I have been bombarded with questions about AVG’s free antivirus program, which periodically expires in an effort to sell the commercial (non-free version) to unsuspecting consumers.
This happened about a year and a half ago, when version 7.1 “expired” and was replaced with version 7.5. AVG’s manufacturer, the Czech company Grisoft, didn’t make it widely known that a free version still existed. Now, here we are again. On May 31, many users of version 7.5 got a notice to “please upgrade now.” Clicking on it brought up links to AVG Security 8.0, which costs $55 and includes a firewall, anti-spyware and other stuff not included in the free product.
I certainly don’t begrudge AVG’s efforts to sell product, considering it has been giving away Anti-Virus to home users. However, hiding the free product is disingenuous, at best. The company should be up-front. It should either offer a choice or offer the upgrade for downloading.
Even when you visit the company’s home page (www.free.grisoft.com), the free download is hard to locate, which is an odd strategy. It is almost as if Grisoft, which once was proud to offer the free product to home users, is hoping you stumble into a purchase.
In my opinion, it should not take five clicks to get to the free product. In the process, the company further confuses consumers by putting only some of the correct links in boldface type. It’s pretty smarmy.
Overall, I am conflicted. On one hand, the antivirus is free. On the other hand, the company has made it hard to find and use.
But I’m not conflicted, just dismayed, by the news that Time-Warner is going to test — and charge for — metered Internet access. According to news reports, the company will begin a trial this week in Beaumont, Texas, charging customers $1 for each gigabyte…