(sorry if I put this in the wrong forum)
I’ve been using AVAST for quite a while now and I recommend it to anybody I can, simply because it’s the best antivirus I have used (and believe me, I have used and seen a lot of them, being an IT consultant). One thing always makes me wonder though: by giving out these free AV programs, how does Avast make money from them?
Well I think that they make money from the licenses for the Pro edition, the server editions and from the others paid editions 
Yeah, I know that, but then why offer a free version too? My guess is the majority of Avast users are the ones that do NOT pay for it, or am I wrong?
Well the free version is only for home, non-commercial use, although if you like the free version you would consider to buy the Pro version, which contains more features 
I think the question is “How many Pro (paid) custumers would avast ( & AVG & AntiVir) have if they didn’t have a free version”?
hmmm :-\ That is really a hard question
Yeah it kinda is. To be honest, I really find it disturbing to hear people (and even IT professionals) state that only the paid antivirus programs are to be trusted. Yesterday I had a client that had over 200 virus infections on his pc, using AVG. The “IT professional” that was there too kept blaming AVG. I said it’s simply NOT true that AVG was the reason for the infection, but simply the way AVG was setup (no auto updates). I recommended the client to install Avast (or a new version of AVG for that matter) but he didn’t believe me and insisted on buying Norton AV2005.
That is also the reason for this thread, because this client kept asking me: “well, if Avast is that good, why do the makers send it out for free? How can they make money like this, while Norton and McAfee earn millions of dollars by distributing their AV programs in boxes. There’s no way Avast can spend as much money in R&D as McAfee/Norton do…”.
I also kept reminding this client that Norton and McAfee (while not being bad at all) usually take up way more resources than Avast does, but NOOOO, it HAD to be a paid AV, because the free ones are simply ‘rubbish’.
Guess it’s hard to convince a customer who alreade made up his mind right? Same goes for urging users to use an alternative browser (or at least an auto-updated IE). And then people wonder why I’m almost completely grey haired at age 32
Is it? Imagine you want to sell a product worldwide. You have 2 choices:
Well your words are true, I will choose the second choice ;D
True, but not for Avast, since the free version is almost feature-complete and I really don’t see the general home user having a need for the pro version. Would be a whole other thing if Avast allowed a 60-day free use of their Home version and then ask a (moderate) price.
Some people would hate me saying this, but I would pay for it…gladly.
Promotion my friend,promotion. And free editions do it pretty well.
avast!,AntiVir,AVG,BitDefender 7 and now 8 (although only On-Demand scanner),eScan Free Toolkit (Only On-Demand again) itd…
They are all meant to promote their bigger brothers. But avast! is in my opinion the only antivirus that is free and almost without any serious limitations.
Why a new thread while this has been explained in other threads alread?
The correct word, as you stated, is HOME version. Let’s say that avast gives you 1 free Home version for your 1 (or 2) home PC('s). You like it and then decide to buy 10 or 50 or 100 Pro licenses for your work. Do you think they (well, anyone) will care about the 20-30$ they just “lost” from you? I wouldn’t! [Off course, I know that things aren’t that simple, but I just want to give a simple example]
I’m sorry if I offend you and take up your undoubtedly precious time, but I did a search and was unable to find a thread covering this, possibly due to my very limited search skills
Yes that’s in particular kind of thinking which companies like Symantec like to spread… just because they are unbelievable cheap and they wouldn’t even consider giving a free version of their program… they will (maybe) give you something like sample valid for 30 days or so… and then after that period expires, you’re “naked” again… By the way, if you want those facts straight - Norton paid for version (the only one actually) can’t be even compared to avast! Home when we talk about efficiency. Norton is a baby… an undeveloped baby my friend…
And that “IT expert” that told you how AVG sucks (I know he also means the same for all other antiviruses), is nothing else but self-called IT expert… they go few years to most expensive schools (which are btw, paid by their rich parents), and they never ever experienced anything in real life… so they read some stupidity, something like some “free antiviruses are not good” paragraph in some article, written by some other self-called “certified” reviewer, and they think they sucked all the sagacity in the world. Leave them think the way they want… later, ask them when they realize how Norton (for example) is non-efficient, and when they try to uninstall it from their system… ask them did they had some trouble doing that process… I’m sure those “IT-experts” will cry in some other forums asking for help…
Do not believe anyone… try it yourself, and then you decide. Do not let anyone affect your opinion, build it yourself learning by experience… somethimes you have to learn it the hard way, but next time you’ll know better… we learn till the day we die
Regards !
Well you could offer him the reasurance of the paid for avast! Pro Version ;D, then he could be happy in the security of having paid for his AV solution.
It’s rarely known McAfee used Avast engine in past in own AV (before buying Sophos)…
Also , just look at other companies … they have these “web” scanners … (e.g. Kaspersky, McAfee, PandaSoftware etc) … they in fact are “like” free AV edition…
the whole point is … most of Home users can’t affort to pay “expensive” licences for “just AV” …
either the price must be low or none … 90% of world population is not in “rich” status …
free products are also excelent testbed for companies … they can “see” what people demand and then re-implement this for profi users and company usage … experience is what matter !
Czech companies are widely known for this approach and see it works
Well, if the customers are HOME and NON-COMMERCIAL I think if they test avast! they will be convinced
It’s a question of love at first glance 8)
RejZoR, can we use version 8 as a non-resident scanner for free?
I’m not RejZor, but the answer is yes. The free version has been updated to 8, because they will soon release the (official) commercial version 9. Here is the link: http://www.bitdefender.com/PRODUCT-14-en–BitDefender-8-Free-Edition.html