Will Avast continue XP support?

[bob3160]

Bob, thanks very much for this explanation.

If I read it right, what you are telling me is that although I have Avast Internet Security Pro running in tandem with Malwarebytes Pro that neither protects the OS.  Is that right?

If it is, then it looks like, as you say, I'll need to upgrade to either Windows 7 or 8 if I want my OS protected.

Thanks again,

Rob in Arizona

@ Rob,
If you attended one of my presentations in AZ in Dec, you would have gotten that message directly from the horses mouth.
After April, XP will make a great off line game machine. The latest OS offers you a much safer environment.

[DavidR]

Sorry guys, but after April 2014 XP won't suddenly become immediately insecure.

Yes, there will be vulnerabilities found which will no longer be patched, which may well lead to exploits. But every exploit doesn't mean that every XP user will be infected. What proactive measures people have in place and the security applications that they use will still give reasonable protection.

There are some people that are more prone to infection, no matter what OS they may be using because they don't practice safe hex. They open unsolicited emails, may even open attachments and click links in said emails.

I have espoused having a robust backup and recovery strategy for as long as I have been on these forums (almost 10 years) and that hasn't changed. I believe every PC owner should have drive imaging software regardless of OS old or new and regularly make regular (weekly) full backup images of their system and daily backup of volatile data (word docs, XLS, emails, media files, etc. etc.) files.

I have used this to recover from many issues over that 10 years and not once has it been because of infection, but that is just one aspect that this could be used, recovery from infection

[rob1552]

To the pros on this forum, I am grateful to you all for your sage advice.

Meanwhile, however, I'm still not clear as to whether Avast and/or Malwarebytes (I run both in tandem and they've protected me to the nth degree these last five years) offer any protection for the OS or backdoor as some refer to it or if that kind of protection is the solve province of the OS manufacturer, i.e. Microsoft.

I do have an external hard drive, back up to it with a full clone of my hard drive once a week and keep the power on it shut off except when cloning.

[Tetsuo]

Sorry guys, but after April 2014 XP won't suddenly become immediately insecure.

Yes, there will be vulnerabilities found which will no longer be patched, which may well lead to exploits. But every exploit doesn't mean that every XP user will be infected. What proactive measures people have in place and the security applications that they use will still give reasonable protection.

I totally agree.