Archive | Product Reviews
The final report on antivirus products sees me looking at Avast.
Avast Antivirus
As per most antivirus packages these days, Avast offers the standard array of protections.
These include protection from Trojan horses, worms, spyware and spam.
Easy Installation
Like AVG, there is also a free personal use version of Avast antivirus.
Installation is easy - simply download from their site and run the installation wizard which will give you a simple, yet functional, array of protections from the word go.
Free Updates
The installation process is automatic. When it completes, you can register your product in order to receive free updates for a period of one year.
If for any reason you choose not to register Avast you can still benefit from free use for a period of 60 days.
Interface
Avast’s interface is quite deceptive - it looks simple and lightweight and yet it is still quite functional.
With the ability to customise, or ’skin’, the interface I found myself wondering why other antivirus manufacturers can’t offer something similar?
Avast can deal with 7 tasks at a time, such as Instant Messaging, Mail, Web Shield, Standard Shield and Outlook too.
These various shields provide protection from viruses and spyware etc, especially the Web Shield.
Speed-wise, I found Avast to be incredibly slow the first time I booted my computer after installation. However, after that it appeared to be just as smooth as any other alternative I had tried.
The next antivirus product I’m looking at is a long-time favourite of mine, McAfee.
McAfee Antivirus
One of the best known manufacturers of antivirus products is McAfee.
As any good antivirus product should be, it is equipped to deal with the spread of viruses, be they from emails or any other avenues. McAfee also deals with worms quite effectively.
Awards
Using McAfee is as easy as any other antivirus program I have ever used.
The default settings offer adequate protection without any tweaking required. This security covers aspects such as Trojans, worms, viruses, Java applets and even Active X controls.
Additionally, McAfee also offers a privacy service, firewall and email spam killer.
Last year McAfee antivirus won two prestigious awards - the VB100% award and the ICSA award, both for the field of detection of viruses.
New Definitions
McAfee is constantly updated with new virus definitions, as and when they are discovered.
This ensures that your system is quickly updated in order to stave off new threats.
The Antivirus Team
McAfee employs an Antivirus team who constantly remain on the lookout for new viruses and other threats which may pose a risk to your system.
If you have specific questions, or need help, then they can be contacted by various means, such as email, or by sending documents or by telephone.
However, it should be noted that the email response team can take up to as long as 5 days to issue a reply.
Alternatives
If you are looking for information on other antivirus products then you may be interested in the following -
Third up in my series of reports on antivirus products is Panda.
Panda Antivirus
Panda is an antivirus product from Panda Security SA who were formerly known as Panda Software.
Like most of it’s competition, it deals with the detection of viruses and spyware. Panda also offer their own firewall and spam filter.
Easy Setup
Like AVG, the setup process for Panda is fairly straightforward and quick.
The required user interaction is fairly minimal and so the chances of making any mistakes are small.
Performance-wise, I found Panda to be on a par with Norton 2008. In other words, scanning took place in the background and wasn’t particularly intrusive.
Personally, I am using a dual core machine and that may have made a difference, though I couldn’t be sure if Panda was utilising both cores or only one (I had other applications running at the same time).
Like virtually all other antivirus products, Panda has an automatic update system and informs the user when updates have been actioned, in addition to recommending when scans should be performed.
User Required
One slight annoyance I had with Panda was that I wasn’t able to get it to automatically scan emails.
I may have missed something of course, but having to manually scan incoming mail was a task I could have done without.
Telephone Support
Panda antivirus is one of the cheaper alternatives on the market and, despite the issue I had with email scanning, seems to be reasonably effective.
One point to note, however, is that the company’s telephone support line is free, but only for the first 30 days after registration.
Following that, calls are charged and this is an expense you will need to factor in, depending upon how often you think you may require such support.
In the second of the series of posts I am writing about antivirus programs I am looking at AVG antivirus.
Yesterday I wrote about Norton antivirus 2008 and, previously, I wrote about Kaspersky.
AVG
Like Norton, AVG is another well known brand of antivirus.
Perhaps one of the biggest draws of AVG is the fact that there is a completely free version which offers great functionality.
The latest version of AVG antivirus has been updated to offer quicker scanning speeds in addition to the new AVG anti spyware.
Multi-core
AVG happily runs in both Windows Vista and Windows XP.
Additionally, it has been coded to take advantage of the latest processors which offer more than one core.
User Friendly
The version of AVG antivirus that I have used saves on time as its programs are automatically managed in the background and do not require constant attention, though there is a need for minimal configuration when it is first installed.
Resident Shield
AVG antivirus, produced by AVG technologies, formerly known as Grisoft, comes with several scanners -
- a rootkit scanner
- a spyware scanner
- a scanner to check email
- a scanner called Resident Shield for when you are surfing online
- a scanner to check any plugins for browsers
AVG antivirus updates at regular intervals of 4 hours.
After each such update the user can find out which version they are using, in addition to the time and date of the last update that was actioned. The software also notifies the time of the next scheduled update.
Quick Installation
Installing AVG antivirus was simple and took way less than 10 minutes, including running all the updates.
Whilst there is a superior paid version, the free edition of AVG is, I would imagine, good enough for the typical home user.
In fact, the free version of AVG is the antivirus program that I have installed on my childrens’ computers.
This week I will be taking a look at several of the anti-virus packages currently available.
This will include some of the better known ones, as well as free alternatives.
Norton Antivirus
Norton antivirus is one of the most popular home consumer products used for the detection of viruses and safeguarding of computer systems.
Over the years, Norton has evolved into one of the most effective and robust antivirus systems used in the detection of new viruses and in recent years they have added the ability to detect Trojan horses, worms and spyware onto their feature list.
The main benefit of the latest 2008 version of Norton antivirus is that it seems to operate much quicker than previous versions.
Unlike previous versions, the new 2008 version enables the opening of several tasks in a single window by using the tabs.
Rootkit
One of the more important features of Norton 2008 is the Rootkit protection.
This detects and eliminates all sorts of elements which may pose a threat to the operating system.
There are also other features which include detection, blocking and removal of virus infected emails and instant messages and, also, the ability to perform a full scan of the system in order to allow detection of any other threats.
The 2008 has been further enhanced with the ability to detect dangerous codes ahead of virus definitions becoming available.
Browser Defender
Norton 2008 also has another feature, known as Browser Defender, which protects the user’s browser from being affected whilst downloading files.
This also ensures the safety of all personal computers which are networked with that machine.
Uninstall
One slight drawback that I found with Norton is that it didn’t install cleanly when I had another antivirus package already installed.
This isn’t a major problem, however, as I think it unlikely that many people would run more than one antivirus program at any given time.
Loading ...
Saturday, June 28, 2008
8 Comments