Product Rating
Scope Of Protection:
Effectiveness:
Ease of Use:
Ease Of Installation:
Help & Support:
Vipre Antivirus Review
While doing Vipre antivirus review we found interesting information of how this product evolved, how it was branded. It is actually an offering from GFI Software. They were first developed by a company known as Sunbelt Software, which was acquired in 2010 by GFI. The full form of Vipre is Virus Intrusion Prevention Remediation Engine. Vipre is a relatively new brand in the antivirus software market. However, these products have already received some important certifications by independent testing labs across the globe, and this says much about its credibility. Vipre Antivirus 2012 is a standalone antivirus tool which is quite competent in ensuring that your PC stays clean of malware. Apt for business/professional as well as personal use, it is compatible with Windows Vista, Windows XP and Windows 7.
Scope Of Protection
Vipre Antivirus 2012 can protect your computer from a variety of hostile and unwanted programs, including viruses, spyware, adware, scareware, rootkits and keyloggers. This is made possible by the use of highly developed heuristics technologies – Genscan and Cobra – which go a long way in providing real-time protection for your PC. When you have installed the antivirus on your PC, the VIPRE schedules a complete system scan each day at 1:00 am. The VIPRE always has the latest definitions updated before the scan and hence generates a list of threats after the completion of the scan; it generally recommends the quarantine option, but it can be customized too. The best feature in the effective cleanup is that, the VIPRE doesn’t delete executable files.
The low side in the antivirus is devoid of a rootkit sample and deactivates it while carrying out its detection process. However it beats most of its counterparts in the scareware sector proving it to be a reliable product. The antivirus is incorporated with multiple layers of protection and scans every outgoing and incoming e-mail stripping out malware and blocking the URLs of fraudulent sites. It doesn’t block malware hosting websites, but runs a check through files you download from the site. If you open a folder which contains pre downloaded malware files, VIPRE immediately quarantines them before you select any option.
Feature Set
It is equipped with a set of advanced behavior-based detection tools. These behavior-based detection tools can be used by clicking on the ‘advanced’ button in the active protection settings. They analyze the behavior of programs on your computer after running them in a sterile Windows-like emulator. By doing so, they can alert you on unknown programs that are running on your computer or attempting to change things around on your computer. However, there is a possibility here that certain valid programs also get slotted in the list of unknowns. Unlike some other antivirus products, Vipre has no way of further classifying unknown programs into those that are suspicious/harmful and those that are not.
On the flip side, you do get a warning while configuring the Vipre advanced detection tools – that there is a risk of blocking valid programs as well. To save some of your valid programs, such as Windows components, from unnecessarily being slotted as ‘unknown’, it is recommended that Vipre’s advanced detection settings be allowed to remain turned off unless you are an expert. It also comes with a set of bonus tools that are disabled by default. Some of these could prove useful. The secure file eraser, for instance, overwrites and completely deletes files and folders, making it impossible to retrieve them. You can enable this feature through the ‘Tools’ section of the software. All you need to do for complete deletion of a file or folder is right click on it using the secure file eraser.
This product also has a history cleaner that helps erase your browsing history and details of recently accessed files. However, the history cleaner does not work for Google Chrome. Vipre also has a PC Explorer module which is quite useful. It identifies and lists the various locations in your PC that are often visited by malware. It also identifies these locations as safe, unknown, suspicious or hazardous. With Vipre’s unlimited home site license its antivirus software can be run on multiple computers within your home. These could include laptops and notebook computers as well. However, unlike some of the other antivirus products, Vipre does not have a built-in silent ‘gamer mode’. It doesn’t come with password protected settings either.
Latest Improvements
Improvements to the product are largely in terms of the user interface, which has been given a new look and feel. However, some reports suggest that it is still not as sleek-looking as the interfaces of its competitors. The software makes it easier to navigate on frequently accessed areas on your computer, thanks to some high-visibility buttons. Further clarity has been provided to the text matter as well. Custom scans have been made possible, where the user can set exact specifications and timings for a scan which the computer would carry out per se. There have also been improvements in terms of the antivirus engine, zero-day threat detection and real-time protection.
Compare Vipre Vs TOP Antivirus
Performance & Effectiveness
During our viper antivirus review we gauged it in terms of its ability to block malware and it is no doubt pretty efficient, although it scores slightly less than certain other well-known anti-virus products. Moreover, it is said to be better at dealing with known malware than with new types of malware. The really good part is that this antivirus software does not cause your PC to slowdown since it works on a high quality scanning mechanism. It has one of the fastest scan speeds. Vipre Antivirus 2012 also boasts of very low resource usage, even during a full-system manual scan. Moreover, there is no system drag while browsing the web or using PC applications like MS Outlook.
It detects most, if not all, of known malware. The score is high on this kind of detection, and it detected 98.4% of threats when tested. But Trend Micro, as a policy, chooses to remain ‘in the now’ That is, it is more intent on detecting new threats that keep appearing every minute. Studies have found that the average age of a serious threat ‘in the wild’ is just three days. Most threats can last for just 15 minutes. This is because malware and virus creators are intent on beating security products and so create new threats so that old signatures and footprints cannot be used to detect them. Long term threats do exist, but many more serious threats are appearing every minute. It uses a combination of fuzzy logic, heuristic pattern recognition techniques and behavior analysis to detect these threats. It works, but, it does compromise a little on detecting old and known security threats. It is not just good at detecting threats. It is also extremely effective at removing them too. Its false positive rate is also very low.
Awards/Certification
Vipre possesses a West Coast labs certification for being an effective antivirus software. A winner of the VB 100 award, it is also certified by ICSA Labs. Other independent testing labs such as Malware Research Group and AV-Test have also acknowledged that this product has scored well in virus protection tests conducted by them.
Ease Of Use
It has an easy-to-use, uncluttered interface, so you can navigate and set scans quite effortlessly. The overview pane gives you all the information regarding the computer’s protection status at a glance. A descriptive text provided with each tab makes it easier for you to operate the settings. Moreover, if a number of pop-up notifications have piled up, you can get rid of all of them with just one click.
Ease Of Installation
The software is quite easy. It is not as quick as some of the other antivirus products, but it comes with a pre-installation scan. The Free Vipre Rescue Tool effectively tackles all the usual installation issues. The only possible downside is the fact that you will need to restart the computer as a part of the installation process. The installation takes some time, though it doesn’t include malware definitions. The VIPRE then performs a reboot. It might so happen that the malware on some system might interfere with the installation. You might need to download and install the Sunbelt’s VIPRE rescue which cleans up the system and helps a hassle free installation.
Antivirus Updates
Current updates get downloaded automatically even as you install the software. Automatic updates are run once every few hours by default, but you can also choose to do this manually. You can also choose to have hourly updates, or you can even choose to update less frequently; the custom scan feature allows you to specify things as per your needs.
Help & Support
For any queries regarding the product, you can contact the company through the toll-free US-based phone number or via email or chat. Other support systems include a Knowledgebase and a user guide. The quality of customer support provided by the makers of Vipre Antivirus is supposed to be very impressive and is one of the best among the companies operating in this domain. It’s completely free of charge too. Overall, it is a great combination of in-program help files and online assistance. The company even conducts a free virus removal in case your machine gets infected even while using Vipre.
Summary Of Vipre Antivirus Review:
Pros:
It is effective in blocking and removing almost all the usual malware that threaten computers. Highly resource efficient and comes with bonus tools that add much value. Very reasonable pricing available for unlimited home license. If you want to secure multiple computers at home then go for it.
Cons:
Poor detection rate for new malware. Its behavior-based advanced detection tools may backfire by categorizing valid programs as ‘unknown programs’. One can face installation problem if its done on malware-infested system.
Bottom line:
Overall, Vipre Antivirus is evolving into a good software. It has a good mix of basic antivirus software features and some value-added features, making it a product that is well worth trying. It performs the most important anti-virus software function of detecting and keeping away malware, and does a decent job of it too. As an addition it also has some bonus features which come in handy, and a user interface which is quite simple and convenient. The icing on the cake is definitely the unlimited home license facility.
Next Steps
