License expiration and application functionality?

I noticed that in many cases when license expires so does the application functionality. I just chatted with BitDefender Tech support and was informed that once the license expires BitDefender shuts down.

Dandu is one of the BitDefender tech guys.
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Dandu: after the license expires you won't be able to use BitDefender anymore
Dandu: you must renew the license
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Is this the case with Kaspersky as well?

I guess I will keep looking. What a shame though, considering this was the only obstacle keeping me from purchasing BitDefender.

 

Kav will continue to work but it just won't update. Will become out of date very quickly.

 

I've been trying to contact KAV tech to confrim this. Still, there is the ADS issue that I lerned about on this forum. I mean ADS? There were so many other ways they could have implemented same features without using Microsoft ADS, which is so messy and obtrusive.

What about NOD32? Does it "expire" after the license expires? I could't find anything about it on their website.

 

Personally I see no point in continuing to run an AV without access to current updates - bit like using a surgical glove made out of rice-paper!

 

I agree - you definitely don't want an AV without the updates... but I also wouldn't buy an AV that would totally stop working after expiring... What if the user needs a week to get the money together for the next year's license, or they are out of town for a month - say the last two weeks of the license and then two more? The AV working without updates for a week or a few days is a lot better than none I think.

 

rjbsec, the main point is that software stops functioning, completely. Well, frankly, that would be like Microsoft Windows expiring after a year, and refusing to function unleess you renew the license. This would be of course after purchasing it for several hundred dollars to begin with. The way Microsoft is going I might be predicting future here, eh? Anyways, I could understand charging for updates, either engine/application or signature/definition, but shutting down the application after a certain period of time seems like not only bad business, but down right maliciously exploitative.

Also, I do not understand why license renewal fees for signature updates for certain AV solutions cost same or more than the actual AV solution costed in first place. Case in point: F-Secure.

 

Its more like renting software, than buying it.

 

Hi,

It does not seem worthwhile to run an AV once it is out-of-date. You will not have protection against the latest and probably most virulent viruses/spyware/trojans.

In so far as ADS is concerned, you can suppress their use during installation, by unchecking the Accept Default Instatallaion setting, and in the following screen uncheck iStreams (and IDS if you are running a firewall).

Alternatively, you can just use one of the free AV tools with free updates. They may be adequate for your needs.

Rich

 

No, I just do not want to rent software. I dont mind paying for "updates".

Implementing ADS sounds like overanxious or even lazy developers more than anything. Developers are always in a hurry to implement latest APIs, then deal with any possible consequences afterwards. Because it dosen't hurt the marketing if your AV solution employs the latest APIs. Whatever their usefulness might be.

You can't argue about KAV detection rates though.

 

I consider the new activation process for MS XP very close to this.

 

Hi,

Yes, I do think that ADS was a "quick and dirty" attempt to address performance issues that may have been bothering KAV corporate and home users. There are better ways, and the next version of KAV will completely do away with ADS. The current, most recent, implemention feels quite light now and you can choose to use a facility called iChecker, which may increase performance on some machines without using ADS.

It is a darn good anti-malware package covering a broad-breadth of malware type infections (viruses, worms, trojans, spyware, etc.) and I highly recommend it. But I always advise new users to read Don's sticky messages on the Kaspersky forum before installing so as to ensure a clean installation.

Rich

 

AFAIK KAV will shutdown after license expiration...

 

Hi All,

Yea, and what about safe-n-sec. If you read their license agreement you have to delete their software if you don't renew every year. Even if you're happy with the current version. Talk about renting software!

Regards,

Jaws

 

Wow! Really? That seems a bit extreme...

 

This is on their web site.

I wouldn't give this company .02 for their product no matter how good it was.

 

I see your point but licensing exists in many fields and it is there to protect the supplier, if anyone doesn't think its necessary just check Ebay for $10 full copies of Microsoft Office etc.
I could understand the outrage if a product say like Sage Financial Controller closed down if the licence was not renewed, as the software is provided for a basic function - it may have programme enhancements in the future but could still be used without those enhancements.
However, an AV software isn't really like that is it? It is required to be up-to-date in order to work, if it lets in a virus there is a big furore ... just check some of the posts here. Does any software supplier want that sort of stick just because a user allowed his virus definitions to expire?
The software suppliers provide a necessary service that is often under-rated by the users, who see it as their right to have such products for nothing or next to nothing - and to expect them to work 110%. I see the AV and the updates as a package, one is no good without the other and IMO it is perfectly reasonable to expect the ongoing work required by an AV software supplier to be rewarded.

 

As rjbsec notes, it really comes down to what the vendor is actually providing. Although we think of it as a discrete application in most cases, they are essentially providing an ongoing security related service in many cases. Because the challenges are changing, the responses have to change and this requires continual input on someones part.

I don't believe that anyone would view it as problematic to be expected to pay an ongoing fee for a continuing service. It's not a lot different from paying someone to maintain your car, if continuing maintenance is what is performed. For some applications, that is the primary question here. If a user derives continuing and evolving value from the product, then I'd say that it is money well spent. It would be for me at least.

Regardless of one's opinion on this topic, at the end of the day the marketplace will sort it out with its usual cold hard and efficient logic.

Blue

 

Well, imo no product should ever take the "Mission Impossible" approach... "this product will self destruct unless you renew or uninstall after one year," (stop working).

Updates and new releases, that of course is a whole different matter and certainly is understandable that new funds need to paid. A good example is AVs.

Blue is correct the market will sort it out. Just be careful everyone don't become a casuality of the process.