Antivirus Protection - Free, Trial or Pro

The need for antivirus or firewall software for personal computers is more essential than ever before with the continually increasing threat of computer viruses and large amounts of spyware and adware presenting a security risk for any computer that is connected to the internet. There are hundreds of security vendors offering a wide range of antivirus tools and security suites. It is increasingly common for vendors to offer several different versions of antivirus protection - free, trial, or pro.

The various different versions of the antivirus software can be useful for different situations. If you are in need of antivirus protection but cannot currently afford the expense of purchasing security software for your computer then a free version of the program would be ideal for you. You may be considering changing which antivirus software you use and have made a shortlist of programs which may be suited to your individual needs. In this situation you will find it useful to test drive your options by making use of short term trial versions of the short list options before making a commitment to purchase one of them. Once you have decide which of the trials best suits your needs you may wish to go ahead and upgrade to the pro version by purchasing the software in question. These are just some of the reasons why security vendors release three versions of antivirus protection - free, trial and pro.

Security vendors are finding that it is highly beneficial to offer the three versions of antivirus protection - free, trial or pro. They are able to allow potential buyers to test drive their product through use of trial versions which are usually valid for a maximum of thirty days at which time users are prompted to upgrade to the pro version of the software. They are also benefiting from offering a scaled down free version with only basic functions. If a buyer likes the software they are more likely to consider buying the pro version of whichever free package they are used to than they are to purchase a completely new program.

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How to Get Rid of Antivirus Plus

Antivirus Plus is a malware that is setup as an antivirus protection software but of course it does nothing effective but con innocent users to buy their upgraded version so as to get rid of bogus viruses. This malware also generates fake alerts of virus infections and alerts of other adwares and malwares but it even fake an endorsement by Microsoft by bringing you to a fake Microsoft security page.

It fakes this security endorsement by infecting and changing your hosts file to redirect you from security.microsoft.com to its own fake security page, when it deliberately brings you to the Microsoft site for sake of pretense. If you check out your hosts file, you will see a row like "66.249.93.104 security.microsoft.com". Quickly remove this entry in the host file as it will redirect you from Microsoft website to their malware page.

This malware has the same modus operandi as other malwares. It will infect your system through auto install via pop-ups when you visit malware sites either through links or redirection from warez sites. It will also generate fake alerts on the web to get you to believe that you need the Antivirus Plus to protect your system. They also preload the malware into existing software so that you install them together when you download pirated software from torrent sites and install so-called free software. The virus distribution method is not new but it does get a fair amount of distribution quickly as most people are not smart enough to know that the it is not a real antivirus software.

Having the malware installed onto your computer is only the start of the headache. It will keep generating fake virus and system alerts and alert messages of viruses or other malwares in your computer and will prompt you to install the upgraded version of the antivirus plus tool pack. This malware will flood your system with error and virus pop-ups and will make it difficult for you to surf the web. However you should not give them your credit card details to buy the paid version of the antivirus plus. Upon sending your credit card number, you will not get any antivirus software but your credit card will be used without your permission to for purchases that are meant for nothing except generate money for the scammers. This will be dangerous especially if you are not aware of the scam till end of the month when you get your credit card bill, and you will lose not only the amount of money for buying the "full" antivirus plus and other shopping at the whim and fancy of the antivirus plus creators. Hopefully you will cancel your card before they sell your credit card information to more scammers.

Source: http://goo.gl/2eumN