69% users use antivirus without paying for it: Report

Most users are unaware that the free solutions provide only basic security, and they cannot deal with serious threats

Even as the prices of security solutions for PC have come down over the years, 69% of users using antivirus software claimed that they did not pay for the same. Although an overwhelming majority of Windows desktop (95%) and laptop (92%) users surveyed, admitted that they had some kind of antivirus program installed on computers – ranging from basic solutions to total security products.

The ever-increasing threats have made it necessary to have reliable multilevel protection on PC to secure user data. More so in countries like India where PC penetration is growing rapidly. A report from Avendus pegs India to have an estimated 80 million Internet users, which represents a penetration of 7% of the population (17% of urban population).

Further, a BCG study estimate suggests that the number of PCs in India will reach 216 million by 2015. Some of the most common activities on Indian internet users include visiting web sites, communicating on social networking sites and performing online financial operations.

BCG reports also suggests that total number of users transacting online in India is presently around 8-10 million, and will increase to 38 million by 2015. Security software provider, Kaspersky underlines that they expect to see even more banking Trojans that will attempt to steal financial information in future.

In a survey conducted by Kaspersky along with O+K Research polled over 11,000 users in Latin and North America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa where it tried to assess how often the respondents used preinstalled protection software.

According to the research, free antivirus programs were being used by two thirds of users around the globe and though free solutions provide only basic security, incapable of blocking the most dangerous threats, a considerable amount of users think they provide sufficient security.

Many computers and laptops are sold with a pre-installed trial version of an antivirus program, usually of the Internet Security class. About 60% of respondents made use of these programs, but after the trial period was over only 13% purchased the license, while 30% installed a different antivirus product. On average, 2% of users take no action at the end of the trial period, i.e. their computers are left unprotected.

While the commercial value of pirated software (PC software including security software, OS etc) was $59 billion in 2010, but rose to $63 billion in 2011, which the Business Software Alliance (BSA) says was driven by the majority of PC shipments now going to emerging countries, including China, Russia, India, and Brazil. Notably, those countries have the world's fastest-growing technology markets, but also some of the highest levels of software piracy.