Has the AV World Marketing gone mad!?

Oddly, I can't recall ever seeing any marketing that purports to be 'better than freeware'. Additional features are often advertised, but whether that is better than is a moot point.

The old adage that "There's no such thing as a free lunch" was originally supposed to be ironic, I believe it was a reference to free lunches given away in Californian bars during the Gold Rushes. The drinks in the bars were more expensive than usual, thus enticing diners to eat for free yet paying more for drinks.

They must be crazy!

 

Well surely you've seen the comparison chart in avast, avira and other free AV's. It has all the little check box's next to the free version. The paid version as a lot more check box's next to it and a lot more features. Hence paid version are better than the free version.

 

Yes, I see your point. What I mean is that most people just want an AV to do its job & not intrude too much on everyday surfing. If the freeware version has the same engine & the same detection efficacy, a few extra whistles & bells are merely additional. 'Better' as a definition, is a bit like beauty in that it is in the eye of the beholder. For example, I think that MSE is better than the last AV I used, for exactly the reason that it is simpler & lighter. Less features is better for me.

 

The reason companies choose paid products is the support. Users just don't really know any better and in this world if something is free it's very often lower quality - or that's the impression they have.

 

Exactly my point. The companies leave you to believe that a free product is inferior. They market it as better because it has "live" support and more features.

 

I don't think it's that. They don't say "We're better than them" it's just kinda taking advantage of a mentality. Live support is legitimate, that's why businesses use them - not the extra features.

 

Well, this goes without saying, I should imagine.

 

I'm not saying anything about "were better than them", I'm saying that the companies will lead you to believe that their paid product is better than their free product by the addition of live support and extra features.

 

Paid products DO have more features. But whether they have anything to do with security (since its things like reg cleaners, optimizers, fancy gui) is another matter. There was a time when the free AV engine used to be crippled (no updates, less rules etc) but thankfully that appears to be over.

Paid products CAN be better for less technical users, because they usually have more helpful screens/setup etc. But they also expose a lot more settings/options that no one needs. e.g I bet 99% of people who buy an AV suite never change the defaults, so how is it better than something like MSE which doesn't have all those options?

And the real issue is all this belongs in the OS which is best equipped to deal with it. Things like UAC/DEP/ASLR are helpful, and were it not for fear of lawsuits, I'm sure Microsoft would have integrated a lot more security in Windows. e.g it is not hard to imagine Windows having a standard virus scanning UI, with pluggable modules that provide updated lists as well as engines from vendors (thus supporting both free and paid). No more installing AV suites with different gui's and hundreds of processes.

 

Support from paid Antivirus may be ok for minor glitches,I like to see support when company computers are invested with infections.The only support will be the IT comming to the rescue or not.

 

Because a good amount of freeware is malware/spyware/etc. And unless you're a bit sophisticated, how can you know what to trust?

And I'd like to point out that malware authors have noticed the increase in AV vendors, too. A google search of "anti virus" will land you on a lot of scareware.

 

Surprisingly not that much, if WOT is to be believed.

 

Yes, the rogueware etc is certainly out there.

Now, that's scary!

 

And usually that weird page that pops up saying your pc is infected, we are now scanning your system, and try to leave that page if you can! its nearly impossible, the 'bastard' wont go away!

 

LOL.