For those who came in late the US government warned that Kaspersky was too close to Russian spooks and was a security threat. It failed to provide any proof for its reasoning other than “it's because it is Russian, and we say so.”

The US government had pursued a similar line with the Chinese telco Huawei claiming that it was a security problem when its only crime appeared to be making cheaper gear than American companies. Kaspersky forcibly uninstalled and replaced itself with a new antivirus called UltraAV on the computers of around a million Americans. Many were surprised and aghast that they were not asked to consent to the change.

That should have been the end of Kaspersky’s US operation but it appears that some Americans have found ways to get around the ban and are still using Kaspersky's antivirus.

According to Reddit posts, they are holding out as Kaspersky customers partly because they are sceptical of the reasons behind the ban or have paid for the product already to simply prefer it over its rivals. 

One wonders what would have happened had Kaspersky not uninstalled its software and let users make up their minds.