Anyone know of antivirus software that still works with XP?

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sorcerer

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A friend has a need to keep using his Windows XP machine but please, let's not get mired down in the whys and wherefores, rights and wrongs; let's just accept it.

The antivirus he's been using up to now (I can't remember which one) has been doing alright up to today, when the latest update finally gave up playing nicely with XP.

We have found a way to get his specialist software to run under Win 10 and as such I'll be changing him over to a new machine in about four weeks time, but he still needs to run in XP for now. So, can anyone suggest an antivirus program that will run in XP please?

TIA
 
No, I can't.

But the question you need to be asking is, "When is the last time the antivirus/security suite he was using detected any threat?" If the answer to that is, "It's been years," then that indicates this user has developed the requisite skills for interacting in a safe and circumspect way with cyberspace and it's really unlikely that they're going to have any change in a couple of weeks. There's just no point in getting worked up about finding a security suite under those circumstances.

Just make sure they're backing up frequently during this "couple of weeks" and then bid a very fond, and overdue, farewell to XP.
 
britechguy said:
No, I can't.

But the question you need to be asking is, "When is the last time the antivirus/security suite he was using detected any threat?" If the answer to that is, "It's been years," then that indicates this user has developed the requisite skills for interacting in a safe and circumspect way with cyberspace and it's really unlikely that they're going to have any change in a couple of weeks. There's just no point in getting worked up about finding a security suite under those circumstances.

Just make sure they're backing up frequently during this "couple of weeks" and then bid a very fond, and overdue, farewell to XP.
Click to expand...

Thanks Brian, hadn't thought of it that way but that makes sense.

I do believe that it's acting more like a placebo for him at the moment and if that works for him, fair enough.

Cheers
 
ClamAV, including clamwin, is not a real time scanner for Windows. Scan on demand only.

I'm with @britechguy in a way. If the user hasn't had any positive detections in recent history it's probable that their usage pattern doesn't expose them to malware. Besides there's some security by obscurity. Given the age of XP and the length of time it's been out of support I'd think the risks might be relatively small. Malware authors look for easy money and pushing malware to that small of a population isn't conducive to making a killing. And since you're looking at just a few weeks I'd just make sure the EU understands the importance of being careful. Maybe even convert the account to a standard account to prevent application installation. If strange files need to be downloaded drop them in virustotal.com. And only use the newest Chrome or Firefox.
 
Markverhyden said:
Given the age of XP and the length of time it's been out of support I'd think the risks might be relatively small. Malware authors look for easy money and pushing malware to that small of a population isn't conducive to making a killing.
Click to expand...

I can't thank you enough for saying this. I try to tell people that the most dangerous time is right after a given version of Windows goes out of support and there's still a massive user base that has not transitioned away from at and is full of juicy targets. But as time goes by the juice is not worth the squeeze.

It's really inconceivable to me that there's anyone still using XP in contact with cyberspace. But, it's certain there are.
 
sorcerer said:
We have found a way to get his specialist software to run under Win 10
Click to expand...
Does this software require internet access? You are not going to find AV software that runs on Xp. And I find it difficult to believe that there is software that needs an internet connection ,can only run on Xp, and is still supported by its vendor. As in an Xp based client that has to phone home. The problem isn’t the software. It’s surfing the net and reading emails on this unit. If you are not doing that then you can get by with no AV software. And if he is doing that make him/her stop.
 
britechguy said:
I can't thank you enough for saying this. I try to tell people that the most dangerous time is right after a given version of Windows goes out of support and there's still a massive user base that has not transitioned away from at and is full of juicy targets. But as time goes by the juice is not worth the squeeze.

It's really inconceivable to me that there's anyone still using XP in contact with cyberspace. But, it's certain there are.
Click to expand...
I have to disagree. There are plenty of exploits that target ALL versions of Windows that get patched in current versions and not in Xp. The author of said viruses are not targeting Xp they are targeting the exploit. They just get lucky on Xp. Some exploits were so bad that M$ rolled out a patch for Xp even though it was totally out of support.
 
nlinecomputers said:
I have to disagree. There are plenty of exploits that target ALL versions of Windows that get patched in current versions and not in Xp. The author of said viruses are not targeting Xp they are targeting the exploit. They just get lucky on Xp. Some exploits were so bad that M$ rolled out a patch for Xp even though it was totally out of support.
Click to expand...
There are things that target exploits present in all versions of Windows, and there are things that target exploits patched in some and not in others.

The frequency of each varies, and the peak of the "let's use those exploits that continue to exist in old Windows that are patched in supported Windows" attacks tends to coincide with a window of time that starts shortly after end of support and dies off when the number of juicy targets peters out.

I haven't heard of any attacks on XP or Vista of any significance for ages now, and that's because the user base for same is of a "Why would we bother?" size. And there are plenty of exploits that exist only for those versions of Windows and not later ones at this point in time.
 
Another important question is does this machine actually need internet access? Can you move it to a VM? many of these are viable options particularly as a stop gap until setup on a Win10 machine.
 
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