InoculateIT Personal Edition Completely Free Service Forrest Stroud
Completely Free Service
Computer Associates (who also develops the network virus scanner Inoculan AntiVirus) has decided to make a freeware personal edition of their high-end InoculateIT Anti-Virus software. With the free download users also get free access to weekly virus definition updates as well as free online support.
Computer Associates decided to offer InoculateIT Personal Edition (IPE) as a service for computer users in order to significantly limit the damage caused by viruses to PCs. Computer Associates believes virus protection is an integral part of the PC and should not have to be purchased separately -- a philosophy that end users can greatly benefit from.
While not quite as fast or feature-rich as commercial virus scanners like VirusScan and Norton AntiVirus, InoculateIT does combine solid speed with an adequate feature-set. Most importantly, InoculateIT users will not be giving up any protection by using the free scanner in favor of one of the costly alternatives (scanners themselves typically run between $30-50, and monthly and yearly maintenance plans for support and definition updates cost $50 or more a year).
