antivirus softwares?

Question

is it about all paid anti-virus softwares ( kaspersky, Nod32, F-secure, etc) are for one year only? so is it means if i paid let say $20 to purchased the kaspersky 6.0, then after one year of using it, i have again pay some amount to Renew it? so in this way, we are paying for our anti-virus software every year!!?? not that good. And by the way, i saw that CA eTrust antivirus is providing a free trail of one full year, is this software good enough? thank you

Answer 1

What you are paying for is a year of virus signature definition updates.

New virues are created by the "blackhats" every hour of every day of every week. The anti-virus software vendors must issue new definitions several times per day in order for their programs to catch these nasties.

However, there is some decent 100% free anti-virus apps.

I use AOL AntiVirusShield. Don't let the name AOL fool you. AntiVirusShield is made by Kaspersky which is one of top-rated anti-virus vendors in the world.

In recent tests, the most popular free anti-virus, AVG, was only able to detect about 82% of a very large sample of viruses. On the other hand, AntiVirusShield was able to detect better than 99% in the same test.
http://www.virus.gr/english/fullxml/default.asp?id=82&mnu=82

AntiVirusShield has excellent virus detection rates and is extremely light on using your computer resources. (6mb)

And it updates 15 to 20 times a day with new virus definitions, 7 days a week.

Free to anyone, AOL member or not from:
http://www.activevirusshield.com/antivirus/freeav/index.adp?

Answer 2

2

Answer 3

I use CA and I am very happy with it. It is very hard to uninstall, though, so if you do use it, follow the setup instructions carefully and you will probably be better off sticking with it when your trial is over instead of trying to switch.

And as for what you are paying for every year, your annual fee is not for the software itself; it's for the pattern file updates. Pattern files are what tells the software how to recognize a virus. New viruses are released every day and the antivirus companies have to pay people to constantly be detecting those viruses and writing new information so your computer can recognize them. If you stop getting the updates, your antivirus isn't protecting you very well any more.

Answer 4

Yes you would be paying every year to renew it. I'm unsure about CA eTrust antivirus. I use Norton Internet Security which I bought at Walmart for about $50

Answer 5

There are several free versions of anti-virus softwear that are available. AVG, COMODO are just two I am aware of. You may want to go to PC world or Cnet and review antivirus programs and find one that you are comfortable with. Good luck..
Here is a site that weekly updates the most popular programs :.http://www.filehippo.com/

Answer 6

Yeah, pretty much, you have to pay some kind of money each year to get the service. However, you could buy a license which is more than 1 year old, it could save you some money. Don't know too much about the e trust though.

Answer 7

Unfortunately, that's true. I, however, find it worth it to spring for Norton anti-virus and Webroot Spyware. I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Answer 8

The CA eTrust is pretty good, I have it with Pest Patrol and like it better than Norton.

Answer 9

There are free antivirus out there that work's pretty good. There's a good list here. http://www.basicspywaretips.com/freevirusremovaltool.html

Answer 10

I would not use CA etrust antivirus personally ( i think its crap-and hard to configure among other things ) thats why I think they are trying to give it away.

I use AVG from grisoft for myself and my clients. there is a free version and there is a pro version.

the free version you can get here:
http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1

the pro version has a 2 year license they are the only company that gives a full 2 years on their product.
you can get that here:
http://www.grisoft.com/doc/1