Scope of Protection:  

Kaspersky Antivirus offers comprehensive protection to your system. It can protect your PC against most kinds of malware and security threats including virus, spyware, bots, worms Trojans and most other kinds of intrusions. It has the ability to give quick alerts to threat status and easy access to key features of the antivirus program through the desktop gadget. It provides protection against email malware and against websites that try to gain unauthorized access to the system. This software has a unique self protection feature which prevents itself from being disabled, thus ensuring 24/7 protection.

It scans, detects and updates your system to offer a high degree of protection from potential as well as potent, real threats. There are small but frequent updates to ensure that your protective shield is up and ready to fight at all times. The automated protection it offers also includes scanning websites for malicious codes that can affect your system as well as keeping your digital identity safe.

This antivirus cans also tells you how vulnerable your system is against attacks and offers treatment and advice on the topic. The URL Advisor is available for Internet Explorer and Firefox and ensures that you are warned about infected sites. With the Kaspersky antivirus 2012 you are also protected from phishing.

Yet another area where the Kaspersky antivirus 2012 differs from the 2011 version is in its new interface. The design has been change in order to make the interface much more user friendly. The reviews across tech blogs seem to indicate that the company has succeeded in this mission.

Feature Set

• Cloud-Based Detection - Just like its many competitors, when upgraded Kaspersky antivirus 2012 employs the cloud-based detection system. The data is sent to the Kaspersky servers. It is then subjected to both manual as well as automatic checks and processes to figure out whether the data is safe for your computer or not.
• Scanning - The program uses iChecker and iSwift technologies to protect your system. iSwift ensures that the Kaspersky 2012 uses your systems resources optimally. If the system is idle, iSwift will ensure that the scan runs faster. However, if you are using your system, the scans will slow down so that they do not intrude into your working. With iChecker, scanning happens only for those files that have been opened since the last scan was done. This means that the Kaspersky 2012 can speed up its performance.
• System Watcher - It basically monitors and logs all activity. You are immediately informed if there is any suspicious behavior. It enables your system to undo any damage caused by malware that might have slipped in.
• Widgets - As the name suggests, the desktop widgets gives you quick and easy access to all the functions of this antivirus. Files can be dragged and dropped to the gadget for a quick scan. The widget also changes color if there is any change in your security status. The gadget can be disabled if you feel it adds to the desktop clutter. The virtual keyboard can be used to enter sensitive passwords in order to prevent information from leaking to keyloggers. It is a good idea to use this facility while entering credit card information or banking passwords.

Effectiveness:  

While doing Kaspersky antivirus review we observed, the overall impact on system performance is kept to a bare minimum. The impact on system speed is just 1%, which is quite good. Kaspersky takes around half an hour to scan a 120 GB hard disk, which is efficient, as anything less than one hour is considered as good speed. Kaspersky uses 22.3 MB of memory and 641 MB of hard disk space. When evaluated through a test situation, the software added 22.9 seconds to reboot time. It performed an initial scan at the speed of 26.1 MB/s and subsequent scans at speeds of 213.3 MB/s. In general, the antivirus software does not have any noticeable impact on the overall system performance and speed.

It cleans up a good percentage of malware. It is also good at blocking brand new unidentified malware. Its proactive defense analyzes and blocks even unidentified and unlisted viruses and other threats. The on-demand and on-access scan speeds are above average. The Kaspersky System Monitor component actively monitors all activity in real time. If it detects any suspicious activity, it stops the process and alerts the user. The software is effective in detecting most kinds of security threats and it can even rollback the system after detecting and removing any malware that manages to access any process. This rollback feature helps it neutralize any changes made by the malware to sensitive system files.

AV Comparatives, a major independent test lab, recently gave Kaspersky Antivirus two of three stars for the on-demand test and three of three stars for the proactive test. It has also received the VB100 award, given to antivirus softwares for detecting all ?in the wild? viruses. West Coast Labs has accredited Kaspersky antivirus with Checkmark Antivirus Desktop Certification too.

Ease Of Use:  

This software has been traditionally geared towards expert users, but in recent years, it has implemented a neat user interface and the ease of use factor has also greatly improved, proving to be less intimidating to the lay user. New version has a neat interface, with color coded security alerts and a simple navigation tab on the left. Its antivirus runs silently in the background, with minimal impact on system speed if you leave it with the default settings. If you want to personalize the application, the software offers several tools for customization. Scans and updates are set to occur automatically at regular intervals, but you can also change the settings according to your preference. In fact you can customize just about every component of the application.

The Child Control feature gives you control over what sites your kids should be allowed or not allowed to access. This feature can also create a log of your child?s surfing activities, so that you can monitor whether they are accessing any undesirable sites. There is also a Teenage feature that gives you more precise control. The iChecker and iSwift features work to streamline the application?s usage of resources. The iChecker feature monitors file access activities and scans only those files that have been changed, thus increasing scan speeds. The iSwift option monitors system activities and throttles or frees up resources in order to optimize system performance.

Ease Of Installation :  

It has a file size of 110 MB. You can also purchase the box copy, and this will grant you three licenses. It works on desktops, laptops and net-books equally effectively. If you already have a security suite installed on your system, using Kaspersky Antivirus would require you to uninstall the same and reboot before proceeding. If this is a first install or your previous Kaspersky License has expired, you would be prompted to enter the Activation Code for the installation process to proceed. Installation is an easy process. It is better to use the default Regular Install option as this will install all the required components.

You can choose whether you want to install the Anonymous Data Collection feature. This feature allows the application to collect system data, with no personally identifying details. This collected data is used to analyze and detect new threats and thus make the software more effective in identifying unknown malware.

Review Summary  

• Pros - Kaspersky Antivirus offers great security features and protection. The product is effective in blocking most malware. The Safe-Surf and Parental control features have been nicely implemented, and add value to the program. The User Interface has also been greatly streamlined so that the software is very easy to use. The System Monitor is another noteworthy feature. This component actively watches over and analyzes system activity and if it detects any aberration, stops the process responsible for the problem. It then alerts the user about which process caused the problem and after dealing with the issue, even provides an option for system rollback to counteract any changes made by the malware.
• Cons - Kaspersky can be a bit pricey compared to its competitors. Some of the features can still be hard to access in the User Interface.

Bottomline -You don?t get better than this. It is simple enough for a novice user and has enough customizable features to satisfy an advanced user. It is effective enough to satisfy all users in terms of the security features that it provides.

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