Kaspersky

Kaspersky

TopTenREVIEWS - Silver Award - Awarded for excellence in design, useability and feature setKaspersky Antivirus is a top of the line program that offers all the protection you will need. With low scan times and high detection rates, as well as an interface that can't be beat, Kaspersky Antivirus is our "TopTenREVIEWS Silver Award" winner.

Ease of Use:
In the past, Kaspersky had issues with their interface and the ease of use associated with it. They have listened to their customers over the years and changed the interface to rival others on the market. Now, simplicity is key within Kaspersky Antivirus. Kaspersky's main menu screen is split into different sections depending on what you would like to accomplish. Protection, Scan, Update, Reports and Data Files, and Support are listed on the left side of the screen with the options pertaining to each in a sub menu or on the right-hand side of the screen. There are also advanced options available through a settings option at the bottom of the screen.


Effectiveness:
Kaspersky Antivirus is one of the most advanced products on the market for virus scanning. Its on-access scanner is extremely fast and doesn't cause any noticeable slowdown of the computer while performing regular tasks such as browsing the web or writing documents or even higher end tasks such as transferring and moving files. The on-demand scanner within Kaspersky Antivirus is very fast as well. Another plus with Kaspersky is its light footprint on your system resources. Memory usage is minimal during the on access scanning times as well as on demand scanning. During a system scan, we noticed about 55MB of memory usage on average with up to 30% CPU usage.


Updates:
Kaspersky Antivirus checks for updates every hour by default. There are other programs out there that also do this but Kaspersky takes it to a new level because of the speed that they respond to outbreaks and release updates. If there is a major outbreak, Kaspersky Labs has an average update release time of less than 2 hours. This is the fastest of any antivirus company at this time.


Feature Set:

Features included with Kaspersky Antivirus are some of the most complete in the market. Beyond protecting your files and email from viruses, Kaspersky Labs took this a step further. They included a scanner that will check all the web pages you visit for viruses as well. This feature is especially useful for people that use Internet Explorer as their web browser due to the history of security holes related to viruses in the Internet cache your computer stores.

Kaspersky Antivirus also includes a registry protector called Registry Guard. This will prevent any unwanted changes to your computer registry.

We were especially impressed with the reporting features included with Kaspersky Antivirus. There are reports available for each scan that is done as well as "live" reports that are generated on the fly for several portions of the program that are scanning all the time.

Ease of Installation:
The installation of Kaspersky Antivirus is extremely simple and posed no problems for us. A single reboot was required to complete the installation.


Help/Support:
Kaspersky Labs offers several support options to help keep your system in top shape. Direct email support, support forums, phone support as well as an impressive FAQ are all available.


Summary:
Antivirus programs are a dime a dozen. Kaspersky makes nearly all of them look like a futile attempt at hanging with the big dogs. Many times Kaspersky has been awarded certification from top organizations such as ICSA and WCL, as well as receiving the TopTenREVIEWS Silver award multiple times. What this all comes down to is that the hard work Kaspersky puts into their products provides us with some of the most elite protection available. Whether you are just a novice or are dining with the digital elite, Kaspersky Antivirus is a great choice to protect your computer from the dark side of the Internet.