Survey reveals apathy surrounding anti-malware protection

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Nov 18, 2010

Inconvenient subscription models preventing UK consumers from protecting their PCs adequately.

A survey conducted in the UK by security firm GFI Software has revealed that 40% of respondents would rather let their anti-malware software lapse at the end of the initial subscription period than pay to renew the subscription, while 15.3% said that they would probably let their subscription lapse due to the renewal process being too difficult or inconvenient.

35% of those surveyed could not recall when their existing anti-malware subscription was due to expire, while 20% said they had already decided not to renew their subscription when the current one expires.

The survey - commissioned by GFI as part of the company's marketing strategy for its GFI VIPRE Lifetime Edition - asked respondents whether they would be prepared to replace their existing anti-malware solution with one that offered lifetime coverage for a one-off fee (the model offered by the VIPRE Lifetime Edition) and 40% of users claimed that they would.

While this piece of research is obviously part of a vendor marketing ploy, it does call into question the value of the paid subscription model for consumers - and whether the industry should, in fact, be making it as effortless as possible for end-users to secure their machines and avoid compromise.

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Posted on 18 November 2010 by Virus Bulletin

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