CA offers free anti-virus, firewall software

Computer Associates Tuesday said it will give away its consumer anti-virus and firewall software product with a year's subscription to virus signature updates.

The eTrust EZ Armor product carries a retail price of $49.95 but will be available as a free download from the CA Web site through June 30 next year, the Islandia, N.Y., company said in a statement released at the Comdex tradeshow in Las Vegas.

The offer is part of Microsoft's "Protect Your PC" campaign and comes two years after CA pulled a free anti-virus product for consumers, saying it was too expensive to maintain.

Microsoft launched the Protect Your PC campaign in response to recent virus and worm outbreaks as a way to get consumers to secure their systems.

CA is not a major competitor in the market for consumer anti-virus software compared with big players such as Symantec. CA's free security software announcement sent Symantec's share price down Tuesday.

Still, Symantec Chairman and CEO John Thompson dismissed CA's move as a desperate attempt to gain market share in the consumer anti-virus arena.

"We have seen desperate acts by desperate people before. If you don't have a large share of the market you will try just about anything," he said. "We believe that securing the infrastructure is not philanthropic."

The eTrust EZ Armor software can be downloaded here.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.