Kaspersky Free Antivirus Launched Globally, But Will Zimbabweans Use It?

Kaspersky has started offering its free antivirus program global launch which covers the core anti-malware capabilities while leaving more advanced features as the dominion of its paid-for products.

In a blog post authored by the security firm’s chief, Eugene Kaspersky explains that an increase in the number of installations of Kaspersky Free is expected to positively affect the quality of protection of all users since the “big-data-bases will have more numbers to work with to better hone the machine learning”.

Kaspersky wants the whole world to use its antivirus

By offering the software for free, the company might have played a master stroke as barring people from downloading it will be hard to implement, especially since it offers free features that rivals firms such as Avast and Norton do not provide.

The free version contains the bare essentials, Kaspersky said, which includes file, email, and web antivirus; automatic updates, self-defence; quarantine; and a handful of additional features the blog post does not list.

“The free antivirus won’t be competing with our paid-for versions. In our paid-for versions there are many extra features, like Parental Control, Online Payment Protection, and Secure Connection (VPN), which easily justify the ~$50 for premium protection,” said Eugene Kaspersky.

“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!).”

Incidentally, if you were speculating what sort of features the premium (paid-for) versions of Kaspersky’s software offer over and above core protection, they include the likes of online payment protection, parental control features, and built-in VPN functionality.

“Our aim is to raise the overall level of protection on the Internet. Anyway, here’s thanks to all Kaspersky Free users for helping us save the world,” added Eugene. And on July 25 – for our 20th birthday – the product will start being officially launched!”

The roll-out won’t be fully global instantaneously; it’s going to be done over four months in waves as per different regions.

A global rollout will happen over four months, with the US and Canada getting it all first. The freeware will be available come early September in Zimbabwe and the Rest of Africa.