Several months ago Trend Micro offered me a free-upgrade to Trend PC-cillin Internet Security 2007--which I accepted. I was happy with their previous anti-virus software and thought, why not? I disabled the upgrade's firewall (since I prefer using ZoneAlarm's firewall program) and it was smooth sailing... after I over came my initial dismay at how much more of a resource hog the 2007 version is.
Recently, I've been having problems with ZoneAlarm--its TrueVector Service kept on crashing--so I finally gave up trying to fix that and have since turned to PC-cillin's firewall. Anywhoo, all this gave me the final push to renew my PC-cillin subscription which is expiring soon so I clicked the renewal link in PC-cillin's main console...
1) First surprise, a 1-yr renewal costs about $49.95. What the heck? Wasn't last year's renewal at least half that price?!
2) Second, I noted that Trend's shopping cart had automatically included a 2nd item, Extended download service, for $4.99 which would allow me to download my purchase for 30 days. What is this? Isn't this just a renewal, to update my virus definitions for the next year? Am I actually purchasing complete software that they originally told me was a free upgrade?
3) Third, Trend offered an option to receive my purchase on CD... for an additional $9.95.
So, depending on whether I wanted a CD, a 1-yr "renewal" would cost $55 or $65. I was not happy. I took a quick look at Amazon.com where I discovered that they offer Trend PC-cillin Internet Security 2007 for $39.99 with free Super Saver Shipping.
Hmmm, so Trend isn't offering a "renewal", at all--they're offering complete software and (ignoring whatever shipping charges they'd take me for) to add insult to injury they're charging $25 more than their own distributors.
Buyer beware.
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