Kaspersky problems

Kaspersky has a major problem involving licence renewals. It decides that licence is invalid and turns itself off leaving users without protection.

Mine sorted itself after restart but it seems many users are affected. http://forum.kaspersky.com/index.php?showtopic=22813...

Ditch payware and get MSSE.

When renewing mine recently, the license time had expired but the program ran fine until it tried to update the definitions. It seems the update facility triggers the expiry, which then triggers 'no protection'. Don't like the way Kaspersky forces a renewal if license has expired.

Maybe disabling the update facility near expiry date is a short fix.

Fair point, how do others find MS Essentials? I do like KIS and don't mind paying for it. Not their crazy price of course, I paid under £20 for three-user licence, £6 each for a year is good value and it has stopped several nasties that I know of.

I use Comodo security software (www.comodo.com) - it's free and also had a pretty good write-up recently in one of the computer mags.

Regards,

Felix

Yes, mine stopped working this morning too for the same reason.
I was unsure what to do, so emailed for advice. Got a reply within a very short time with instructions to fix it - very easy too.
Apparently it was a bug in an update which they rolled back on their servers and fixed it before any more updates.

I opted for auto renewal with KIS2012, and do sometimes get a slight problem which is easily fixed by clicking on the update licence button. No doubt they'll fix that for future licenses.

I've used Kaspersky for years now and wouldn't change as I've very little experience of dealing with viruses etc. I've very rarely had any problems with either the programme or 'nasties', and their response to any queries is always rapid and totally helpful.

In reply to a post by Malwaremike:

.... how do others find MS Essentials....

A machine I looked at on Friday had six active trojans, a load of adware and a rootkit to boot. MSE was sat there assuring me that there were no problems.

I use KIS across several machines and have ten days left on three of them. I've seen no problems at all. I don't know if it makes any difference but I've stuck to KIS 2010.

After trying the lot, I have stuck with the superb KIS for years, I am now running something that seems to be far better alongside it to test for the last couple of months in the for of Webroot anywhere complete. It is cloud based and scans in about 90 seconds, does not conflict with other software if you want to run them side by side to test. The complete is the most expensive version, but it can be found quite cheap and is finding things that KIS 2012 misses. You can find a trial here.
http://www.webroot.com/En_US/consumer-trials.html
Review here
http://www.computeractive.co.uk/ca/review/2119617/we...

It does seem that AV programme #1 will miss nasties that will show up on AV programme #2 and vice versa. Over the years I've seen several come and go from the top spot. I like KIS but better stuff is always on the way.

By the way, Kaspersky support is totally useless and the users' forum is excellent, http://forum.kaspersky.com/ I think KIS supports the forum if not its customers!

Forum experts advise that (1) you always update to the latest issue, currently 12.0.0.374 (2) don't overwrite your existing installation, remove it and clean-install the new one.

I always clean install the latest KIS trial, then buy a one or two year old version cheap off Ebay and whack it's key in, Got a 5 PC 2011 off Ebay this year for £9.99.
I have yet to see KIS spot anything that Webroot Anytime Complete has missed, but plenty the other way, in fact all KIS has done visibly for the last year or two for me is block certain sites it deems suspect.

Webroot had an excellent product in SpySweeper.... So good in fact that they didn't need to make wild claims about it and it's "competitors"!
On this box with acouple of small tasks running and a few windows open, KIS is peaking at 3048K... A long way from the 54.06MB that Webroot claims. I haven't tried it yet so I don't know what scanning algorythms it uses, how it interacts with it's environment and and how well it deals with prevention and cure of malware etc. I really do hope that it is as slick as the gloss says and moreover, that it's effective.
Whilst I've recently had a painless experience with Kaspersky support, I've been disillusioned for some time with the way that they've been largely ignoring loyal customers views and sometimes, needs.
When I get a few hours I'll install Webroot on a VM and throw a few things at it.

In reply to a post by Malwaremike:

I do like KIS and don't mind paying for it. Not their crazy price of course, I paid under £20 for three-user licence, £6 each for a year is good value and it has stopped several nasties that I know of.

How did you get it that cheap ?

I paid £26.08 for a 1 PC licence.

Keep your eyes peeled on Amazon and don't forget that a KIS 2010 licence will still work for 2012. A 2009 licence may still be good but I'm not sure about that.

In reply to a post by Malwaremike:

Fair point, how do others find MS Essentials? I do like KIS and don't mind paying for it. Not their crazy price of course, I paid under £20 for three-user licence, £6 each for a year is good value and it has stopped several nasties that I know of.

I cannot believe people are paying for KIS.... Barclays bank offer the software for free (KIS/AV) if you have an account and do internet banking. I have had an account with £1 in it for the last 3 years and get my licence for 3 PC's every year without fail via Barclays bank..

With Norton I buy a cheap New copy for any previous year on eBay. Make sure it is unused. You can even buy an Upgrade version rather than a Full one.

All you need is the Licence Key; you can throw away the CD. It will be accepted for your installed later version.

I expect it will be same with KIS.

Amazon. Sometimes even PC World does deals.

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

I cannot believe people are paying for KIS.... Barclays bank offer the software for free (KIS/AV) if you have an account and do internet banking. I have had an account with £1 in it for the last 3 years and get my licence for 3 PC's every year without fail via Barclays bank..

Yes but I don't bank with Barclays !

In reply to a post by Malwaremike:

Amazon. Sometimes even PC World does deals.

Thanks also thanks to Deadbeat for the Amazon comment.