Will Avast quit working after expiration like Norton, (and others,) do?

[Roach_S]

I am currently a user of Norton, and have been for many years.  Over the Fall, my subscription expired, and actually quit working.  Not just quit updating, but quit protecting my computer based on the existing definitions.  UNfortunately, my parents bought a 3-pack license for the latest version of Norton Internet Security, gave me the extra, and I know that it will do the same in about 10 months.

I thought I'd switch to McAfee, which I've known about for years, or BitDefender, which made the top of the list on toptenreviews.com this year, but I was able to find complaint posts on those two products as well, stating they too now lock down basic protection when the subscription is up.

I'm CONSIDERING Avast as my FUTURE replacement and as the one I might suggest to those who come to me for computer help/advice and want to know, WILL it quit working completely when the subscription for updates runs out, or will I BE ABLE to coast.

Understand, this is a political point for me.  I consider software on my computer to be mine.  An argument put forth on the Norton board was that magazine companies quit sending you magazines when the subscription runs out.  Sure, but they don't IMPOUND THE ONES YOU ALREADY RECEIVED.  I don't want to be complacent, because if it works for antivirus, I could see Microsoft deciding to ship OS subscriptions next.  I intend to refuse to "rent" where I have always purchased before, and for the same price.

Do I switch to Avast in the future?  Or do I keep looking?

[patrice58]

Switch! In a word but no, joking aside, Avast home or pro will stop updating after your subs period has ended but I don't think it would stop working all together.

As another point you have not said if you would want to pay for your subs using avast (pro version) or have it for free (home version) as both have a time limited sub but the difference is when the sub runs out  with the home version you simply apply for another key, from here http://www.avast.com/eng/home-registration.php which is free, and the timer will reset. With the paid for version you will have to pay for another key. As a side note both pro and free and be used for free of change non crippled for 60 days then after that you will have to do the above or if after this you do not want the pro version uninstall and install the free version.

[YoKenny]

Welcome  Roach_S

Norton is notoriously hard to remove all of its remnants so you need to use the Norton Removal Tool:
http://service1.symantec.com/Support/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2005033108162039

[Tarq57]

The opinions of Avast you encounter here are likely to be quite favorable, so I'll mainly stick to posting info.

Avast Home is free. The 4.8 version is unlikely to be supported for longer than about another year, Avast 5 will be released soon.
The registration process as posted above is valid for 4.8, and used (I believe) so the company can determine at any given time how much server capacity is likely to be needed for updates etc.

I would be inclined to download the full install file (setupEng.exe) (for the English language version) about 39.9Mb, from here. Save it to your desktop. Don't download the 300Kb one.

Download the removal tool for Norton linked above by YoKenny.

Go offline.
Uninstall Norton from Add/remove programs. Reboot.
Run the Norton Removal tool. Reboot.
Install Avast from the setup file. During setup you may be prompted for a boot scan. This can take quite a while, and unless you suspect malware on the computer, I'd skip it. Reboot. Turn the Windows firewall (or other 3rd party firewall you may have) on.
Reconnect to the web, update Avast. It works fine out of the box.

[Lisandro]

It does not stop working, just stop updating.
But, why will you want a non-up-to-date antivirus

[DavidR]

It isn't just that Tech as his existing antivirus, Norton does just that stops working, which is somewhat hostile.

With avast simply not updating if expired, it still provides protection whilst you sort out re-registration/license, etc.

@ Roach_S
avast will also start to notify you 21 days before the expiry date that you need to update, so you have plenty of warning and time to sort things out.

[Roach_S]

One.  I'm about 2 months in on my last Norton license.  I don't want to give them the remainder of the contracted time, so I'm sticking with Norton until it expires.
Two.  I value the efforts of antivirus programmers, so I'd almost certainly get the pro version.  I don't want to deal with a company that looks at software as a subscription.  I understand for MMO's, (you're subscribing for access to the servers the game runs on,) but find the idea for programs running locally to be unacceptable.

Two-A.  Norton just released a nasty piece of FUD to their mailing list about the risks of going with a free antivirus offering.  That's what got me thinking about it about nine months early.  I was a bit annoyed to find Norton wasn't the only one doing this.

Three.  I wouldn't want to run with insufficient protection, but I find paying to so much as keep what I had unacceptable, and I want to nip such practices in the bud before they spread to the rest of the software industry.  I found complaints for several antivirus programs, all claiming they ceased working after the subscription.  McAfee and BitDefender were two of those.  There was a third, but I don't remember clearly enough who it was and wouldn't want to accuse anyone.

Four.  I was recently hired to repair someone elses computer.  The OS just quit working and the restore CD didn't work.  I was able to get the restore CD to take by wiping the restore partition, (it was going to the restore partition if it was there, rather than relying on the CD,) after backing up the contents of the computer using a Linux bootable USB key.  I felt somewhat at a loss when I got to the end.  Previously, I would have downloaded a trial version of Norton, or something else if they requested, and told them they needed to either update or replace it at the end of the trial period.  I didn't want to do that in this instance, however, as I'd already decided that when Norton expired, I was switching, and I wasn't going to install an unknown in someone elses machine.

[norel]

Of course companies that are trying to sell you a subscription will warn you of the "risk" of using a free product.

I would put avast! Home up against any of the commercial products any day. 

[Roach_S]

That's why I called it FUD.
The annoyance of receiving it made me go from probably going to replace Norton as my internet security provider to definitely going to replace Norton as my internet security provider.  The insult to my basic intelligence by passing a biased piece of propaganda off as a security concern has me a little more peeved at them.
Both parts of point two boiled down to I'm dissatisfied with Norton as a company, not as a provider of a service, and intend to quit patronizing them especially as they have since begun patronizing me.

[norel]

Ah...I see now.     I'm not as up on all the abbreviation lingo as I should be.

[Tarq57]

Roach_S, why don't you try out Avast Home for a few weeks (or months), browse the support forum to see what sort of problems folk are getting help with, and the quality of that help (you probably already have, but just in case), and have a look at the Avast blog. The CEO, Vince Steckler, (who used to work for the company we won't mention) has some pretty interesting input into it. It will help give a good idea about where this company is coming from.