Antivirus Solution for Non-profit

[Martyn]

AVG "FREE" is illegal to use in businesses....as well as non-profits (as someone mentioned above). As with "most" free antivirus products, they are only licensed for use in home networks. The only "free" antivirus I know that is allowed to be used in a business...is Microsoft Security Essentials..and that is only up to 10x computers.

I chuckle at networks I take over where the prior tech they used installed AVG free across the network.

On a side note out of interest who is liable for this, the person who installs it or the company who would probably not have a clue?

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

On a side note out of interest who is liable for this, the person who installs it or the company who would probably not have a clue?

I would bet a truckload of Guinness that the business client would point the finger to the "tech" that installed it...and the software company that got pirated would follow that lead and pursue the "tech".

Even if the software company focused their law suit/fines against the business client, the business client would certainly turn around and sue the "tech".

The likelyhood of a company like AVG finding out that a business was using their "free AV" against TOS is unlikely...I'll agree to that. But as a matter of professionalism...of the IT company servicing that business client...well, that's a matter of the tech (company)...its reputation, its morals, and professionalism. When I come to "new" clients..and I see pirated stuff, I will point it out to them and give them measures to correct it...at times...within reasonable time and budget, as long as there is a goal to get "legal". If they will not do that...I will walk..and tell them I cannot support them. Did that not long ago....got a call from a law firm...rather large well known one in our area too...went onsite. Bunch of cloner PCs....(ugh..there goes the first red flag). Every one had the Microsoft warning on it of pirated software. The clone built server had Server 2000 Enterprise Edition (as some of us know...commonly pirated by techs that had Microsoft Action Pack...because nobody could sell a small business of under 20x peeps and 1x server "Server Enterprise Edition"). And...AVG's bad free antivirus on the workstations. I gave them a contract that had "replace all within 1x year" with new server and all new workstations and I'd help them. They went elsewhere...fine by me....I don't want my name associated with a business that has a footer stamp of "Protected by AVG Free Edition" on the bottom of every e-mail they send out advertising their cheapness and the fly by night attitude of their IT person.