About Vertex Portal

Vertex Portal is a free, seven-lesson course on antivirus software for households in New Zealand. This page explains who publishes it, how it is written, and how we decide what it covers.

Who publishes this site

Vertex Portal is published by BIEN CHEZ SOI PLOMBERIE, a company registered in France. Its full details are:

The lessons are written and maintained by the BIEN CHEZ SOI PLOMBERIE editorial team. We do not attach individual names to pages, and we do not present ourselves as a security laboratory, a news organisation or a government service.

What the site is for

The aim is to help someone with no technical background understand antivirus software well enough to make their own decision about it. That includes the decision not to buy anything. The course begins with what antivirus does and what devices already include, and only later discusses kinds of paid product, because we think that order produces better decisions.

We have tried to write every lesson so that it would still be useful if the paid link were removed. Most of the course is about settings, habits and consumer rights that apply whatever product you use.

How we decide what to cover, and in what order

We want to be precise about this, because it affects how you should read the site.

• The order of the lessons follows a teaching sequence: understanding first, then what you already have, then whether you need more, then practical steps and rights. It is not ordered by commercial interest.
• Kinds of product, not rankings. Lesson four compares built-in protection, free products, paid antivirus and suites as categories. We do not rank products against each other, because we do not run tests and have no evidence on which to base a ranking.
• Our commercial scope is narrow. We have an affiliate arrangement for one product, Norton AntiVirus Plus. It is the only paid third-party product named on the site, and it is named because of that arrangement. Other paid products are not covered, and that is a limitation of this site, not a judgement that they are worse.
• Built-in protection is described because readers need it. Microsoft, Apple and Google are mentioned for their built-in protection because no fair decision can be made without knowing about it. We have no commercial relationship with any of them.

The details of the affiliate arrangement are on the affiliate disclosure page.

How we handle facts and sources

When a lesson states something specific about the law, a regulator, or how a device works, it links to the organisation that published that information, such as a government agency, a legislation website or the device maker's own documentation. The aim is that you can always check the source yourself rather than taking our word for it.

When something is general guidance rather than a checkable fact, we try to phrase it that way. For product details, we use only information the vendor or affiliate network has given us, and where we do not have reliable information we say so rather than filling the gap. That is why our description of the one product we link to is very short.

We do not publish test scores, ratings, testimonials or reviews from users. If you want test results, lesson four points to independent organisations that publish their methods.

What this site is not

• It is not the website of any software company, and it does not sell or distribute software.
• It is not professional security, legal or financial advice. For your specific circumstances, the organisations linked in the lessons are better placed to help.
• It cannot see, scan or check your device in any way.

Corrections and reviews

Each page is reviewed when we become aware of a change, such as an update to a device's security settings or a change in the law, and the date of the most recent review is shown in the footer. If you spot something that is wrong or out of date, please email info@vertexportal.online and tell us which page and what you noticed. We correct factual errors as soon as we can.

Your privacy on this site

The site sets no cookies, uses no analytics or advertising tags, and contains no forms. The only information involved is ordinary server logs and any email you choose to send us. The Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy explain this in full.