Vipre - NEW! PC Lifetime License

From Sunbelt Security News- http://sunbeltsecuritynews.com/

Never Renew Your Antivirus Again
How would you like to never have to renew your antivirus again? Guess what, this just might be your lucky day. VIPRE and VIPRE Premium are now available with PC lifetime licenses. This means you won't be nagged when your subscription is ending, and you will never have to pay recurring renewal fees. The PC Lifetime Licenses are good for the life of your PC; you can also get an unlimited home license that will cover up to 10 PC's in your home for the lifetime of your PC's.

I spoke to our Alex Eckelberry about this very special subscription breakthrough:

"Several years ago, we took on the antivirus business by introducing an Unlimited Home License, which was one license for all the computers in your home. But we didn't stop there. For some time now, we have been researching the concept of a "lifetime" antivirus license, which gives you unlimited antivirus updates for one PC. People seem to love the idea of never having to deal with the hassle and expense of paying annually for updates! So now, we've decided to launch this product for June.

"With the PC Lifetime License, you never have to pay for antivirus updates ever again on the computer you install it on. It's a wonderful way to save on the expense and frustration of annually having to "re-up" your license. One fee. That's it. It's beautifully simple."

And guys, we are launching the PC lifetime license through June 30. We are doing a pilot/test to see if this is something you would be interested in purchasing. If the PC lifetime licenses does well, we will continue to offer them on our website. There will be an upgrade path for our current customers in the coming weeks, which we will make available via future editions of SSN and personal emails. If you are up for renewal of your current subscriptions you will see the option in our cart for the PC lifetime licenses.

http://www.sunbeltsecuritynews.com/JEHJ9G/110608-VIPRE-PC-Lifetime

 

I am guessing that they do this by using the computer MAC address as the unique identifier.

The main problems when purchasing a life-time license like this would be the chance that a computers motherboard burns out or if the user replaces the computer completely which would void the license.

 

agreed i wonder what the catch will be in something like this.

 

so, you change your PC and its not valid then ?

 

It seems like that is the case

Any word from GFI whether the license is transferable between computers so long as it is used on only one computer at any one time? If the answer is yes then count me as a buyer.

EDIT: Posted the question on the GFI forums because I am curious about the answer they'll give.

 

It's a lifetime license only for definition's update or also for engine and product ?

 

I got an outpost lifetime license and changed pc's twice since and isp once, I can also install it on another pc. I think as long as it's only on one pc you are fine.
However they are calling it a pc lifetime licence! which would seem a scam as most people I know upgrade every year anyway!
I would find that a bit strange, I also have jv power tools lifetime, again that has been on 3 pc's, with no registration issues.

 

I have bought a few lifetime licences in my time..........and they have all gone "tits up" not too long afterwards. Lifetime licences have to be pretty unsustainable over the long term as they get no income.

 

I have a Vipre license due to expire on 4/2/2013. What would be the benefit of buying a PC Lifetime license? ...In view of the recent announcements as to the demise of CounterSpy, Sunbelt Personal Firewall and Sunbelt(GFI) ClearCloud DNS. ... None, I would think.

 

It is a nice marketing idea, Normally a lifetime license is, you buy once and
always have 1 pc protected. But in this case it is not a normal 'lifetime license'
but a 'PC lifetime' license.

The average lifetime of a business pc is 3 years, for a private use 4-5 Years. So if you purchase it for a pc that is 2 years old ....

Because 1.5 to 2 years old, will be the average age of a pc when people buy such a license!

So the average user can use his/hers license 1.5 to 2.5 years!

Personally i hate this kinds of false suggestions ..

This is the first lifetime license i see for the life time of a pc !

 

That's why I want someone from GFI to specify whether the license is transferable between PC's or whether its stuck to that one PC alone. Normally with a lifetime license it is actually transferable between PCs as long as its only used on one PC at a time. If its not transferable then its not worth buying the Vipre Lifetime License ever because there are too many conditions placed upon the use of the license which can limit its effectiveness.

 

quote "But now we are taking it one step further with the introduction of our PC lifetime subscription, which gives you unlimited updates on one PC for as long as you own it. No fuss, no bother and no worries. You can check it out below."

 

. . .

PC Lifetime

. . .

 

A reply from one of the senior members on the GFI forums:

"According to the rules listed above, only once."

Not going to bother purchasing one of these things in that case.

 

I would like to know who is the marketing director at GFI since their PR startegy is pitiful.

1) Instead of improving CounterSpy and make it up to par to MBAM, well then they cancel it.

2) Instead of providing and giving users more choices they decided to cancel and yet integrate their firewall and antivirus.

3) Instead of fine-tuning ClearCloud oh yes you guess it...they decided to cancel this jewel as well.

Very soon Sunbelt will become a one product company. And that is making me sad , confused , angry , and dumbfounded . My God what is going on here...?

All in all that PC lifetime license is just a gimmick and I'm not buying it. Who knows maybe GFI would realize that it was a mistake to offer the lifetime license anyway and conveniently find a loophole in the license agreement to, you guess it..., cancel it as well.

Thanks.

 

I don't think one should demonize GFI Sunbelt for broadening their marketing possibilities. Normally most companies offer contracts for 1, 2, sometimes 3 years. Introducing a PC License virtually means a 5 year contract which given the current yearly subscription price would be quite a discount.

Obviously I wouldn't buy such a license for my 5 + years notebook, but I would certainly give it a thought buying a new machine. It is $90 for a PC Lifetime, which means basically the price of a normal yearly license paid each year for 3 years. It remains to be seen how would Sunbelt react if one sent them proof that the computer was stolen or destroyed, but I suppose that these exceptional events would probably be better dealt by insurance policies.

I'm not actually contemplating buying such a license because of these issues, my deciding factor still remains how long is Vipre going to avoid being tested by AV Comparatives. Even buying a 2 years license one needs to have some proof of good detection from an independent organization ( I do have 2 licenses of 1 year kindly offered by GFI Sunbelt at a great discount for Wilders members).

 

Another senior member posted the following information on the forums:

This brings another question as to what actually defines the original PC. It would have to be the MAC address wouldn't it?

It looks like as long as Vipre is uninstalled on the original computer the license can be re-used as per point number 2. Point number 3 seems to state that there will be a once off ability to transfer the license from one computer to another so long as the computer which had the license on it previously isn't sold or transferred to another user. The important part is probably making sure Vipre is uninstalled before attempting to transfer the license from one computer to another.

In any case its probably best to wait until someone from GFI can actually answer the question. So far no one from the company itself has given an answer.

 

Alot of us here have seen this many times and after we all buy a lifetime license it is sold or some other thing. I have bought 3 lifetime licenses and all are gone. Other venders don't need to honor it once its sold...just some food for thought..... I'm not a big fan on this any more..

 

As long as they understand that sometimes people move to different systems, they should be ok. I can't imagine that they won't allow you to switch to a different system. I'm sure switching to a system would mean to send someone an email.

 

a million years ago, I bought my first pc, it was a compaq from pc world and had 3 motherboards in the first 6 months, before they gave me a new one (knowing what I know now the psu was half borked)
But that would have left me a full license short after 6 weeks! (when the replacement mother board failed)
which sucks!

 

Why do some companies insist on complicating things? Just make it lifetime or subscription. People don't like being dicked around.

 

The Seeker:

The Seeker, You are crystal clear and true, i wish they were.
And i wished that i would get 10 percent for each user that was tricked to buy a license by thinking it will be valid for his own lifetime,
and not for the lifetime of his pc this way!

Especially for those that don't speak English as their native tongue..

 

BTW:
SuperAntiSpyware
MalwareBytes
Twister

Are some examples that have sold (REAL) LifeTime licenses,
(not the ones you afterwards feel you have been tricked into).
and are still up and running like never before.

So sometimes it appears to be possible.

 

Oh - I change my notebook every now and then

 

People better be careful. Since GFI bought Sunbelt Software, a couple of their products went downhill: ClearCloud DNS & CounterSpy. Who knows what will happen with VIPRE in a couple of years?

This lifetime thing may not be a cheap option. It's expensive and if it's tied to the PC hardware then it's too expensive.