Kaspersky - Google News - Wednesday, July 26, 2017 at 2:06 AM
Kaspersky's stellar antivirus finally goes free - PCWorld
Kaspersky has always charged a premium price for its antivirus product, and
rightfully so. The software's topped independent testing
results<http://www.pcworld.com/article/3166557/software-security/the-best-consumer-antivirus-products-of-2016-are-avira-and-norton-test-labs-say.html>
for years, to such an extent that in 2016 AV-Comparatives created a new
"Outstanding Products" category for it and Bitdefender. But late Tuesday, the
company
announced<https://eugene.kaspersky.com/2017/07/25/kl-av-for-free-secure-the-whole-world-will-be/>
Kaspersky Free, letting you deploy that top-notch defense without spending a
single dime.
Kaspersky Free isn't as full-featured as the full-blown version, offering only
antivirus protection for files, emails, and the web, along with table-stakes
features like automatic updates and a quarantine for flagged files. "In short,
the indispensable basics that no one on the planet should do without," CEO
Eugene Kaspersky wrote.
<https://images.idgesg.net/images/article/2017/07/kaspersky-free-100730047-orig.jpg>Kaspersky<https://eugene.kaspersky.com/2017/07/25/kl-av-for-free-secure-the-whole-world-will-be/>
Kaspersky Free.
Think of it like the Windows Defender security
tool<http://www.pcworld.com/article/3188298/windows/meet-windows-defender-security-center-your-pcs-safety-belt-in-the-creators-update.html>
native to Windows 10, but using Kaspersky's highly regarded technology. The
streamlined focus helps keep Kaspersky Free's footprint smaller than that of
the paid versions, Kaspersky says.
In turn, the free version's reach will help improve the protection for
everyone, Eugene Kaspersky says, as more data feeds the company's machine
learning engines. The premium Kaspersky Total Security suite also includes
parental controls, online payment protection, and VPN access, which the free
version lacks.
But even though it's free, Kaspersky's new product won't embrace anti-user
practices, the CEO promises. "Kaspersky Free doesn’t come cut with all the
usual nonsense like advertising-oriented user-habit tracking and
confidentiality infringements – which free AV normally suffers
badly<http://www.zdnet.com/article/avg-security-toolbar-is-the-worst-foistware-ive-ever-seen/>
from in order to make it financially worthwhile to its manufacturers," he
wrote.
Them's fighting words!
Kaspersky Free will start rolling out in the U.S., Canada, and "many of the
Asia Pacific countries" today, July 25, for Kaspersky's 25th anniversary,
before rolling out to the rest of the world over the coming months. At the time
of writing, however, the announcement post's link to the Kaspersky Free
page<https://www.kaspersky.com/free-antivirus> redirected to Kaspersky USA's
homepage.
<https://images.idgesg.net/images/article/2017/07/kaspersky-free-2-100730048-orig.jpg>Kaspersky<https://eugene.kaspersky.com/2017/07/25/kl-av-for-free-secure-the-whole-world-will-be/>
Kaspersky Free.
The story behind the story: A free, user-friendly version of Kaspersky? Sounds
awesome! It also sounds like great PR at a time when a dark shadow's cast over
the company, however.
Bloomberg<https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-11/kaspersky-lab-has-been-working-with-russian-intelligence>
recently published a report claiming that the security company "has maintained
a much closer working relationship with Russia's main intelligence agency, the
FSB, than it has publicly admitted." Kaspersky has firmly denied the claim, but
that hasn't stopped the Trump administration from moving to block the company
from a list of government-approved vendors.
CEO Eugene Kaspersky addressed those concerns head-on when announcing Kaspersky
Free: "The same protection without compromise: we detect any cyberthreat
regardless of its origin or intention – even if certain folks don’t like it."
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David Goldfield
Assistive Technology Specialist
Feel free to visit my Web site
WWW.DavidGoldfield.info<http://WWW.DavidGoldfield.info>
