Anti virus/Security software are cheap right now. Can I buy it and use it in 2012, 2013?

it depends on the product, but some of them let you upgrade for FREE to the new version when it comes out. i KNOW Norton AntiVirus was doing that, not sure if they still are.

but MANY of them do NOT, so you should check with the tentative company BEFORE pitching out money for a dying AV soft. the 4th quarter of the year is when they usually start to release "NEXT year's model", which may be why it looks cheaper. whichever one you choose, i would STILL get the one with next 2012 marked on it right now. at least THEN you'd be covered for the coming year.

i remember when everybody was buying Norton Internet Security 2005, which didn't have protection against rootkits or malware. little did they know...

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You actually don't need to buy one at all. At least not for a home PC. There are completely free ant-virus programs you can download. I suggest either Avast! or Microsoft Security Essentials. Though I'd go with MSE as it's simple, won't bog down your PC, and will never nag you to buy the premium version.

Why not just use a free one like AVG and never buy anti virus again. Here are two good anti virus programs. (Only download one. You should never have more then one installed)

http://download.cnet.com/AVG-Anti-Virus-Free-Editi...

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security_essentials...