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General discussion

CA to Offer Free Antivirus and Firewall Software to Windows Users Worldwide

by Donna Buenaventura Nov 17, 2003 10:42PM PST

Computer Associates International, Inc. (CA) in conjunction with Microsoft Corp. today announced an offer to provide qualified Windows home computer users with a no-charge, one-year subscription to CA's eTrust EZ Armor antivirus and firewall desktop security suite.

eTrust EZ Armor -- the consumer version of CA's enterprise-class security technology -- will dramatically improve the safety of individual home PC use, and greatly limit the proliferation of Internet threats.

CA will aggressively promote this special offer as part of Microsoft's "Protect Your PC" campaign. A download link for eTrust EZ Armor is featured on the Protect Your PC site on Microsoft's Web site, located at:
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/.

"The widespread embrace of PCs and the Internet has put extremely powerful technology in the hands of consumers," said Toby Weiss, senior vice president
of eTrust solutions at CA. "To ensure the safety and integrity of the Internet experience, we are making CA's powerful enterprise-class security technology readily available to home computer users while supporting Microsoft's Protect Your PC campaign."

Experts agree that the large number of personal computer users operating without up-to-date antivirus software and/or a personal firewall collectively represents one of the single greatest information security risks to users of the Internet. By offering eTrust EZ Armor for one year at no charge, CA is addressing this critical issue for users of Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows Millennium Edition and Windows 98/Windows NT.

"Helping Windows customers get more secure and stay protected is a top priority for Microsoft," said Tom Button, corporate vice president of Windows at Microsoft Corp. "We're very pleased that CA's eTrust EZ Armor software offer extends our Protect Your PC program and gives customers a great option for getting more secure."

eTrust EZ Armor is a $49.95 retail value. This free subscription for qualified Windows users is available for download through June 30, 2004, and provides one year of personal firewall and antivirus protection including daily virus signature updates. Complete information on eTrust EZ Armor software and CA's free offer is available at http://www.my-etrust.com/microsoft.

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/11-18-2003/0002060614&EDATE=

Discussion is locked

31 - 60 of 37 Posts
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Re:Mark, how many years you got
by Mark G Nov 19, 2003 9:10PM PST

i didnt notice i didnt like the program dont ask me why went back to avg and will stay with avg Happy

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CA gets a big thumbs down in my book
by William Randall Nov 19, 2003 5:30AM PST

Win98

I had Inoculate free edition before they went paid. I paid for one year and during that year, there was some problem or other that was never addressed by them in response to my contact via email, so I did not even finish the year out and went with AVG free edition.

Now this.

I use AVG free edition as my virus program and have an older version of McAfee ONLY as my on-demand scanner.

I decided to try this offer from CA.

It would not even let me get past the screen of telling me that I have McAfee and I have to uninstall it. Note that it only resides on my HD and the only thing it does is a "DOS scan" on bootup (besides when I update the DAT files and run it now and then).

If I can remember this, I want NOTHING to do with CA ever again.

William

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Re:CA gets a big thumbs down in my book
by Mark G Nov 19, 2003 8:21AM PST

well i had avg on my puter i instaleed it this time with no problems so maybe macafee was stopping install

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William & Mark, Many Of the 'Newer' Antivirus Programs Do That Now...
by Grif Thomas Forum moderator Nov 19, 2003 8:32AM PST

Norton will ususally detect if any other antivirus, especially McAfee is on the computer, even if it's not actually running. McAfee is the same way. It will detect if Norton, or previous versions of McAfee, or ZoneAlarm, are installed on the computer. The standard installation of McAfee's firewall won't occur if you have another firewall on the machine.

Most of these installations identify specific registry entries of the major antivirus manufacturers and therefore require an uninstall prior to activating the new program. Because Norton/McAfee/eZTrust, etc. lock up various resources, they don't want to have competing programs conflict with their operations. Since AVG is NOT one of those "major" companies, the major programmers don't write in it's registry entries and they frequently won't ID AVG as a resident system. Not necessarily a good thing, but just they way it is now.

Hope this helps.

Grif

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Re:William & Mark, Many Of the 'Newer' Antivirus Programs Do That Now...
by William Randall Nov 19, 2003 9:07AM PST

Grif,

Thanks for your info. I suspected as much.

From a lay person's perspective, this is a dumb move since I'm not going to try their product now. So much for a "free" one year trial.

I plan to keep McAfee for as long as they allow me to update my DAT files.

William

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Nice advert for Microsoft!
by Dale Johnston Nov 19, 2003 7:42AM PST

Nothing like touting XP as the savior of the world. I think I'll ignore them and continue with 98, thanks. I also followed my policy of not providing personally identifiable to CA when I signd up for their free software. I don't do that for companies in my homeland, so I sure won't do it for foreigners who have no respect for my country's privacy laws.

Did you notice the damn impertinence too? From their web site's Privacy Policy:
'Computer Associates International is the sole owner of the information collected.'

Strange that - I always thought it was ME who owned MY personal data, and only provided a licence to others to use it for a stated purpose. Bit like software really, and a concept they should understand. Wink

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Re:Nice advert for Microsoft!
by William Randall Nov 19, 2003 9:14AM PST

Dale,

"I also followed my policy of not providing personally identifiable to CA when I signd up for their free software."

Did you have to uninstall your current AV to install CA's?

William

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