Aug 8 2006, 03:53 PM, updated 19y ago
Active Virus Shield is AOL's new security offering for antivirus and anti-spyware protection. This free service is based on Kaspersky Lab's anti-malware technologies and it features some of the latest innovations present in Kaspersky Lab's products.1
In large part, AOL security solutions are intended to address a segment of the user community that does not currently have anti-virus defenses or do not necessarily keep up-to-date with their anti-virus protection. As an important aspect of their new premium services, they have developed Active Virus Shield (AVS). AVS is available as a download only.1
More information about this product is available here: www.activevirusshield.com
Controversy Regarding AVS End User License Agreement and Security Toolbar
AVS has come under fire regarding some portions of it's EULA. AOL is said to be promoting spam and some has gone even further and has labeled AVS as a form of adware.
Active Virus Shield's security toolbar is based on a product with a questionable reputation. An earlier version of this software, known as the Softomate toolbar, is flagged as adware by Kaspersky's own anti-virus products.2
More information can be obtained at:
http://www.castlecops.com
http://www.pcworld.com/
Regarding Commercial Usage for AVS
QUOTE
1. LICENSE GRANT. We grant you a personal, limited, non-exclusive, non-sublicensable, non-transferable license to install and use one copy of the Software on a single computer for personal use. This license does not entitle you to receive from us hard-copy documentation, support, telephone assistance, or enhancements or updates to the Software.
The EULA explicitly states that AVS is only for personal and not for commercial usage. However according to yingfan from this thread, he has received a confirmation e-mail from AOL that AVS is also free for commercial use. I would like to point out that from a legal viewpoint, it would still be illegal to use AVS commercially unless AOL changes the EULA to reflect that. The matter has also been brought up in the Kaspersky forums in this thread and the answer is still a No.
My Own Humble Opinion
I have been using AVS for some time now and I'm very satisfied with it. To date I still haven't received any "promotional materials" from AOL or if I did, maybe it has already been filtered by Gmail's spam filter. AOL has said that it would change the EULA because of the controversy but that has yet to happen.
Regarding commercial usage, my take is that AOL would want the software to be used as much as possible even commercially but I think they won't change the EULA to reflect that because that would directly comes in conflict with Kaspersky's business. In short, I guess AOL won't take any actions if you're caught using AVS commercially but it's still a NO legally.
How to: Offline Installation for AVS Without Online Activation
Note: You still need to get the license key online first. This guide is for subsequent offline installation of AVS
1) Obtain an activation code from AVS via email.
2) Generate a license key using the activation code at https://activation.kaspersky.com/
3) The next time you install AVS, make sure the .key file is in the same location as AVS setup file. That way, it won't have to activate online.
A general installation and configuration guide is available at http://www.drtweak.com. Note that AVS will flag mIRC as riskware if you enable "Potentially dangerous software..." in the Protection Menu.
1 : Quoted directly from http://www.kaspersky.com/faq?qid=194134869
2 : Quoted partially from http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,126803-p...cy/article.html
This post has been edited by nessus: Jan 3 2007, 03:41 PM
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comment please
seem is time for me to change AV for my lappie 
thankx for the comment
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