Open the app, go to the subscription panel, find the date. The exact menu path differs by vendor. Below are the steps for the seven most common antivirus products plus what to do if yours came pre-installed and you never made an account.
Sourced from each vendor's official support documentation.
| Vendor | Path to expiration date |
|---|---|
| Norton | Sign in at my.norton.com → My Account → My Subscriptions tab. Date listed next to each plan. |
| McAfee | Open the McAfee app → click Account → My Subscription. Status and expiration date shown. |
| Bitdefender | Sign in at central.bitdefender.com → My Subscriptions. Each subscription shows days remaining. |
| Kaspersky | Open My Kaspersky portal → Subscriptions. Or open the app, click the gear icon, and view license details. |
| Trend Micro | Open the app → Account Settings → Subscriptions → Manage. Expiration date listed beside each app. |
| Avast / AVG | Open the app → Menu → My Subscriptions. Or sign in at my.avast.com for a full list. |
| ESET | Open the ESET app → main window shows license expiration directly. The product also displays a renewal pop-up two weeks before expiration (cannot be disabled). |
Once you know the date, set a reminder 30 days before — so you can act ahead of the vendor's billing window.
Done in seconds. No sign-up required.
Most new Windows laptops ship with a 30-day or one-year trial of Norton, McAfee, or HP Wolf Security. These trials count down silently and typically convert to a paid subscription if you ever entered a credit card during setup. To find the date:
The dashboard usually shows "X days remaining" or a specific expiration date prominently. If you see only nags to "renew now", that often means the trial is already expired.
The tooltip on Norton, McAfee, and AVG icons often includes subscription status text and date.
Open Settings → Privacy & Security → Windows Security → Virus & threat protection. The active third-party provider is listed there with its current status.
A pre-installed trial can run without you ever creating a vendor account. If the trial is approaching expiration and you do not want to renew, the cleanest path is to uninstall the product, which activates Windows Defender automatically.
A common frustration: you renewed a week ago, but the antivirus keeps insisting the subscription is expired. McAfee acknowledges this on its own support page — the local app caches subscription state and may not sync with the vendor's database for hours or days. Norton and Trend Micro have similar guidance.
The fixes, in order:
The flip side is also worth flagging: a "your subscription expired" pop-up that does not appear in your vendor account at all is almost certainly a phishing attempt. See how to spot fake antivirus renewal scams for what to check before clicking anything.
Set a reminder 30 days before the expiration. That is the only timing that consistently beats the vendor's billing window — most vendors charge the card on file 7 to 14 days before the listed expiration date. A 30-day reminder gives you enough time to compare the renewal price against new-customer pricing and act before the charge lands.
For the why behind the price gap, see why antivirus renewals cost 2–3× the first year. For the cancellation steps if you decide not to renew at the auto-renewal price, see cancelling auto-renewal before the price hike. This page is part of the antivirus renewal reminder pillar.
Open the antivirus app, go to the account or subscription panel, and look for the expiration or renewal date. The exact path varies by vendor: Norton uses My Account > My Subscriptions, McAfee uses Account > My Subscription, Bitdefender uses Central > Subscriptions, Trend Micro uses Account Settings > Subscriptions > Manage.
Pre-installed Norton, McAfee, or HP Wolf trials usually display an expiration date on their main dashboard. If not, the system tray icon often shows tooltip text with subscription status. Windows users can also check Settings > Privacy & Security > Windows Security > Virus & threat protection — the active third-party provider lists its status there.
McAfee's own support page explains this: notifications can persist after renewal because the local app cache has not yet synced with the vendor's subscription database. Open the app, sign out, sign back in, and the date should refresh. If it does not, reboot the machine before contacting support.
30 days out is the right window. That is enough time to compare the renewal price against new-customer pricing, decide whether to switch, or cancel auto-renew before the vendor's billing window opens. Vendor billing typically runs 7–14 days before the listed expiration date.
Often, but not always. Phishing campaigns regularly impersonate Norton, McAfee, and Malwarebytes with fake "expired" pop-ups that lead to scam billing numbers. Always verify the expiration date from inside the app or your vendor account, not from a pop-up or email.
In most cases, yes — the locally installed app shows the date on its dashboard or in its account panel without needing a fresh login. The exception is fully cloud-managed products like Bitdefender Central, where the date lives in the web account and the app simply syncs from it.
Now that you know when your antivirus expires, set a reminder for 30 days before. Free, no account, takes 30 seconds — and the email follows up until you mark it done.
Set Expiration ReminderLast modified: