Avast has just announced that it will remove support for Windows XP and Windows Vista from its antivirus, with the next version working exclusively on Windows 7 and newer.
In an announcement on the company's official blog, Avast says that updates for antivirus products on XP and Vista will no longer come from January 1, 2019, although the company also adds that virus definitions will continue to be released.
In other words, existing versions of Avast will run on Windows XP as before, but new features will only be offered in builds intended for Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10.
Additionally, Avast will no longer provide technical support to customers on Windows XP, meaning that bugs and other issues encountered by the antivirus will not have an official resolution.
“We recommend that all Avast users update their Windows operating systems to the latest version of Windows 10 – not only to continue to enjoy the latest Avast security updates but also to eliminate the possibility of exploiting your vulnerable older system,” the company says.
Despite the aforementioned January 1st deadline, it appears that the end of support for Avast on Windows XP will actually occur much earlier.
As TechDows reported, Avast forum moderator MartinZ revealed on the company's discussion board that the next update for the antivirus without support for Windows XP will come at the end of November.
"Due to the introduction of the 64bit version in the next release, we have decided to move the end of support for Windows XP/Vista one month earlier. Thus, the next release scheduled for the end of November will not support XP/Vista," the post states.
The current version of Avast is 18.7 and can still be installed on Windows XP and Windows Vista, but starting with 18.8, Windows 7 or newer will be required.
