the remedial actions I mentioned, it was kind of working (until now).
Everytime I booted XP, after a minute or two the icon would change to show an error.
(you are unprotected)
After another 30-45 seconds it cleared and everything was reported as normal -
this odd situation happened everytime XP was booted -

It was obvious then that its days were numbered…

[rocksteady]

@davexnet

Everytime I booted XP, after a minute or two the icon would change to show an error.
(you are unprotected)

Yes. That is what myself and some others have seen, but the virus defs were still being updated and you could perform a manual scan. But that was several weeks ago in my case.

[davexnet]

I’m not sure if can mention a competitor, but to be honest avast is no longer that
as far as XP is concerned, but Panda Free A/V still works in XP -
better than nothing

[rocksteady]

@davexnet

but Panda Free A/V

EDIT.Only Free for 1 month?