Avast Free still officially supports Windows 7 SP1 (with the necessary Platform Update and SHA-2 support installed). The installer is a 6MB web download that fetches the latest version. Installation took under 3 minutes on a mechanical HDD.
For a free tool, the footprint is respectable. It won’t transform a relic into a racehorse, but it won’t cripple it either. free avast antivirus for windows 7
Pair Avast Free with a firewall like SimpleWall (open-source) and disable Windows Firewall, as Avast’s firewall is paid-only. Then, set Avast to “Gaming Mode” permanently to reduce pop-ups. Your Windows 7 will survive another year. Avast Free still officially supports Windows 7 SP1