AVG7.5, avast, Windows Defender, Spybot - Search & Destroy - all free. Norton, McAfee and others cost an arm and a leg.......why?
2007-01-08 06:31:06 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Computers & Internet ➔ Security
very good question...basically its down to the companys making money from their other products to cover the upkeep of the free products
companys such as a.v.g and avast who give free anti-virus programs by download also have paid for versions which have a few added extras compared to the free versions
in the case of spy-bot they rely on donations which you can pay through the donation link in the program,and its in our interest to donate a few quid to keep this excellent program running
windows defender is free basically because its going to be part of "vista" and is used in windows xp as a beta,but microsoft can afford to give this program as free
norton hasnt gone for the free route as i think they are scared of it affecting their payed versions,so if people know there is a free norton anti-virus they will use that instead as its called"norton"
in my opinion free anti-virus software is just as good as paid versions,but its down to the user,if you feel safe using a free version then thats ok,but its all down to personal preference
good luck
2007-01-08 06:43:43 · answer #1 · answered by brianthesnail123 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You will notice that AVG and avast only give basic versions for free, this is an incentive to upgrade to a full security package for a price. They are only avaiable to home users for free and will charge businesses for use.
Windows defender isn't a full antivirus and only does spyware, its basically microsofts attempt to try to limit the number of malware programs that are around. I think they are planning a full antivirus that would be subscription based.
Spybot-search and destroy again is not a full antivirus, you'd have to ask the people who make it why they make it free, it does ask for you to make donations though. Similarly adaware is free but has a premium version.
You only get what you pay for, the antiviruses you pay for tend to be better, in tests avg only picks up around 50% of viruses the top one is Kaspersky which picks up over 98%. the paid for ones tend to be updated quicker and also now include extras such as firewalls, anti hacker detection, anti spyware etc. The subscriptions for these companies also pays the costs they incur n searching for new viruses. These are made by businesses and profit is what they need to continue.
2007-01-08 07:42:17 · answer #2 · answered by Gordon B 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The simple answer to this is, its because people are easily conned.
Windows Defender is not an anti virus program, it's anti spy ware.
My best advice, is to download AVG 7.5 free version, and AVG anti spy ware free version.
AVG Anti virus will also find viruses that Norton will not detect!
Both AVG products are extremely good, you get the updates free, and you have the option of purchasing the full licensed version with more features if you want to.
Contact me if you want more info
2007-01-08 22:36:40 · answer #3 · answered by Peter R 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Different business model - the free ones are generally corporate who offer free to home users as an intisement in the hope that it will encourage people to buy it for work - also it helps the anti virus industry as well as the more machines that are protected the less a virus can spread
Norton and Macaffee make money from the home market but quite why anyone is prepared to hand over their hard earned cash defeats me - same as AOL I suppose - you can fool some of the people some of the time
2007-01-08 06:39:01 · answer #4 · answered by cool_clearwater 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
McAfee and Norton have invested a lot of time and money into becoming world leaders in the Antivirus field. They also bundle complete packages that offer a range of protection and their software will invariably give slightly better protection than free software.
That is not to say that free software isn't good. I myself swear by AVG.
Also bear in mind that many free antivirus packages do have a commercial version that offers more features.
2007-01-08 07:15:47 · answer #5 · answered by barrytabrah 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
AVG and Avast are simply watered-down versions of there full version of their software. The idea is to get people to try the basic version in the hope they will like it and purchase the full-version.
In short, the marketing technique is a limited version of the software, free for life.
Norton, McAfee etc. give a free trial of their software.
The idea is to get people to try the time-limited version in the hope they will like it and purchase the full-version.
In short, the marketing technique here is a full version of the software, free for a short, limited time.
Spybot S&D seems to be basically a hobby for the creator, Patrick Kolla, although he does accept donations to defray his expenses. Some of the best software in the world is created by "propeller-capped" geeks in their basements and distributed free of charge. Again its a hobby type thing. Google "Linux" and "open source".
Hope this helps!
2007-01-08 07:27:25 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Wheres my 10pts from asianboy303
2016-05-23 11:27:15 · answer #7 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋