Two sides to CA ETrust Antivirus

[john Q]

Ok, forgive me, but I have to vent...

Yes, my personal opinion, is that ETrust Antivirus is a very good
package. Additionally, my old PC runs Windows 95, and I'm not sure
how many alternatives I have anyway, as far as protecting that
machine. (If I'm wrong, I'd welcome any other ideas)

But.... (all this regarding CA, the company, their behavior, policies,
etc.)

- I had InoculateIT, ETrust's predecessor when it was free, and I was
happy with it.
- I seem to recall some promise when I first got InoculateIT that the
original free InoculateIT would continue to work, but that was not the
case. They eventually crippled it.
- I reluctantly bought it for $10 when it quit being free, and the
promise of $10 per year renewal was made (circa 2001/2002)
- Then, it became annoy-ware when it started to expire
- Also, it's an annual licence, not a purchase... It just stops
working, altogether after the year, it's not something that you can
keep running indefinitely, even with outdated virus signatures (not
that you should do that, but that's another topic)
- Then, the renew price was NOT what was promised when I bought it
originally, 1 year earlier.
- Then, I downloaded the trial version, while researching other
alternatives
- Then, the trial version, now that it's expired, comes with an
extreme version of annoy-ware, a popup window from the program, with
no way to close it without a browser window being opened to CA's "Buy
this product" page. (I just uninstalled it, finally)

In summary, all my opinions..
- Yes, good product
- No, don't count on customer friendly practices
- I suppose it's still a decent price, particularly if you consider
how risky it would be to let's say, spend $40 for one of the two main
competitors, but not upgrade the program itself for a few years.
- But, based on past history, you have to ask the question... Can you
trust what their prices will be next year?

 

[Frans Meijer]

In summary, all my opinions..
- Yes, good product
- No, don't count on customer friendly practices
- I suppose it's still a decent price, particularly if you consider
how risky it would be to let's say, spend $40 for one of the two main
competitors, but not upgrade the program itself for a few years.
- But, based on past history, you have to ask the question... Can you
trust what their prices will be next year?

If it becomes to expensive, you can always switch. Right. But the
annoyance-stuff would be reason for me to never look at it again, I
suppose.

 

[Stu707]

[---]

In summary, all my opinions..
- Yes, good product
- No, don't count on customer friendly practices
- I suppose it's still a decent price, particularly if you consider
how risky it would be to let's say, spend $40 for one of the two main
competitors, but not upgrade the program itself for a few years.
- But, based on past history, you have to ask the question... Can you
trust what their prices will be next year?

I had the trial version. I used it for 27 of the 30 days. During that
time I did not receive any buy now or other annoying messages
excepting the opening splash screen. I decided to buy. I uninstalled
the trial version and installed a fresh version. I have not had any
annoying messages. I understand the splash screen while using the free
version, but would like to be rid of the splash screen for the paid
version. Other than that, no complaints.

 

[Kerry Liles]

I too have EZ-av and started a long time back with the free version... I
agree that it is a good program, the updates are almost always smooth and
their tech support and customer service are typical of Computer
Associates... that is: poor to annoying. I really find Symantec/Norton
stuff absolute BLOATWARE and I refuse to run that trash when I have a
choice... McAfee is toast as far as I can tell... not a lot of choices out
there.

My 2c

 

[garrapat]

I too have EZ-av and started a long time back with the free version... I
agree that it is a good program, the updates are almost always smooth and
their tech support and customer service are typical of Computer
Associates... that is: poor to annoying.

Agree
Fortunately I haven't had to get much support, Ask Sammy? Ha

 

[Kerry Liles]

Ha indeed. When a recent version of EZ was released (I think it might have
been just before 6.x) they had somehow "lost" the ability to run
autodownload in non-interactive mode. My scheduled sig updates would pop up
a dialog box regardless of what settings I tried (including the old settings
which used to work). Do you think that moronic web-based support would
work? NOPE. I kept getting autobot emails explaining how it ought to work.

After a LOT of poking around their website I found an email address for
sales - I sent them an email telling them to make a note that I was pissed
and that my kids could do better QC and they might as well mark me down for
never upgrading in the future... also asked them for the email for their
main competitors.

Lo and behold, I got an email from some poor middle management type who said
they were "working on it".... the feature finally got fixed a while later
(couple of months IIRC) - around the same time they introduced the permanent
splash screen at startup.

I've been in software development for 35 years - they need some help for
sure.

 

[BoB]

Ok, forgive me, but I have to vent...

Yes, my personal opinion, is that ETrust Antivirus is a very good
package. Additionally, my old PC runs Windows 95, and I'm not sure
how many alternatives I have anyway, as far as protecting that
machine. (If I'm wrong, I'd welcome any other ideas)

But.... (all this regarding CA, the company, their behavior, policies,
etc.)

- I had InoculateIT, ETrust's predecessor when it was free, and I was
happy with it.
- I seem to recall some promise when I first got InoculateIT that the
original free InoculateIT would continue to work, but that was not the
case. They eventually crippled it.

The engine was upgraded so the old engine could no longer work
properly for updates.

- I reluctantly bought it for $10 when it quit being free, and the
promise of $10 per year renewal was made (circa 2001/2002)
- Then, it became annoy-ware when it started to expire

That is also referred to as an advance notice so you will not get
into a position of having an expired AV.

- Also, it's an annual licence, not a purchase... It just stops
working, altogether after the year, it's not something that you can
keep running indefinitely, even with outdated virus signatures (not
that you should do that, but that's another topic)

An AV without the latest updates get people in trouble every day
of the week. Using an AV in this condition is asking for trouble.

- Then, the renew price was NOT what was promised when I bought it
originally, 1 year earlier.

I'm still paying $10, so I'm missing your point here entirely.

- Then, I downloaded the trial version, while researching other
alternatives
- Then, the trial version, now that it's expired, comes with an
extreme version of annoy-ware, a popup window from the program, with
no way to close it without a browser window being opened to CA's "Buy
this product" page. (I just uninstalled it, finally)

Pretty standard practice in one way or another. Your FREE trial is over.

In summary, all my opinions..
- Yes, good product
- No, don't count on customer friendly practices
- I suppose it's still a decent price, particularly if you consider
how risky it would be to let's say, spend $40 for one of the two main
competitors, but not upgrade the program itself for a few years.
- But, based on past history, you have to ask the question... Can you
trust what their prices will be next year?

I don't believe in fortune tellers. When users don't like price changes
they quit and find an alternative. Forte's newsreader/email, is up
against this situation with their forthcoming v2.0. If they overprice it
they will lose many customers. There are alternatives to Agent. Dialog
is not only similar, it is better and it is free, at least for now.

There are still three good free AVs for anyone who wants them. I tried
them all for many months and found nothing wrong with any of them. I
chose Avast over Antivir and AVG to be my backup for ET.

My 2¢,

BoB
For the duration of Swen, my address is inoperative.

 

[Anon]

This is typical of quite a few "freeware" programs lately. Apparently its
to sucker you into using their program and the guise that its freeware, then
force you to pay for it later.

I too used to use their freeware virus scanner until they changed it. And
yes they did promise it would always be free back then. Then
companies/people wonder why warez exists.

 

[Kerry Liles]

You have a point. As a developer, I shudder when I see such boneheaded
decisions such as advertising that it will be free forever (perhaps the
definition of the word is to blame...<g>)

Companies realize that non-trivial resources are required to maintain the
code (the engine) and the signature files (not to mention the server side of
the process of supporting the AV). Even then, the spin doctors in marketing
decide to lie. Plain and simple.

and some morons in the media wonder why Kazaa (etc) is so popular... why
people would rather steal than pay way too much for so little. Wait for a
new model: low priced; high volumes. I wish more companies would try it.

 

[Route 9W]

Well.
I find E-Trust to be a very good alternative, as mentioned in the
post(s).
I find it very difficult to understand how, in the free market world
where sales keep a company alive, people cannot understand that things
cost money....plain and simple.

If one thinks that a company can design, develop, market and properly
support a product--especially one operated by a US company--and do a
decent job and not charge anything for it, oh well, there is no need
to complete that thought.

I am not an employee of CA, but I do use the product in my business
and find it a very good, cost effective alternative to the
'majors'---and, amazingly, it can be uninstalled properly.

Yes I know they had a free version for quite a while.

I am not writing this to attract a lot of responses, but, this is just
IMHO.

Thanks
Joe