Avast support AFTER Microsoft Win XP support ends

[VBWriter2]

First lat me say that I LOVE Avast!  I will once again update my Internet Security license for 3 pcs. (maybe more!)

I just want to know:

1) Will AVAST continue to support (watch out for) Windows XP viruses and malware, and if so provide definition updates for Windows XP
2) Being that Windows XP probably has been patched to be as secure as it's going to get:
     a) What is the likelyhood of Windows XP being exploited
     b) Will Windows XP once again be viewed as a "fresh" target for malware exploitation

I am concerened because I absolutely will NOT purchase or use Windows 8. 
Thank You
KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK!

VBWriter2

[essexboy]

1.  As far as I am aware Avast will continue to support XP for a while

2 a) Exceedingly high as exploits for windows Vista and up will be fixed, but, this will highlight security gaps within XP
   b) Yes, as a lot of XP's are still out there and becoming more insecure as time passes

On a side note I have seen very little "new" malware released over the last few months.  I have a sneaky suspicion that it is being saved up for the expiry date
If you do not like 8 then at least upgrade to 7, skip Vista as it is rubbish    

[schmidthouse]

Well for what is worth, I went from XP to W8 and now W8.1 and am extremely satisfied/happy.

[DavidR]

You only have to look at avast's history, avast 4.8 is still on life support, which means win9.x is indirectly supported. But what it means is that there will be features/functions in future versions of avast that aren't supported by XP.

So those won't features in avast wouldn't work in XP systems.

That doesn't mean you can't either stay on an earlier avast version avast 8 or 9 if the next major release has functions that aren't supported by XP or vice versa. But as has been said as MS support for XP ends the OS could be more vulnerable to Exploits. So you really need to have a robust backup and recovery strategy (hard disk imaging software, to recover from problems, be that natural or malware.

[schmidthouse]

I wonder if there will be 3rd Party Software popping up out of the woodwork claiming they can Secure the Backend of XP operating systems after the MS support/updates stop in April. 

[.: Mac :.]

As David said v4.8 is still getting Database updates mostly due to large enterprise having to redeploy to go to v7/8 (no update path).  If this is any case we can likely count on Avast supporting XP as long as it still has a relevant share of the market.

[snowflake1]

1.  As far as I am aware Avast will continue to support XP for a while

But XP stops updating in ?April 2014?

 

On a side note I have seen very little "new" malware released over the last few months.  I have a sneaky suspicion that it is being saved up for the expiry date

One can hope that the new releases are aimed at the new Windows versions ?!

If you do not like 8 then at least upgrade to 7, skip Vista as it is rubbish

How 'rubbish' do you consider Vista to be ? Is it  a version of Windows to be avoided ?

[essexboy]

Yes Vista is on par with windows ME a good idea that was better implemented in windows 7
Vista is slow and prone to crashes

Malware finds it hard to infiltrate windows 8
Windows 7 is a tad easier to get into
XP is childs play