Over the last few weeks I have been looking for new Antivirus + Antispyware Software. I was previously using ESET Security which included a software firewall. Recently I started having issues with the firewall portion of ESET. Tried for awhile to work with support to address the issue but kept getting canned responses, and since my subscription to update for ESET was expiring, it was time to move on.
What am I looking for in a Antivirus + Antispyware software?
- It needs to not effect my normal pc performance when playing wow or running other apps.
- Needs to actually remove what is finds. Had issue with ESET finding some malware and it quarantined it but wouldn't remove it.
- Needs to have good licensing options, plan to put it on my 2 home pc's and my 1 laptop.
Trend Micro Antivirus + Antispyware 2009
First tried trend micro since we are moving to them at work, figured I would give it a try. Install went fine and setup was easy, but the first initial scan took almost 3 hours. The user interface was nicely laid out well, and was easy to understand and find setting. Ran Trend for 4 days, it never alerted about finding anything. Full scans where slow but I never had any issues with slow downs while running other apps. Other than the slow full scans, it all worked well. Licensing is an issue thou, would have to just buy 3 separate licenses at $40 a pc, no discounts for multiple licenses.
VIPRE Antivirus + Antispyware 2009
Vipre seemed to have many good reviews, even thou I had issue using Sunbelt Antispyware at work, I figured I would give it a try. Install went smoothly and it found the left over's of my malware ESET has detected. It was able to remove the malware, which was a nice surprise. The interface was nice looking but not functional, and was very slow even if it worked. A full scan took about 50 minutes, which was similar to ESET. But I soon started to have many issues with Vipre. First when I tried to right click the tray icon and open the Vipre interface, it took forever to load the interface, 2-3 minutes of the splash screen just sitting there. Many times it would never come up and the tray icon would disappear. Vipre was still running in the background, just the tray part was dead. Even after restarting sometimes the tray icon was just plain missing. Noticed a few slow downs when loading large apps, outlook, wow, etc.. Vipre has the best licensing option of all the antivirus + Antispyware I tried, $30 and you can install it on up to 10 PCs. But after 2 days of issue I removed it, to many issues.
BitDefender Antivirus 2009
BitDefender was a long install, and after the initial install I had to do a repair to get it to work. Not sure what the issue was but was fixed pretty quick with a repair. BitDefender has some unique options other didn’t, a game mode and family network protection (which basically allows you to manage multiple pc’s BitDefender settings, scans, etc.. via one pc. Bit defender has a great interface, although some of the options had little to no explanation as to what exactly they did, and many option seemed to be turned off by default. Full scan took about 45 minutes, found nothing. The game mode appears to turn off active scanning and disable alerts from popping up. Not sure if I would really want to turn off active scanning, even while playing a game. But I tried game mode and had nothing but problems. Every hour is would pop me out of the game, it wouldn’t show any pop up but the update times corresponded to my game minimizing. Tried it with game mode turned off and it ran fine. So game mode didn’t help any. didn’t try the family network protection, since I didn’t want this on more than one pc to test. Licensing was a good price 3 pc’s for $30, but game mode not adding any value, I figured I would try others.
Panda Antivirus Pro 2009
Didn’t try Panda, it comes with personal firewall and I have opted to avoid a personal firewall this time.
Norton Antivirus 2009 and McAfee Virus Scan Plus 2009
Didn’t even try Norton or McAfee, have used Norton and McAfee many times over the years, have never been a pleasant experience
CA Anti-Virus 2009
Didn’t try, read no good reviews, was always at the bottom of the list.
Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2009
Kaspersky was quick install, had no issues. The first full scan took about 1 hour but I found out that Kaspersky has a really cool feature that other don’t. It looks for security vulnerabilities in out of date and non-patch software. It only found a few issues, flash out of date, Firefox out of date, and a few others but this was a very welcome surprise. The interface is pretty straight forward and some of the logging and reporting is full of information but can be a little tricky to navigate. Everything seems to work quickly thou and the overall user interface could be a little prettier, but a working interface is good. Licensing is higher then others but still cheaper than buy 3 copies of other software. Licensing for 3 pc’s is $70.
Winner: Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2009
If there are any other Antivirus + Antispyware Software you think I should try please leave a comment and I may give it a try.