Kaspersky announces global roll out of Kaspersky Free

26 Jul 2017

Kaspersky has announced the global launch of its free net security software Kaspersky Free, that lets users deploy the software for free.

Kaspersky Free does not come with all the features of the paid version, and offers only antivirus protection for files, emails, and the web. It also has features like automatic updates and a quarantine for flagged files.

"In short, the indispensable basics that no one on the planet should do without," CEO Eugene Kaspersky writes.

According to experts, it could be thought of as a Windows Defender security tool native to Windows 10, but one that used Kaspersky's technology. Because of its streamlined focus Kaspersky Free's footprint is smaller than that of the paid versions, according to Kaspersky.

According to Eugene Kaspersky, the free version's reach will help improve protection for everyone, with more data feeding the company's machine learning engines. The premium Kaspersky Total Security suite also comes with parental controls, online payment protection, and VPN access, which is not available in the free version.

But even though it is free, the new product will remain user-friendly Kaspersky said. "Kaspersky Free doesn't come cut with all the usual nonsense like advertising-oriented user-habit tracking and confidentiality infringements – which free AV normally suffers badly from in order to make it financially worthwhile to its manufacturers," he wrote.

Kasperksy will roll out the free version of the company's security software globally, starting this month.