Affiliate disclosure
Threat Guard is funded by affiliate commission. This page sets out exactly how that works, so that you can weigh everything else on the site knowing where the money comes from.
The arrangement, in plain terms
The publisher, CC Imports s.r.o., participates in an affiliate programme covering the consumer security product TotalAV. Links from this site to that product carry a tracking identifier belonging to the publisher. If you follow such a link to the vendor's website and subsequently subscribe there, the vendor — or the affiliate network acting for it — pays the publisher a commission.
Two consequences follow, and both matter to you:
- You pay nothing extra. The price at the vendor's checkout is the vendor's own price, and it is the same whether you arrive through our link, through a search result, or by typing the address by hand. The commission is paid by the vendor out of the sale, not added to it.
- You are under no obligation to use the link. Nothing on this site is withheld from readers who do not. There is no gated content, no registration, and no part of the six-step path that requires a purchase.
What the commission does not influence
This is the part worth stating precisely rather than in general terms.
It does not change what the pages say. The educational material was written to be correct and useful first. Substantial parts of it — the whole of step two, which sets out the protection already built into your devices, and step five, which covers measures that cost nothing — point readers towards not spending money at all. None of that is softened because of the arrangement.
It does not buy a rating or a ranking. There are none on this site. We publish no scores, no detection rates and no "best of" tables, because we run no tests and would have nothing to base them on. What step three provides is a set of comparison criteria, written so that they work for vendors we earn nothing from.
It does not determine order. The site is a sequence of six steps in learning order. There is no list of products in which a paying vendor could be placed higher.
It does not affect price or availability for you. We do not negotiate, offer or advertise discounts, and we publish no prices, because pricing is the vendor's and changes.
What does determine the content
Three things, in this order. First, whether a reader in Australia would actually need the information: every page answers a question somebody types. Second, whether we can state it accurately without inventing a source — which is why claims about risk, law or regulators link to the Australian body responsible, and why product specifics are left to the vendor's own pages. Third, the sequence: a step exists where it does because the step before it is needed to understand it.
Commercial value plays no part in that list. The trade-off we accept is a narrow commercial scope, disclosed rather than disguised: one arrangement, one product, said plainly everywhere it appears.
How paid links are marked
Wherever a paid link appears, three things are true of it:
- A short note immediately beside it says that it is paid and who pays.
- The link is marked in the page's code with
rel="sponsored nofollow noopener", which is the standard way of declaring a paid link to search engines and other automated readers. - It points directly at the destination, opens in a new tab, and is not routed through a redirect on this domain. Hovering over it shows you where it goes before you click.
Beyond that, a disclosure box appears near the top of the home page, above the first paid link on the site, in ordinary body text rather than small print.
The link itself
For completeness, the same link that appears elsewhere on the site is repeated here, marked in the same way.
Paid link. Threat Guard receives a commission from the vendor if you subscribe after following it. Your price is unaffected, and the link opens the vendor's own website in a new tab.
What we do not do to earn the commission
- We do not tell you that your device is at risk, infected, or unprotected. We could not know, and no honest page claims to.
- We do not simulate scans, display fabricated alerts, or imitate the appearance of your operating system.
- We do not manufacture urgency with countdowns, expiring offers or stock counters.
- We do not publish testimonials, reviews or quotations from readers, because we have none that are real.
- We do not present this site as the vendor's, or as an official, authorised or endorsed source. It is not.
- We do not collect your details, sell them, or hand anything to the vendor. There is no form on this site to collect anything with.
Your rights as a consumer in Australia
Buying through an affiliate link does not change your position with the vendor in any way: the contract is between you and them, and the Australian Consumer Law applies to the supply as it otherwise would. Consumer guarantees, and the prohibition on misleading or deceptive conduct, are explained by the ACCC. Refunds, cancellations and subscription disputes are matters for the vendor in the first instance; keep the confirmation email and the plan page you purchased from.
Changes to this disclosure
If the arrangement changes — another vendor added, the current one ended, or a different form of funding introduced — this page is updated in the same change that puts the new arrangement live, not afterwards, and the effective date above changes with it. Questions about any of this can go to info@threat-guard.site.
TotalAV and all other product names, logos and brands mentioned on this site are the property of their respective owners. Threat Guard is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any of them.