If you are running last year’s version, say Kaspersky Internet Security 2010, you are bound to use it even after the 2011 product has been released by Kaspersky. At least that’s what many users believe. The update in the software confirms their views, as it will only update the 2010 version of the product, and not the update to the 2011 version.

What many users don’t know is that it is quite possible to update from last year’s security software to this year’s release, without additional costs. The only requirement is a valid license of the security software.

Lets exemplify the process: To update Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 to Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 a user would do the following.

• Download the latest product version of the security software from the Kaspersky website
• Install the product after the download, without uninstalling Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 first.
• Reboot the PC to complete the installation.

Kaspersky automatically detects that last year’s version was installed, and will take over the license. Licenses usually run for 365 days, and the user can use the new version of the software for the remaining period without additional costs.

The same updating option is provided by software from other security software companies. It is for instance possible to update Norton Antivirus 2010 to 2011 this way, or Bitdefender 2010 to 2011.

Below are download links of the latest versions of popular security suites and programs:

• Bitdefender: Antivirus Pro 2011, Internet Security 2011, TOTAL Security 2011
• Kaspersky: Kaspersky PURE, Kaspersky Internet Security, Kaspersky Anti-Virus
• Symantec: # Norton 360, Norton Internet Security 2011, Norton AntiVirus 2011
• Eset: ESET Smart Security 4, ESET NOD32 Antivirus 4
• Avast: avast! Pro Antivirus 5.0, avast! Internet Security 5.0
• AVG: AVG Internet Security 2011, AVG Anti-Virus 2011
• Avira: Avira AntiVir Premium, Avira Premium Security Suite, Avira AntiVir Professional
• Panda: Panda Global Protection 2011, Panda Internet Security 2011, Panda Antivirus Pro 2011

Please note that we have not tested updating all software programs listed above. It is however very likely that updates to newer versions are supported by all of them, considering that this increases the likelihood of the customer staying with the company for another year, once the license runs out. If you are not sure, contact your company to get an official response before updating the software.

Update: Users who want to be on the safe side need to uninstall the installed product first, reboot the PC and install the new version on the next startup.

It improves on three major points and one of them is better stability for third-party plug-ins. Good to see Apple doing that.

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