What Happens to Your Antivirus When Windows XP Is Dead?

Windows XP reaches its end of life in less than three months, on April 8th. Microsoft strongly advises everyone to update to a more modern operating system like Windows 7 or Windows 8. Good advice, sure, but we know a lot of people will continue to run XP after its life has officially ended. What kind of options will they have for antivirus protection? Andreas Marx, CEO of AV-Test, surveyed nearly 30 major antivirus vendors and found that all of them planned to support for their products under XP even after XP passes on.
Not a Free Pass
Make no mistake, if at all possible you should upgrade any XP systems to a more modern operating system. Once Microsoft stops patching security holes, XP is going to be like a target in a shooting gallery. Your antivirus may be able to stop malware attacks exploiting these unpatched vulnerabilities, but it may not. Usually there's a partnership between the fully patched operating system and the antivirus. After April, XP won't be holding up its side of the deal.
A Definite End
Perhaps the biggest surprise from this survey is that Microsoft itself will continue to support Microsoft Security Essentials (as well as corporate security solutions) on XP until July 14th, 2015. A blog post explains that they're doing so "To help organizations complete their migrations." Extending support as far as antivirus signatures makes sense, but I didn't see it coming.
Avira, Bitdefender, and Trend Micro told Marx they planned a specific ending time for supporting antivirus installations on the XP platform. Avira will end protection on April 8th, 2015; Bitdefender in January of 2016 (2017 for corporate); and Trend Micro on January 30th, 2017. If you're sticking with XP and using one of these products, you've got time to plan your exit strategy.
Wait and See
Well over half of the companies surveyed said they didn't have specific plans at this time to end product support for those using XP, but they will support it for at least two more years. A few offered a different end time, while reserving the possibility they might extend support. ThreatTrack, publisher of VIPRE promised support until April 2015 or later. Sophos will offer support until at least September 30th, 2015, while Norman and Qihoo will keep going until at least January 2016. Again, any of these vendors might continue supporting XP for longer, if there's a demand.
XP Enthusiasm
A few vendors went beyond the "at least a couple years" promised by so many. Kaspersky will continue XP support until at least 2018 (2016 for business). Webroot won't end support until April of 2019, or later. And Norton hasn't made any decision at all on ending XP support. Of course, Norton's stance could also mean that they're reserving the right to end support earlier; we just don't know.
The full article details just what each vendor said about continued support, and offers other cogent advice about staying safe after the death of XP. Marx advises users to drop the no-longer supported Internet Explorer in XP and use Chrome or Firefox instead; users should switch away from Outlook Express as well.
So what will it be? Are you really going to leave the undead Windows XP in charge of your PCs? If circumstances force you to stick with XP, be aware your risk level will be rising. And choose an antivirus that will keep supporting you.