Avast has announced that the current version of Avast Antivirus (version 18.8) is the last version that can be installed on PCs running either Windows XP or Windows Vista.
That means if your PC is still running either XP or Vista you won’t be able to update to the next version of Avast when it gets released next year.
You will however be able to keep using the version you have now after the new version is released.
Truth be told, this completely slipped in under my radar.
Avast actually made this announcement back in September but I just found out about it today thanks to this post on Ghacks (thanks Martin).
I’m actually surprised that it took Avast this long to drop support for XP and Vista since Microsoft abandoned XP way back in 2014 and Vista last year.
Anyway, if you’re still using Avast Antivirus on a PC that’s running either Windows XP or Windows Vista you’ll basically have five options to choose from once Avast gets around to releasing the next version:
1 – Switch to a different antivirus program that actively supports your version of Windows.
2 – Upgrade your PC to Windows 10 if the hardware is capable of running it.
3 – Replace your PC’s Windows installation with Linux.
4 – Replace your entire computer with a new one.
5 – Do nothing and keep running Avast version 18.8 (you’ll still be able to download virus updates for this version even after the next version is released).
Bottom line: Now is the time to start thinking about how you plan to proceed once Avast can no longer be updated on your Windows XP or Vista machine.
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