Symantec, Intel carve out diminishing slice of growing security market Worldwide security software revenues rose 3.7 per cent to reach $22.1bn in 2015, according to analyst Gartner. Security information and event management (SIEM) remained the fastest-growing sub segment of the cybersecurity biz last year, experiencing 15.8 per cent growth. By contrast, consumer security software recorded a 5.9 …
... with the likes of Sophos releasing 'Sophos Home' where it's the same AV motor as the Enterprise version on as many devices in your home as you like for FREE... I don't see how the cost-per-device model of Symantec and Bitdefender is sustainable - in the consumer space at least.
Hardly unusual behaviour for any free version of anything.
WinRAR keeps bugging me to upgrade, so does Trillian. I chose to ignore it, and I don't feel it affects my trust in them.
Many free AV are lacking features useful to all, so are more likely to make you feel the need to upgrade.
Start with a free AV that has a clear upgrade option without hidden extras, and you know when the time comes if you need to upgrade.
Might try 7zip, I heard they beat WinRAR for compression and I think are freeware?
As for Trillian, I've used them for yonks, and given their aggregation and syncing between computer, webpage, and mobile app versions I do believe they're worth tossing some money at. I went for lifetime ($60 one time) back when they started asking, think it's still very good value for being used lots every day with no ads (versus the services it links with). Call it supporting a cause.
I'm always advising my non tech friends and relatives that AV is not required for Windows. Keep the system up to date, run Windows Defender (WD), periodically run Malwarebytes (free), ESET (free), and schedule WD to update a few times daily. That is all that is usually required.
AV is just snake oil,its vendors are preying on non-tech suckers, its an absolute con that that causes many more issues than it solves. I know, I have tested many out of interest. Kaspersky is the best of a bad lot,Norton, McAfee, Vipre and Bitdefender are the worst in my experience.
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