AV/firewall renew subscription fees

[moosey]

Does anyone know the following for the products below:

1. How long can you get free updates after activating the software?
2. How much does it cost to renew the subscription for updates (yearly or one time fee)

-Panda
-Kaspersky
-Norton
-Trend Micro

Also, for Sygate and Kerio firewalls.

I'm trying to figure out the best value and am not interested in comparing the free software at this point in time.

 

[DaveSimmons]

You can go to each vendor and look it up if no one responds with a table.

Norton AV was $20 per year last I checked, but it's often as cheap after rebates to buy the current year version instead of renewing support for last year's.

 

[jadinolf]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
You can go to each vendor and look it up if no one responds with a table.

Norton AV was $20 per year last I checked, but it's often as cheap after rebates to buy the current year version instead of renewing support for last year's.

Yep. I just bought NAV2005 for $18.99 with free shipping.

I know that it's possible to get it free after rebates if you qualify.

 

[nick128]

I'd get AVG Antivirus But i'm cheap and lazy. addy is like www.grisoft.com or something similar. Free software, free updates. for firewalls i use Kerio, but be ready for the most anal experience of your life, 'cause it asks about EVERYTHING. Plus it blocks all javascript, cookies, and some session-related stuff on teh web, unless you get domains specific permission, and there's no quick way to do this, no button in IE or even button on Kerio. I've been seeking a less-anal, but still small and powerful firewall, but i've come up short. Kerio's easy to use and very powerful, just a bit on the picky side.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: nick128
I'd get AVG Antivirus But i'm cheap and lazy. addy is like www.grisoft.com or something similar. Free software, free updates. for firewalls i use Kerio, but be ready for the most anal experience of your life, 'cause it asks about EVERYTHING. Plus it blocks all javascript, cookies, and some session-related stuff on teh web, unless you get domains specific permission, and there's no quick way to do this, no button in IE or even button on Kerio. I've been seeking a less-anal, but still small and powerful firewall, but i've come up short. Kerio's easy to use and very powerful, just a bit on the picky side.

But dear lord it is free! It must not be any good!

 

[trmiv]

Kerio Personal Firewall subscriptions are for a year, you can renew each year. Really the only thing you are getting when you renew a subscription to KPF is free email support. The product is still fully functional after your 1st year subscription is over.

If you don't want KPF to be "the most anal experience of your life" I would suggest using the product in "Simple" mode. The advanced mode enables system security which is going to ask you about everything. The firewall has no idea which software is "good" and which is "bad" and which behaviors you want certain software to peform, so it must ask you about everything so you can "train" it.

 

[moosey]

Only thing with the free ones is i've seen AVGs detection rate as horrible and my friend was using AntiVir and I wasn't impressed with how it handeled a virus he had. I'd rather pay for something like that than end up having to reformat b/c it missed a virus. At least if you pay for it some company is more accountable to make a better product.

 

[trmiv]

For non-free anti-virus, I've been happy with eTrust from Computer Associates. Has a good detection rate, and is very small and fast. I used Panda before on a free year subscription, and while it was a good anti-virus program, it had a lot of overhead. eTrust doesn't. Small, fast, updates quickly.

 

[nick128]

Originally posted by: moosey
Only thing with the free ones is i've seen AVGs detection rate as horrible and my friend was using AntiVir and I wasn't impressed with how it handeled a virus he had. I'd rather pay for something like that than end up having to reformat b/c it missed a virus. At least if you pay for it some company is more accountable to make a better product.

If you know what you're doing you shoudln't even NEED AV software. I run it mostly as a failsafe. I ran without it for a long time, just ran a firewall, and never got infected. Any i didn't know it at the time, but i just found out recently that when i lived in the dorms here on campus i had a public IP, not just public-campus, public-world. Apparently Purdue gives a unique public IP to every computer on the network. But regardless, i just ran a simple firewall (it was Kerio 2.1.1 back then) and never got infected. Spyware is another story, but i don't really worry about viruses anymore.

 

[Miramonti]

Originally posted by: trmiv
Kerio Personal Firewall subscriptions are for a year, you can renew each year. Really the only thing you are getting when you renew a subscription to KPF is free email support. The product is still fully functional after your 1st year subscription is over.

If you don't want KPF to be "the most anal experience of your life" I would suggest using the product in "Simple" mode. The advanced mode enables system security which is going to ask you about everything. The firewall has no idea which software is "good" and which is "bad" and which behaviors you want certain software to peform, so it must ask you about everything so you can "train" it.

That's a good assessment. KPF is free, and is powerful (so customizable) that it would make many people's head spin if its not in simple mode.

I love the customizability and especially the great control over setting rules to allow individual applications to run or not run.

 

[Miramonti]

Originally posted by: nick128

If you know what you're doing you shoudln't even NEED AV software.

In theory that is true but in theory one should never need car liability insurance either.

 

[trmiv]

Originally posted by: jjsole

Originally posted by: trmiv
Kerio Personal Firewall subscriptions are for a year, you can renew each year. Really the only thing you are getting when you renew a subscription to KPF is free email support. The product is still fully functional after your 1st year subscription is over.

If you don't want KPF to be "the most anal experience of your life" I would suggest using the product in "Simple" mode. The advanced mode enables system security which is going to ask you about everything. The firewall has no idea which software is "good" and which is "bad" and which behaviors you want certain software to peform, so it must ask you about everything so you can "train" it.

That's a good assessment. KPF is free, and is powerful (so customizable) that it would make many people's head spin if its not in simple mode.

I love the customizability and especially the great control over setting rules to allow individual applications to run or not run.

Yea, it has a lot more features than many other personal firewalls. Sometimes I think it has too many features for certain users. I wish there was a "Really, really, really Simple" mode. Or, it could be called "AOL User mode." This would avoid a lot of problems some people have with the software. And trust me, I know all about the problems people have with this software.