AOL's Free Anti-Virus Switcheroo

A number of AOL users who have taken advantage of the free "Active Virus Shield" anti-virus offer from Kasperksy are complaining that the software has ceased downloading updates. Turns out AOL recently severed its relationship with Kaspersky, and is now offering customers free anti-virus service from McAfee.

It doesn't appear that AOL gave any sort of advanced warning that this change was forthcoming, although the company has information up on its site detailing the new McAfee offering. An AOL spokesperson said that while the the ISP is no longer offering new licenses for the free Kaspersky software, there is no reason that customers who still have time left on their Kasperksy license should have stopped receiving updates for the program.

Even so, some AOL virus shield users have reported that they can no longer download virus signatures to keep the program up-to-date. Assuming those users still have time left on their license (it gets renewed once a year), there appears to be a relatively simple tweak that has helped re-enable updates for many users.

Alternatively, AOL users can remove Kaspersky, pay to upgrade to a full version, or uninstall the program and go with the free McAfee offering. There also are several other free anti-virus options out there, including Antivir Personal Edition Classic, AVAST Home Edition, BitDefender Free, Clamwin Free, and Grisoft's AVG Free. [...]

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Brian Krebs on Computer Security. The Washington Post Company.