GFI offers 'life time' subscription to Vipre

Consumers can buy GFI Software’s Vipre anti-virus software and all annual renewals for a one-off fee of £60 for the lifetime of a computer.

GFI Software, which has just bought Sunbelt Software, normally supplies small and medium-sized companies. It said the Vipre Antivirus Lifetime Edition developed by Sunbelt includes all of the features available in Vipre Antivirus Premium.

Alex Eckelberry, general manager of GFI’s security business unit said: “Our one-off price for a product that lasts the life of a PC, rather than just 12 months, means peace of mind and even better value for money, without compromising on protection from malware.”

Although consumers will pay only the one-off retail price to receive virus definition and software updates for the life of the PC on which it is first installed, the company has also taken into account that people may face problems with their computer and need to re-install the software.

"We allow for one hardware change. For example if a major hardware overhaul such as a new motherboard is needed, the software can be re-installed without having to pay again," a company representative said.

The company said it had not included features such as parental controls but concentrated on core protection. This includes a two-way desktop firewall, intrusion prevention and detection systems and malicious web site filtering. Ad blocking and anti-phishing protection is also included.

It also has support for removable drives, 64-bit environments, including a 64-bit boot cleaner and 64-bit rootkit scanner; as well as support for Mozilla Firefox Scan Extensions.

The software is compatible with both 32- and 64-bit versions of Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista, Server 2008, Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7. Amazon is the first of a number of retailers GFI said had confirmed will sell the product.

This retailer is currently taking pre-orders for the release date of 24 October. More information about Vipre can be read at the Sunbelt Software site, which is also still offering a free 30-day trial of the software.