Advice Request 360 Premium Membership for 360 Total Security Discussion

[Ink]

As introduced in version 9.x of 360 Total Security | Link
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Homepage: 360 Premium Membership | 360 Total Security

€9.99 per year

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360 Premium members will get special offers for our partnered apps and games. There will be more exclusive offers coming and counting.

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Only €9.99 per year with 30-day money back guarantee.

 

[Evjl's Rain]

it's totally not worth it

it's only worth if:
1/ There are extra layers of protection, new technologies or something better than the free version
2/ no more trackings, completely anonymous
3/ ad-free

there is no reason to spend money for the exact same protection and just to remove ads (which can be blocked somehow)

 

[vinylmeister]

it's totally not worth it

it's only worth if:
1/ There are extra layers of protection, new technologies or something better than the free version
2/ no more trackings, completely anonymous
3/ ad-free

there is no reason to spend money for the exact same protection and just to remove ads (which can be blocked somehow)

Agreed, especially on point 2.

 

[tim one]

I voted No, because to make money with Ads is one thing, paying to not have Ads is pathetic.
I don't want to think in marketing terms, but to evaluate the quality of a product in aseptic way.
Pay to not see Ads having the same quality?
At this point, if I choose to pay, I switch over to other products, which do not require this form of business.

 

[_CyberGhosT_]

I voted No, because to make money with Ads is one thing, paying to not have Ads is pathetic.
I don't want to think in marketing terms, but to evaluate the quality of a product in aseptic way.
Pay to not see Ads having the same quality?
At this point, if I choose to pay, I switch over to other products, which do not require this form of business.

You said it all, it's a pathetic business model, but look who
your dealing with in the first place.

 

[Sr. Normal 2.0]

Pay me or I'll bother you.

Business, extortion? For me it is at least in bad taste and it´s the fundamental reason why I do not use this AV now.
And sorry, i always loved this AV, but I do not think an antivirus solution should look for these types of funding

 

[kev216]

Their slogan was 'free forever' and it's still free, but this is only done because of the money.
I agree with others, why pay for a stupid theme?
For one moment I thought: And with the premium version you don't get ads... hmm sounds interesting...
*reads further* .... special offers for our partnered apps and games.... No thank you, even more ads?

 

[omidomi]

Ha Ha if I want pay for Security software,I will buy better Security software with more feature and technology (same as Kaspersky,Avast,... )

 

[omidomi]

Their slogan was 'free forever' and it's still free, but this is only done because of the money.
I agree with others, why pay for a stupid theme?
For one moment I thought: And with the premium version you don't get ads... hmm sounds interesting...
*reads further* .... special offers for our partnered apps and games.... No thank you, even more ads?

New slogan : pay or I will bother you

 

[OokamiCreed]

Was actually playing around with 360 TS a few days ago so this news is not new to me. Immediately after install, I noticed some annoyances and (needless to say) its not a good direction to go into considering most use and recommend it for being free (as well as light and fast but that could be threatened by ads).

I suppose the good news is the Essentials version is still the same old no ad/bloatware version - at least for now. I hope they at least keep that as is considering how many use it and how effective it is at keeping malware at bay. About 80% of malicious files that landed on my drives were dropped by ads one trusted/well known web pages like ZippyShare - ads and security are not friends.

If they do make it actually worth paying for, it would be great if they follow some other AV vendors and make paid versions opt-in/opt-out for transmission of any kind of personal data like AVG for example. Qihoo has an option to prevent files being sent to Qihoo for analysis automatically so at least there is that.

May add desire to pay for premium version if Glasswire was integrated/paid version and it would not hurt to allow/disallow certain features to install - Avast is a great example of this. Many AV just full install and tend to pack some type of unwanted/unneeded "features" - this includes top paid AV. More features = greater attack surface.

 

[_CyberGhosT_]

New slogan : pay or I will bother you

Right, they can't renig on their promise so they decide to nag the user into paying.
omidomi you hit the nail on the head

 

[jackuars]

I appreciate this model unlike most others. I consider it to be donation-ware. It's better than restricting features in a software, to make the free version crippled, like almost all other free antiviruses (Avast, AVG, Avira, Panda) out there.

Think about this. A truly freeware antivirus with no "bonuses" restricted to paid version. This is what's necessary in today's world and for the future of freeware.

 

[Evjl's Rain]

I feel like in this new version they just put more craps and more ads the same way as avira did rather than improving the quality of the product according to the changelog

 

[tim one]

I appreciate this model unlike most others. I consider it to be donation-ware. It's better than restricting features in a software, to make the free version crippled, like almost all other free antiviruses (Avast, AVG, Avira, Panda) out there.

Think about this. A truly freeware antivirus with no "bonuses" restricted to paid version. This is what's necessary in today's world and for the future of freeware.

I respect your opinion but:

Avast, Avira, AVG, Panda, despite the restricted versions, of course, compared to the paid versions, they offer a comfortable protection without asking for money.
The term "Donation ware" which you use it seems wrong in my view because they have set a price: €9.99 per year.
Donation ware means that I can decide how much money to donate, without the imposed price.

 

[Ana_Filiz]

Use Adguard app filtering to remove ads from within apps.

 

[AtlBo]

I like 360, but the pop ups during boot time are pretty grose...seriously. Well, that said, I had forgotten about them because I use Private Firewall to block the internet connection for the 360 promo tool. I think the process is called PromoUtil.exe.

Feel for these writers. They will go broke and have nothing without money, but I hope Qihoo can come up with something better than this. If this kind of company can establish a REAL, SOLID base line security, then they can offer plug-ins for their app to make money and add MBAM types of protections and other very specific types. I have sent Feedback about this, and Qihoo has usually responded. Any way Qihoo can find to make money other than pop up ads or medium/large in app ads would be legit in my mind.

They need an angle on legit security at Qihoo. 360 is pretty good, but security isn't a child's game or even a teens game. There can be huge consequences of failed security. Appreciate what they have done so far and hope to stick with the program. Mostly hope they can find a LEGIT way to produce earnings.

 

[jackuars]

I like 360, but the pop ups during boot time are pretty grose...seriously. Well, that said, I had forgotten about them because I use Private Firewall to block the internet connection for the 360 promo tool. I think the process is called PromoUtil.exe.

I never get any kind of pop-ups from 360TS anymore and you can disable the boot-time pop-ups by going into the Settings.

Disable "Show startup time after system startup"
Disable "Join 360TS experience improvement programme"

 

[AtlBo]

Disable "Show startup time after system startup"

Point taken jackuars. Some may like to see the boot time as I do, though.

I feel that I should state that I do feel like the 360 baseline needs work. Yes, it's mostly straight a-v file detection I know. But I really want to see the company succeed, because they are really trying to make strides and overall for an a-v it's a good program. This is why I don't like the pop up ads, because I want to see the company find legit financial success and real respect in the industry.

I reason the only way the company will be able to create a niche for itself and separate itself from the others is to go all in with their free and then make available extras. This is why I say the free needs improvement. There is an available niche for a company that will license to a user say a plug-in or plug-ins for a one time price for each computer. This is the model I would like to see from Qihoo. No annual fees, just pay once for the extras.

Very good baseline can be delivered that leaves plenty of room for irresistible extras that users will pay for. Take for example Glasswire. It shows more data than anything I have seen to date that is free. That program can be much better though. I could, for example, use that program to block connections and also create rules for the application that is responsible for a given connection. If the baseline is good enough, which I feel it is not yet so, then users will warm to the idea of deep security protection for a one time price.

I say good luck to Qihoo however they go. This is a model that I feel would preserve the momentum and energy the company has created. It's good energy and something I hope they can capitalize upon to find monetary success beyond the ad game.

 

[Tani]

wao

 

[AtlBo]

Seems to me that once Qihoo have established a really very highly respected and free baseline of protection, including autosandboxing unknowns and memory mitigation (exploit protection)...and maybe a few other smaller improvements, then they can build on that by offering for money add ons like a deluxe sandbox module with special HIPS and scanning (multiple sandboxes, etc.), command line usage monitoring and control (like in VoodooShield), special deals on VPN, and a serious behavior analyzing firewall (for informing users about connection attempts). There are probably a dozen that I could think of, including a security browser with its own HIPs and super-strong anti-keylogging, an ecryption anti-keylogger module, special protections for laptop users and many others. Lots of reasons for Qihoo to continue moving forward with their base line of protection and keep improving it...