Westpac ditches PC Tools for BitDefender

Westpac has dumped PC Tools as the antivirus product to protect its customers, picking up one of BitDefender's products instead.

(virii003 image by .hj barraza, CC BY-SA 2.0)

Previously, Westpac provided a free year's subscription to PC Tools' products, but it has now announced that it will provide BitDefender's Internet Security 2012 product instead.

The bank told ZDNet Australia that it still had a number of customers happily using PC Tools' products, but after an internal evaluation process, which considered a number of antivirus vendors, it selected BitDefender. The arrangement also extends to St George, which merged with Westpac in December 2008.

When the bank first began to offer the free yearly subscription to PC Tools in July 2008, the bank's offering was considered to be ahead of the other banks' initiatives and possibly even providing competition to free antivirus software vendors. This was due to the ability for existing customers to get a paid product for free, and for potential customers to get the product for cheap by opening a new account and paying the cheaper monthly account-keeping fee for a year.

Although the choice of product has changed, the tactic still remains true, with customers saving about $15 by opening a Westpac account than if they purchased BitDefender's product outright. Westpac also still offers the longest free subscription to a security product.

The Commonwealth Bank offers its customers a six months free subscription to McAfee Internet Security as part of their benefits, while ANZ provides a choice between Norton or AVG products with a free 90-day subscription and a discounted fee thereafter.

The National Australia Bank does not offer its customers any form of free subscription, although it does recommend customers install some form of protection.