Polaris NetworkAntivirus guidance for Australia

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TotalAV: overview and what to check

What the vendor states, what it does not state, and the questions an Australian buyer should settle before subscribing.

Read this first

Polaris Network has a commercial arrangement with TotalAV. The link on this page is a paid link: if you follow it and go on to subscribe, the publisher is paid a commission by the advertising network that placed it. You pay the vendor's ordinary price, and following the link adds nothing to it. That arrangement is the reason this page exists, and it is the first thing you should weigh when reading it. The disclosure page sets out the full terms.

This is not the official TotalAV site, and Polaris Network is not a reseller, partner or authorised source for the product. Anything binding — prices, plan contents, licence limits, terms — comes from the vendor, not from here.

What the vendor states

TotalAV is consumer antivirus and device-security software, sold on a subscription basis. The vendor offers applications for desktop computers running Windows, macOS and Linux; for mobile devices running Android, iOS and Windows; and for tablets running iOS, Android and Windows. The product is available to customers in Australia.

That is the extent of what this page states about the product itself, and the restraint is deliberate. Everything else a buyer needs — which plan includes what, what it costs in AUD in the first term and at renewal, how many devices a given plan covers, the refund window, the support hours — is set by the vendor, changes without notice, and differs between markets. A third-party page that reproduces those values is wrong as soon as they move, and the reader has no way of knowing when that happened.

What this page deliberately does not tell you

No prices. No discount percentages. No detection rates, laboratory scores or performance benchmarks. No ranking against other products. No claim that the product is the best, the most secure, or suitable for you, because that depends on the requirement you wrote down and not on anything visible from here. Where a fact would need to come from testing this site has not done, the page says nothing rather than borrowing a number.

Questions to answer on the vendor's site

Work through these in order, with your device sheet from the planning page beside you. Each one is answerable in a few minutes on the vendor's own pages or in its account and billing terms, and together they constitute the whole purchase decision.

  • How many devices does the specific plan cover, and does a phone count the same as a computer? Compare that number against your sheet, not against the household.
  • What does the application do on each platform you need? Desktop and mobile versions of any security product differ, because mobile operating systems restrict what applications may inspect. Read the mobile description separately rather than assuming the desktop capability carries over.
  • What is the first-term price in AUD, and what is the renewal price? Record both, with the term length for each. Calculate the three-year total.
  • Does the subscription renew automatically, and how is that switched off? Find the setting before you buy, not after.
  • What is the refund window, and what conditions apply? Note the number of days and where the clock starts.
  • How is support contacted, and during what hours? Convert the published hours into Australian Eastern time and decide whether that works for your household.
  • How is a licence slot released when a device is replaced? This matters at the moment you buy a new laptop, which is the worst moment to be finding out.
  • What is in the plan above and the plan below? The tier difference is often a single feature, and often one you do not need.

Take a screenshot of the plan page and the terms at the moment of purchase. If a representation later turns out not to match what was delivered, that screenshot is the record you will rely on.

Buying from Australia

A consumer in Australia buying software from an overseas vendor still has the benefit of the consumer guarantees under the Australian Consumer Law, which apply to goods and services supplied to Australian consumers and cannot be contracted out of. In broad terms, what is supplied must match the description it was sold under and be fit for the purpose it was represented as serving. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission publishes the detail, including what to do when a business does not resolve a complaint.

Three practical points follow for an overseas subscription. Pay attention to the currency shown at checkout, since a price presented in another currency may attract a conversion fee from your card issuer. Note the time zone of the support hours. And keep the invoice, because a chargeback or a complaint is far easier with documentation than without it.

If something goes wrong

  1. Contact the vendor first

    Use the support route inside the software or on the vendor's own website. Never use a support telephone number found through a search engine or an advertisement; impersonating technical support is a long-running scam pattern, and Scamwatch publishes current examples of how it is run.

  2. Put it in writing

    If a phone call does not resolve it, follow up by email so there is a record of what was said and when.

  3. Escalate if it is not resolved

    The ACCC's site explains the escalation routes for consumer complaints, including the consumer affairs or fair trading body in your state or territory. If the issue concerns an unauthorised charge, your bank or card issuer is also a route.

  4. Report anything that looks like a scam

    Reports go to Scamwatch, run by the National Anti-Scam Centre. Cyber incidents such as account takeover can be reported through the Australian Cyber Security Centre. Reporting does not recover money by itself, but it is what makes patterns visible.

Before you install anything

Whichever product a household settles on, three checks belong before the installer runs. Confirm what is already running, because a second real-time scanner alongside an existing one causes conflicts rather than doubling the cover, and decide which of the two you are keeping. Confirm the operating system is up to date, since an unpatched machine undermines whatever is installed on top of it. And confirm there is a backup of anything you would mind losing, kept somewhere the computer cannot write to automatically, because no scanner is a substitute for a copy of your files. The Australian Cyber Security Centre covers all three in its guidance for individuals and families.

Whether it suits you

This site will not answer that, and is not in a position to. A subscription suits a household when it covers the devices on their sheet, at a renewal price they accept, on terms they can leave, with support they can reach. Those four conditions are checkable, and they are checkable only against the vendor's current pages and your own requirement. A product page written by someone paid to link to the product — this one included — is not the place that question gets settled.

What this page can do is make sure you ask the right things before you decide.

Visit the TotalAV website

Paid link. Polaris Network is paid a commission by the advertising network if you subscribe after following it. Your price is the vendor's ordinary price and is not affected by the link.

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