Renew anti-virus with massive discounts

I've noticed that it's very easy to save a lot of money when renewing anti-virus software.

Earlier today I renewed my home anti-virus product of choice. Instead of £30 it cost me less than £10. I didn't use any illegal cracking techniques or serial code generators. Here's how you can save money too...

If you follow the usual instructions or procedures provided by the vendor, such as clicking a 'Renew' button and entering credit card details into the official website, you'll end up spending the maximum amount of money. Don't do this.

You could simply re-buy the software from an online store like Amazon, and you'll usually get a reasonable discount, perhaps 20 per cent off. You can even find good deals in the remaining high street shops. If you see a good deal then this is a risk-free approach.

However, the really killer deals become available when you realise that most of the popular vendors allow you to upgrade from one version to another for free, as long as you have a valid license. This is what I do.

In many cases you can buy last year's version of the software and use the license key to renew the current version. You can find discounts of 60 per cent or more.

Let's say that your licence for Acme Internet Security 2012 is about to elapse. You could:

1. Renew using the official route. This would cost £24.99.
2. Buy a boxed version of Acme Internet Security 2012 from Amazon and type in the license code. This costs £19.99 (20% discount) .
3. Buy a boxed version of Acme Internet Security 2011 from Amazon and type in the license code. This costs £9.99 (60% discount).

Assuming that Acme allows users to upgrade from the 2011 version to the 2012 version (which is how many vendors operate), option three would save you two thirds of the standard price.

The dangers of hidden data

Download this issue of
Secureview for free

Whether it's nuclear war secrets or embarrassing photos you never thought would see the light of day, information has a way of finding its way into the wrong hands, time and time again.

In an article that covers weapons of mass destruction, nuclear submarines, formula one cars and personal photos, I examine why data is leaked and explore ways to avoid it.

The full feature is available in the latest edition of Kaspersky Labs' Secureview magazine, which is available for free to download.

There is also a bluffer's guide/Devil's Dictionary-style definition of mobile encryption in the Crib Notes page at the back of the magazine.

Secureview is usually distributed in PDF format but those fortunate enough to have attended the RSA Conference 2012 (USA) had the opportunity to pick up a printed copy from Kaspersky's stand.

Anti-malware testing: results challenged

When we run anti-malware tests we sometimes find anomalies in how anti-virus products behave when faced with threats.

Sometimes a new beta product from a vendor appears to be less effective than a previous version. In other cases there are differences between corporate and consumer products from the same vendor.

Because we want to recommend good products we find these differences to be interesting, but the vendors themselves seem to find them even more so.

For example, if we discover that a beta version is not up to scratch, the vendor has a chance to fix the problem before releasing the finished product. That is a valuable result of testing in the way that Dennis Technology Labs does.

In one memorable case we found that the corporate version of a product failed to protect against a threat that the related consumer product managed to handle perfectly well. The vendor in question found this result to be unlikely.

When we find a result that surprises a vendor we are challenged to provide evidence. This makes sense because if we are right then a lot of expensive time is going to be spent by the vendor in fixing the problem. Of course, the end result is good for everyone.

In the example above, we provided a report that led the vendor to discover a significant problem with its back-end updates system. A redacted PDF version is available on Dennis Technology Labs' website.

We expect and welcome challenges to our results. They provide vendors with useful information, which means better products (one hopes!) and they ensure that our own procedures are up to scratch.

The end result is better testing, better software and better protection for the user, which is what we care about the most.