Sunday, July 27, 2008

McAfee Internet Security Suite Special Edition From AOL Now PAY!!!

So my mother tells me that she's thinking of switching from Juno to All2Easy. All2Easy is about the cheapest dial-up you're ever going to find - $5/mo., but you have to find your own virus scanning program.

I'm thinking no problem - a year or so ago AOL was offering probably the best deal I've seen in a long time - all you had to do was sign up for a FREE AOL email address and they would let you download a version of McAfee for FREE.

I thought that was a deal that was too good to last.

I go to the AOL Security Page and I find the bad news. Pretty much if you're not a paid AOL customer you have to pay $40/year for the McAfee Internet Security Suite.

Actually this is NOT all that good of a deal considering that you can get presumably the same program including install media for $41.49 from Amazon and then one of their resellers claims to be selling the CD only for $12.99.

So off we go to re-examine the free virus scanning world.

Of course for many years the standard for free virus scanning was AVG Free. Well, guess what - a close look at their web site reveals that if you want a version of this software that does something USEFUL, like "real-time" scanning of web surfing, downloading, instant messaging, etc., you're going to have to cough up $54.99/yr.

F*ck THAT.

I took a look over to see what Google Pack was up to.

They're offering Norton Security Scan, but, guess what, if I'm reading this correctly - again - no free real-time scanning. To get that you have to upgrade to Norton Internet Security 2008, which will cost you a whopping $50.

F*ck THAT.

All Yahoo has to offer is Norton 360. They want $60/yr.

F*ck THAT!

It looks like the ONLY comprehensive free anti-virus package left is Avast 4.x Home Edition.

Now some quick hunting around seems to show some reviews indicating that this package may be a little heavy on system resources, but what choice do you have, gang?

If you're a RoadRunner subscriber they are still offering the CA 2007 package for free, but I have never in my life seen such a heavy-handed firewall.

Yes, my friends, it looks like the days of free Internet security may be over ...



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6 Comments:

At July 27, 2008 at 7:29 PM, Blogger BobbieJeanne said...

Dear John, This is your mother who is either computer illiterate, or perhaps speaks pidgin computer. Since it appears best to abandon "free" virus protection that cannot be anticipated to stay free, how about the cheapest ones available (as opposed to the most expensive). I just signed up for Juno with Norton only costing $3.00/month. It has a firewall I never had before. If you ever decide to add Junofree to your menu or Juno Platinum to get Norton I'll split the $30.00 rebate with you. Thank you so much for being such a wonderful son for your ever so forgetful mother. (so what does "open ID" mean?) weidersehen Love, bobbie jeanne

 
At August 3, 2008 at 4:17 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

All Yahoo has to offer is Norton 360. They want $60/yr.

F*ck THAT!


Amen to that, Brother Axinar! I was a fool to buy this product, as it made my system slower than molasses in January. Then, a few months ago, I qualified for the updated version, free. It was supposed to run leaner & meaner. Oh, yeah, right.

I've become very lazy (too busy) over the past couple of years in doing routine maintenance & I liked that Norton 360 would somewhat clean out the clutter, you know, use the broom rather than vacuum sort of thing, but that's the only feature I like. The rest of it stinks out loud & I'm a need-for-speed sort of person. And Norton 360 expires in 15 days.

Thanks for the rundown on other products & their eyebrow-raising larcenous prices!

Mr. Axinar, be good to your Mother. Very good to your Mother. She's the only Mother you'll get in this life & she is heaven-sent.

 
At September 8, 2009 at 8:47 AM, Anonymous Ace said...

I trust on Mcafee Internet security suit!! It provides best protection from online threats, virus and spyware!!

 
At September 10, 2009 at 3:31 AM, Anonymous bobbie jeanne kennedy said...

Ace, I was unable to reply to your post so I had to come here even though you may never see it. John (just like many wealthy people who committed suicide after the 1928 stock market crash) shot himself to death (??blew out his brains??) this past February 2009. I am a firm believer in life after death and was upset because I had not heard from him. But, of course it would come via the internet because that was our primary method of contact for a decade. If you ever do manage to read this and I am still alive, I would love to thank you more directly. Love, bobbie jeanne

 
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