Why do Anti Virus and Anti Spyware companies offer FREE software?
Its free advertising, and yes, some companies make money from upgrades or selling to commercial customers (businesses). Others offer free software and if you need help using it charge for tech support. Some free software companies make money by including advertising in the downloads. One such scheme is to include a tool bar in the download, and if you install that tool bar, the company that owns the tool bar pays a small sum to the free software company. Some companies offer free software simply to get “hits” on their web site where they have advertising. There are a lot of models for “free” that actually make companies money.
