Last week, NortonLifeLock of the United States, the world's largest antivirus company by market share, announced its intention to merge with Avast of the Czech Republic, the world's second largest antivirus company, pending shareholder and regulatory approval. The combined company will have a whopping 25% of the global Windows antivirus market.

The news comes eight months after NortonLifeLock acquired Germany-based Avira and five years after Avast bought Czech rival AVG. A month after the Avira acquisition was completed in January of this year, Avira itself absorbed London-based antivirus maker Bulgard.

If this latest deal goes through, Norton will become the General Motors of the consumer antivirus industry, having acquired LifeLock, an industry leader in identity theft protection, in 2017.

The move could have a direct impact on consumers; Avast, AVG, and Avira are all known for their reliable free antivirus software, while Norton has no free antivirus software and charges the highest fees in the industry.

So what does this rapid consolidation mean for the free antivirus industry?

If Avira's current situation is any guide, the intended merger may not make much difference in the short term. Norton seems to have largely left Avira alone since the acquisition, and Avira has retained its own software, marketing, and even PR team.

There is little indication on Avira's website that Norton owns Avira, and the two companies still use separate malware detection engines, as evidenced by their differing lab test scores.

Similarly, avast maintains the AVG brand name and marketing, along with separate product lines, five years after the two companies merged. Avast's argument has always been that AVG is strong in areas where avast is weak, and vice versa, and that it makes sense to merge them as separate brands.

Current avast CEO Ondrej Vlcek reiterated a similar theme in the announcement of the merger with Norton, emphasizing the "greater geographic dispersion" that an "established" brand brings.

Under the surface, however, Avast and AVG's malware detection engines have been merged and, according to third-party lab tests, made better and eliminated back-office redundancies.

One has to hope for similar integration and streamlining in the new avast-AVG-Avila-Bulgard-NortonLifeLock behemoth.

One thing we don't see is the end of free anti-virus software. In some form, Avast, AVG, and Avira will still continue to offer it, but one or two brands may "retire" like the old models.

Unlike rivals Kaspersky and Bitdefender, Norton has never offered free AV software, so this deal and the Avira deal before it fill that gap.

The larger question is how long the status quo in the antivirus industry will last: the Microsoft Defender antivirus software built into Windows, once an embarrassing joke, has undergone a remarkable turnaround in the last few years and is now now one of the best antivirus programs in the industry.

Microsoft Defender still has some shortcomings.

Microsoft Defender still has some shortcomings, such as its inability to properly protect non-Microsoft web browsers. However, it can now legitimately be said to be all the antivirus software you need, unless you need additional features such as parental control software or a password manager.

So what about third-party antivirus providers? Why should they pay when they can get what they need for free from Microsoft?

Consumers do not seem to be asking these questions yet. The antivirus market is booming, with 82% of U.S. households in a recent survey reporting that they use antivirus software.

However, most major brands are rapidly adding additional features to their software, such as parental control software and password managers, that Microsoft antivirus does not immediately offer.

Norton is more advanced than any other antivirus provider in this regard, and its expensive plans also include backup software, online storage, unlimited VPN service, and complete identity theft protection. Norton has already established itself as a one-stop store for all your security and privacy needs.

With the avast acquisition and the huge market share it will bring, Norton may be trying to bulk itself up against a possible industry decline and make itself too big to fail. With five well-known brands under its belt, it would certainly be hard to avoid ...