I have recently discovered what I consider to be the best Anti-Virus program for Vista and XP. It’s Kaspersky AntiVirus 7.0 and it’s available as a download from their website for $59.95.
Kaspersky has consistently been rated the highest in virus detection and removal by various anti-virus testing companies and independent testers. The most important things to me when looking for anti-virus are 1) low system resource usage and 2) high detection rates. For this reason, I do not approve of Symantec products. They are system resource hogs. Here’s Kaspersky only using 5MB of my memory while running in the background doing its job.
Another great feature is the settings. You can change the scan intensity of each type of scan ranging from High Speed, Optimal, and Maximum. You can change the intensity for the four types of main scans including Critical Areas, My Computer, Startup Objects, and Rootkits. I find it very useful to have the Rootkit scan and the Startup object scan because they are not offered in other programs and they probably the most effective at preventing infections.
Below is the Scan page where you can choose what scans to perform, customize scan settings and locations, and create a rescue disk.
The updates are another major difference between Kaspersky and other AV products. Kaspersky pushes hourly updates which will be downloaded and automatically installed every few hours. I love this.
The reports section will let you view your virus history, quarantine, events, and backup. This is a nice interface for viewing what has happened to your computer and how Kaspersky has dealt with it.
The activation page will let you view your license key and purchase a license key if you need to.
The support page will give you detailed information about your program and OS. It will also allow you to receive web support from the online knowledge base.
Another fantastic feature of Kaspersky is the proactive defense it provides. Not only can Kaspersky detect viruses, it can prevent them from entering your machine and from doing damage as well. It does this through application monitoring, behavioral analysis, and heuristics.
Now I will include a few links to some resources regarding Kaspersky. But first here’s the main features from the website:
Premium Protection
The Best Anti-Virus Protection
- Ranked #1 for anti-virus detection*
- The industry’s fastest response time to new
- Internet threats**
- Standard automated hourly anti-virus updates
(Tiny at ~50 Kb each!) - The most monthly updates available!†
- Real-time e-mail, file and web scanning
for safe surfing
Robust Spyware Protection
- #1 in spyware & adware detection†
- Prevents rootkits and keyloggers from stealing
personal data - Automatically removes hidden spyware
- Detects unauthorized activity & probes
- Blocks unwanted pop-ups & banners
Impressive System Performance
- The least processor, memory and bandwidth resources required††
- Rapid iSwiftT and iCheckerT virus scanning for accelerated performance
- Automatic balancing of scan speeds with increased user activity
- Ideal for instant messaging and WiFi
Minimize Any Downtime
- Easy-to-create rescue disk instantly restores your system if damaged
- Rapidly rollback any malicious changes including restoring encrypted data
Here’s some reputable testing companies and their AV test results:
CNET (NOTE – On the user ratings page of CNET, there is a user who I believe is spamming the site with poor reviews of the product. There is no evidence that I can find that lends support to the idea that Kaspersky destroys hard drives.)
