AV protection for windows 7 machine

[Jeff Barnett]

I have an AV subscription for ESET on 3 machines - 2 are Windows 7 and
the other is Windows 10. It is time to renew the license but I've been
informed (answer to query) that ESET will no longer support the two
older machines. I need a suggestion on another product that will do more
or less what the ESET NOD32 AV does now with Windows 7.

What is important to be: ability to schedule unattended scans (in middle
of the night); scanning of incoming email (1 msg at a time); protecting
me from evil web sites with options to go forward or back out (with
Firefox).

I've no objection to paying a reasonable fee for a decent product and
updates. But it should be able to support Windows 7 machines for another
year. We are in the process of selecting components for a more modern
build in the near future but want to remove time pressure.

Thanks for any pointers.

[Paul]

I have an AV subscription for ESET on 3 machines - 2 are Windows 7 and the other is Windows 10. It is time to renew the license but I've been informed (answer to query) that ESET will no longer support the two older machines. I need a suggestion on another product that will do more or less what the ESET NOD32 AV does now with Windows 7.
What is important to be: ability to schedule unattended scans (in middle of the night); scanning of incoming email (1 msg at a time); protecting me from evil web sites with options to go forward or back out (with Firefox).
I've no objection to paying a reasonable fee for a decent product and updates. But it should be able to support Windows 7 machines for another year. We are in the process of selecting components for a more modern build in the near future but want to remove time pressure.
Thanks for any pointers.

Without doing a detailed search, I would guess companies like this,
they function as a group. If one company places Windows 7 on the
Do Not Support list, then others of them will too.

With ESET you might have had some heuristic coverage (a bit better
than just signature). When client programs start, the AV checks
for certain kinds of behaviors. An example would be, Kav used to
look at the random number generator, and it would complain if
a client program was calling that generator. And for some reason,
every program was calling it eight times, as if this was part of
the loading sequence (that's a crypto grade RNG, not just any olde
random number generator). The good AV programs then, they're doing stuff
where we haven't a clue as to why.

And the white hats don't document things on purpose, to make
it slightly harder for the black hats. You cannot enumerate all
your defenses as an AV (such as "how do I get back in control
of the machine when it has been exploited"). Some programs are
very good at establishing a toe hold again (presumably via
root kit techniques, they had never left).

Well, there's always ClamAV. You can scan until the dawns early
light, for all the good it would do you :-)

*******

OK, let us try CoPilot for a laugh. The summary is, only the
lesser products (or one "banned" product), continue to support
Windows 7.

Question: As of July 2024, do any antivirus products still support protection of Windows 7 ?

Answer: Certainly! As of July 2024, several antivirus vendors continue to provide support
for **Windows 7**, even after its official end of life (EOL) date. Here are the key points:

1. **Major Antivirus Vendors**:
- **All major antivirus software makers** have committed to supporting their products beyond the Windows 7 EOL date².
- This means that users of Windows 7 can still benefit from antivirus protection.

2. **Specific Antivirus Products**:
- According to **AV-TEST**, the following antivirus vendors have not announced the end of support for their Windows 7 versions:
- AhnLab
- BullGuard
- Carbon Black
- FireEye
- G Data
- Ikarus
- Kaspersky
- K7 Computing
- Microworld
- Quickheal
- Seqrite
- ThreatTrack
- Users of these products will be protected for at least another two years³.

3. **Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE)**:
- Even **Microsoft** continues to push out definition updates for **Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE)** on Windows 7 systems.
- However, the built-in AV software program itself will not receive further updates⁴.

In summary, while Windows 7 is no longer officially supported by Microsoft, users
can still rely on third-party antivirus solutions to safeguard their systems.

Source: Conversation with Copilot, 7/9/2024
(1) All major antivirus vendors will continue to support Windows 7 ... -
ZDNET. https://www.zdnet.com/article/all-major-antivirus-vendors-will-continue-to-support-windows-7-post-eol/
(2) Antivirus vendors plan to support Windows 7 post EOL.
https://www.techradar.com/news/antivirus-vendors-plan-to-support-windows-7-post-eol
(3) Several antivirus firms will continue supporting Windows 7 for at least ....
https://www.pcgamer.com/several-antivirus-firms-will-continue-supporting-windows-7-for-at-least-2-years/
(4) Life after Windows 7: These Antivirus Software Packages Offer ....
https://www.av-test.org/en/news/life-after-windows-7-these-antivirus-software-packages-offer-protection-after-the-end-of-support/

Paul

[J. P. Gilliver]

In message <v6iniv$19t14$***@dont-email.me> at Tue, 9 Jul 2024 03:07:09,
Paul <***@needed.invalid> writes
[]

Post by Paul
- **All major antivirus software makers** have committed to
supporting their products beyond the Windows 7 EOL date².
- This means that users of Windows 7 can still benefit from
antivirus protection.
- According to **AV-TEST**, the following antivirus vendors have not
- AhnLab
- BullGuard
- Carbon Black
- FireEye
- G Data
- Ikarus
- Kaspersky
- K7 Computing
- Microworld
- Quickheal
- Seqrite
- ThreatTrack
- Users of these products will be protected for at least another two years³.

[]
I can't see AVG mentioned there; it is still working fine on my system
(last updated 2 minutes ago, apparently) and I don't _remember_ seeing
any warning. Do you know?

[Paul]

[]

  - **All major antivirus software makers** have committed to supporting their products beyond the Windows 7 EOL date².
  - This means that users of Windows 7 can still benefit from antivirus protection.
      - AhnLab
      - BullGuard
      - Carbon Black
      - FireEye
      - G Data
      - Ikarus
      - Kaspersky
      - K7 Computing
      - Microworld
      - Quickheal
      - Seqrite
      - ThreatTrack
  - Users of these products will be protected for at least another two years³.

[]
I can't see AVG mentioned there; it is still working fine on my system (last updated 2 minutes ago, apparently) and I don't _remember_ seeing any warning. Do you know?

The AV-test web page has a table, including the "companies-that-begin-with-A".

They're all "At least two years after January 31, 2020".
In other words, more or less, the entire industry sings
from the same song sheets.

We're into "overtime-play" at the moment.
The two years are up.

And other pages, from the manufacturers, are simply unclear
on the concept of what services they provide.

In terms of effort, it may be easier to try to install one
of their products, on your "test Win7 disk", and just see
what happens. If the material is encoded not to work on
Win7, you'll find out soon enough. Then, if you find candidates
that work, and they can manage to download signature updates
at least once, you can consider installing the software in
question on your real Win7 disk drive. (Because AV products
tend to need their "cleaner application" for complete removal,
you don't want to be doing test installs on your only C: drive.
You want to test on a garbage disk, so you can just erase the
disk later.)

Paul

[John K.Eason]

*Date:* Tue, 9 Jul 2024 13:20:17 -0400

Post by J. P. Gilliver
[]

  - **All major antivirus software makers** have committed to

supporting their products beyond the Windows 7 EOL date².

Post by J. P. Gilliver

  - This means that users of Windows 7 can still benefit from

antivirus protection.

Post by J. P. Gilliver

  - According to **AV-TEST**, the following antivirus vendors
      - AhnLab
      - BullGuard
      - Carbon Black
      - FireEye
      - G Data
      - Ikarus
      - Kaspersky
      - K7 Computing
      - Microworld
      - Quickheal
      - Seqrite
      - ThreatTrack
  - Users of these products will be protected for at least

another two years³.

Post by J. P. Gilliver
[]
I can't see AVG mentioned there; it is still working fine on my
system (last updated 2 minutes ago, apparently) and I don't

_remember_ seeing any warning. Do you know?
The AV-test web page has a table, including the
"companies-that-begin-with-A".
They're all "At least two years after January 31, 2020".
In other words, more or less, the entire industry sings
from the same song sheets.
We're into "overtime-play" at the moment.
The two years are up.
And other pages, from the manufacturers, are simply unclear
on the concept of what services they provide.
In terms of effort, it may be easier to try to install one
of their products, on your "test Win7 disk", and just see
what happens. If the material is encoded not to work on
Win7, you'll find out soon enough. Then, if you find candidates
that work, and they can manage to download signature updates
at least once, you can consider installing the software in
question on your real Win7 disk drive. (Because AV products
tend to need their "cleaner application" for complete removal,
you don't want to be doing test installs on your only C: drive.
You want to test on a garbage disk, so you can just erase the
disk later.)

FWIW, Avast is still working fine here too.

[J. P. Gilliver]

Post by John K.Eason

*Date:* Tue, 9 Jul 2024 13:20:17 -0400

[]

Post by John K.Eason

Post by J. P. Gilliver
I can't see AVG mentioned there; it is still working fine on my
system (last updated 2 minutes ago, apparently) and I don't

_remember_ seeing any warning. Do you know?
The AV-test web page has a table, including the
"companies-that-begin-with-A".
They're all "At least two years after January 31, 2020".
In other words, more or less, the entire industry sings
from the same song sheets.
We're into "overtime-play" at the moment.
The two years are up.
And other pages, from the manufacturers, are simply unclear
on the concept of what services they provide.
In terms of effort, it may be easier to try to install one
of their products, on your "test Win7 disk", and just see
what happens. If the material is encoded not to work on
Win7, you'll find out soon enough. Then, if you find candidates
that work, and they can manage to download signature updates
at least once, you can consider installing the software in
question on your real Win7 disk drive. (Because AV products
tend to need their "cleaner application" for complete removal,
you don't want to be doing test installs on your only C: drive.
You want to test on a garbage disk, so you can just erase the
disk later.)

I no longer have oodles of discs. In fact I currently only have the one
in this my main (only) computer, and one external one I image my C: (and
hiddens) to, and FileSync my D: to. (Nor any real enthusiasm for the
subject, I admit.)

Post by John K.Eason
FWIW, Avast is still working fine here too.

AVG seems to work very well, especially for a free product.

[David E. Ross]

Post by Jeff Barnett
I have an AV subscription for ESET on 3 machines - 2 are Windows 7 and
the other is Windows 10. It is time to renew the license but I've been
informed (answer to query) that ESET will no longer support the two
older machines. I need a suggestion on another product that will do more
or less what the ESET NOD32 AV does now with Windows 7.
What is important to be: ability to schedule unattended scans (in middle
of the night); scanning of incoming email (1 msg at a time); protecting
me from evil web sites with options to go forward or back out (with
Firefox).
I've no objection to paying a reasonable fee for a decent product and
updates. But it should be able to support Windows 7 machines for another
year. We are in the process of selecting components for a more modern
build in the near future but want to remove time pressure.
Thanks for any pointers.

Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 x64

I block any automatic updates to software but not automatic updates to
virus definitions. I use the following freeware anti-virus
applications. I would believe that, if the freeware versions are being
updated, then the purchase-ware versions are also being updated.

AVG AntiVirus Free 24.6.9241.0 updated 4 July 2024.

Malwarebytes Free 4.6.14.326 updated 22 June 2024

AVG is my primary anti-virus application, running continuously. When I
download an installer file for a new or updated application, I scan it
with AVG, Malwarebytes, and Microsoft Security Essentials before
executing it.

[w***@spectral.net]

Post by Paul

[]

  - **All major antivirus software makers** have committed to supporting their products beyond the Windows 7 EOL date².
  - This means that users of Windows 7 can still benefit from antivirus protection.
      - AhnLab
      - BullGuard
      - Carbon Black
      - FireEye
      - G Data
      - Ikarus
      - Kaspersky
      - K7 Computing
      - Microworld
      - Quickheal
      - Seqrite
      - ThreatTrack
  - Users of these products will be protected for at least another two years³.

[]
I can't see AVG mentioned there; it is still working fine on my system (last updated 2 minutes ago, apparently) and I don't _remember_ seeing any warning. Do you know?

The AV-test web page has a table, including the "companies-that-begin-with-A".
They're all "At least two years after January 31, 2020".
In other words, more or less, the entire industry sings
from the same song sheets.
We're into "overtime-play" at the moment.
The two years are up.
And other pages, from the manufacturers, are simply unclear
on the concept of what services they provide.
In terms of effort, it may be easier to try to install one
of their products, on your "test Win7 disk", and just see
what happens. If the material is encoded not to work on
Win7, you'll find out soon enough. Then, if you find candidates
that work, and they can manage to download signature updates
at least once, you can consider installing the software in
question on your real Win7 disk drive. (Because AV products
tend to need their "cleaner application" for complete removal,
you don't want to be doing test installs on your only C: drive.
You want to test on a garbage disk, so you can just erase the
disk later.)
Paul

For a few years I've been using a program which totally negates the
need for any of those intrusive and untrustworthy AVs,especially the
ridiculous prices for the paid-for ones. As far as those Security
Suites are concerned, forget it.

All I've ever used with this program is a simple firewall to keep
programs from calling home;

I have never had any malware problem of any kind. The few times I
screwed up things with some Window settings or other, a reboot fixed
everything.

Anything I do want to download, I download to a separate, unprotected
drive. And those downloads are always checked with VirusTotal before
ever being loaded onto the unprotected C:. If those programs don't
need a reboot to install, I install them on the protected C: drive to
see if they are worth keeping or not. Again, they are gone with a
reboot.

Bookmarks, too, have to be backed up to a second drive. I then have
to check to turn off Time Freeze before the next boot. With that
reboot I can then update bookmarks or programs to my now unprotected
drive. An extra step, but worth it. My computer has been totally
protected for some years now. No worry, no constant warnings about
this or that, and no ridiculous yearly expense for some half baked AV
- which is totally open to any new malware or virus.

I think it's worth posting this link once in a while for the one or
two readers who just might try it.
=====
Description from MajorGeeks page.

Toolwiz Time Freeze is a free instant system protection tool that
will protect your system from any unwanted changes and malicious
activity in low disk level.

With a simple click, it puts your actual system under virtual
protection on the fly and creates a virtual environment as a copy of
the real system, on which you can evaluate applications, watch
movies, and perform online activities. It provides higher-level
security to computer protection, and greatly improves the efficiency
of virtual system

Description Page
https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/toolwiz_time_freeze.html

Link for download from MajorGeeks site (Author's download link does
not work)
https://www.majorgeeks.com/mg/getmirror/toolwiz_time_freeze,1.html

[Usuario Una]

Post by Jeff Barnett
I have an AV subscription for ESET on 3 machines - 2 are Windows 7 and
the other is Windows 10. It is time to renew the license but I've been
informed (answer to query) that ESET will no longer support the two
older machines. I need a suggestion on another product that will do
more or less what the ESET NOD32 AV does now with Windows 7.
What is important to be: ability to schedule unattended scans (in
middle of the night); scanning of incoming email (1 msg at a time);
protecting me from evil web sites with options to go forward or back
out (with Firefox).
I've no objection to paying a reasonable fee for a decent product and
updates. But it should be able to support Windows 7 machines for
another year. We are in the process of selecting components for a more
modern build in the near future but want to remove time pressure.
Thanks for any pointers.

Why do you need AV for your machine which in itself is not secure (or very
secure according to experts on this newsgroup because it can do
everything for them! Getting security updates is not their priority).
When did it last receive an update from Microsoft?

You will be better off not to install anything and use common sense not
to visit dodgy sites or open docs sent by Nigerian millionaires who are
not known to you but who think that you are a best bet to look after
their money in return for a very large commission.

[J. P. Gilliver]

In message <v6kuk8$r3li$***@paganini.bofh.team> at Wed, 10 Jul 2024
03:14:17, Usuario Una <***@outlook.com> writes
[]

Post by Usuario Una
Why do you need AV for your machine which in itself is not secure (or very
secure according to experts on this newsgroup because it can do
everything for them! Getting security updates is not their priority).
When did it last receive an update from Microsoft?
You will be better off not to install anything and use common sense not
to visit dodgy sites or open docs sent by Nigerian millionaires who are
not known to you but who think that you are a best bet to look after
their money in return for a very large commission.

Perhaps he's afraid of catching something that might make him post the
same thing twice, identical other than that one's from "Usuario Uno" and
one from "Usuario Una"! (-:

[Usuario Uno]

Post by Jeff Barnett
I have an AV subscription for ESET on 3 machines - 2 are Windows 7 and
the other is Windows 10. It is time to renew the license but I've been
informed (answer to query) that ESET will no longer support the two
older machines. I need a suggestion on another product that will do
more or less what the ESET NOD32 AV does now with Windows 7.
What is important to be: ability to schedule unattended scans (in
middle of the night); scanning of incoming email (1 msg at a time);
protecting me from evil web sites with options to go forward or back
out (with Firefox).
I've no objection to paying a reasonable fee for a decent product and
updates. But it should be able to support Windows 7 machines for
another year. We are in the process of selecting components for a more
modern build in the near future but want to remove time pressure.
Thanks for any pointers.

Why do you need AV for your machine which in itself is not secure (or very
secure according to experts on this newsgroup because it can do
everything for them! Getting security updates is not their priority).
When did it last receive an update from Microsoft?

You will be better off not to install anything and use common sense not
to visit dodgy sites or open docs sent by Nigerian millionaires who are
not known to you but who think that you are a best bet to look after
their money in return for a very large commission.