Kaspersky’s Weird Exit from the U.S. Market Catches Users Off Guard

Kaspersky’s rather abrupt exit from the U.S. market late last week caught many users off guard.

Kaspersky apparently deleted its antivirus software from U.S. computers last Thursday and replaced it with UltraAV’s software, freaking out users who didn’t know the change was coming.

“Yeah bro I didn’t even hear about the news regarding Kaspersky,” one Redditor wrote in a larger thread on the issue. “I woke up and saw this new antivirus system on my desktop and I tried opening kaspersky but it was gone. So I had to look up what happened because I was literally having a mini heart attack that my desktop somehow had a virus which uninstalled kaspersky somehow. But I was relieved that kaspersky had news regarding it but I don’t trust the new antivirus given. I switched to bitdefender right away”

Many Customers Missed Kaspersky UltraAV Notice

Kaspersky apparently had sent an email two weeks earlier alerting users to the upcoming change (image below). However, that email said UltraAV would be contacting users with information on how to activate their new account; it said nothing of the abrupt switch that actually occurred.

The change comes about 10 days before a Biden Administration U.S. ban on Kaspersky products and services is set to take effect, and two months after Kaspersky announced it was winding down operations.

Kaspersky posted a note on the change in its forums, but that came two days after the update that many users didn’t know was coming.

UltraAV also posted a webpage and FAQ on the transition. UltraAV is owned by the Pango Group, which also owns a number of VPN and security solutions, along with the Comparitech website.

Some Users Report Problems with UltraAV Software

Some users reported difficulty uninstalling UltraAV after finding it on their computers, but some were able to uninstall it after using “uninstall programs” or finding the product’s uninstaller in its folder.

Much of the discussion centered around which AV product users would go with next. And after finding programs on their computers that they hadn’t consented to, it’s not surprising that many are looking elsewhere.

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