Computer Realm

Company - Kaspersky Labs

Brief Summary – Has developed steadily and could now be called the best Anti Virus software with the highest detection rate.

General Ratings:

• Interface – 5/5
• Ease of use – 5/5
• Memory Usage – 4/5
• Popularity – 4/5
• Price(~$40.00) – 4/5
• No. of bugs – 5/5

Application specific ratings:

• Full Scan duration(90 – 180 minutes) – 3/5
• Memory usage while scanning – 2/5
• Virus detection rate – 5/5
• Updates – 5/5
• Security\Backup Measures – 5/5

Rating Description:

• Interface

Excellent interface. Features a stylish appearance like most anti virus software, and supports other preferences like transparency as well. Contains a tab-based interface aligned to the left.

• Ease of use

Uses simple terms which speaks for themselves, barely contains any tool-tip text. Contains a few technical terms in the program options, which are clearly explained in the user manual though.

• Memory usage

Does not take much memory, slows down the booting up of the computer a bit as it takes time to load (version 7 upwards only)

[For memory usage during scanning, scroll down]

• Popularity

Has gained a considerable amount of popularity during recent times though still falls short compared to other anti virus giants like Norton and McAfee.

• Price

While $40 may not be the cheapest, it provides many features that no other anti virus can offer which makes the program worth its money.

• No. of bugs

Like most anti virus programs Kaspersky too contains barely any bugs.

• Full scan duration

While 90 to 180 minutes may seem like a long time, comparatively to other Anti Virus programs it is quite a small duration. This may be one of the aspects that Kaspersky may have to work on though.

• Memory usage while scanning

Other programs can hardly function while a scan is taking place whether it’s typing a word document or even playing an audio track, and so it is not advisable to enable options like scanning on startup. This is one of the main drawbacks of the program.

• Virus detection rate

Based on other online sources and individual assessment Kaspersky Anti-Virus may have earned its reputation as the anti-virus with the best detection rate. Apart from having an excellent detection rate, it also supports heuristic protection to prevent supposed viruses which haven’t been discovered yet to invade into the system.

• Updates

Updates are available everyday from the Kaspersky servers so you can be guaranteed that you are protected even from the latest threats. One weak point here is the speed of their servers, it supports a comparatively slow download rate so it is best advised that you update the signatures\definitions everyday or you’ll have to wait quite some time before the update is complete.

• Security\Backup

Supports various backup features, by storing backups of deleted files, creating a rescue disk to recover data incase your computer is virtually destroyed by a virus and even backing up your previously updated definitions incase the latest updates are corrupted.

Other details:

Disk Space required:

Installer - ~25MB

Installed Directory - ~20MB

Overall (5/5):

While the program may contain a few drawbacks, the main feature (detection rate) is what is required in an anti virus application and therefore Kaspersky anti virus stands as one of the best Anti Virus application currently available.

Visit the Kaspersky Anti Virus Home Page

[Edited - Jan 22 2008]

Popularity: 14% [?]

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