Russia's Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab has just announced the rollout of a free version of its antivirus software across the globe. The company has reportedly been working hard to get this free version out from over a year-and-a-half.
Kaspersky has revealed in a recent post on its official developer site that the free antivirus will not be competing with any of the paid versions. In other words, the free version will not include the added features like Parental Control, Online Payment Protection, and Secure Connection (VPN) which are exclusive to the paid version.
The Russian antivirus developer seems to keen on offering free protection to the masses across the world as it believes the existing free versions of antivirus in the market do not maintain the high-standards required to protect the users against data breach and other high-level cyber attacks like the ransomware or DDOS attacks.
Here's what the company had to say regarding its intention to offer its renowned antivirus solution for free across the globe:
"There are a lot of users who don't have the ~$50 to spend on premium protection; therefore, they install traditional freebies (which have more holes than Swiss cheese for malware to slip through) or they even rely on Windows Defender (ye gods!)."
The company also added that an increase in the number of installations of Kaspersky Free software will have a positive impact on the internet by offering quality protection to all users, besides offering the developer more statistics on the kind of vulnerabilities existing in the software and patch them up in future releases.
In a nut shell, Kaspersky's vision to offer the best protection for all computer users is really commendable, especially in the wake of recent cyber attacks like WannaCry that shook the world.
Furthermore, the company is likely to benefit from the large database of user information and feedback received through the Kaspersky Free software that will be used in machine learning, which will help in the development of highly-robust security software in the near future.
Only in the previous year, the company had successfully rolled out the pilot batch in Russia-Ukraine-Belarus region, in China, and also in the Nordic countries including Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland.
Kaspersky Free has already been successfully downloaded several million times in the last few months and the company intends to expand its market share across the globe so that it can penetrate remote areas of the world and thereby enhance the overall level of protection on the internet.
Kaspersky Free: Global rollout schedule for 2017
The free version of Kaspersky antivirus software was officially launched on July 25 in celebration of its 20th birthday. Curious computer users and Kaspersky fans should watch out for the global rollout schedule for the Kaspersky Free software, which is outlined below:
"The roll-out won't be fully global instantaneously; it's going to be done over four months in waves as per different regions. The first wave will be the U.S.A., Canada, and many of the Asia Pacific countries. September: India, Hong Kong, Middle East, Africa, Turkey and Latin America. October: Europe, Japan and South Korea. November: Vietnam and Thailand."
Talking about the advantages of installing Kaspersky Free on your computer, here is what the company had to say:
"Kaspersky Free is also lighter on system resources and quicker than its big brothers. It's based on the same technologies as those older brothers, which you all know always come out on top in independent testing. This means that, though it features just the bare basics, it still packs a punch – a punch we're no less proud of. The same protection without compromise: we detect any cyberthreat regardless of its origin or intention – even if certain folks don't like it."
