Manufacturer: SOFTWIN

Version: 2009

Overall Rating

Ease of Use

Effectiveness

Updates

Feature Set

Ease of Installation

Help/Support

Overview

For those seeking the best antivirus software for the money AND an “install and forget” proposition, BitDefender is the right choice earning the “eBLOG Gold Award.” Not only does it protect your computer and files, but BitDefender is easy to use, light on your computer and, maybe most importantly, light on your pocketbook.

No matter how technically capable any piece of software may be, the productivity enhancement it offers is only effective if people use it. This is especially true in antivirus software. The primary reasons people fail to protect their computers from a variety of malware are the cost and the 'burden' of installing and maintaining antivirus software. The best protection in the world is worthless if people find it cumbersome and distracting to use.

The same holds true for price. This is the beauty of BitDefender: It provides comprehensive protection, takes up little space on your computer, costs less and requires little maintenance. If you're a gamer you should consider the special GameSafe edition of BitDefender Antivirus.

BitDefender Standout Features

• Effective antivirus protection
• Light footprint on your computer
• Excellent value (One user license for one year at $24.95.)

Ease of Use:

Most people want antivirus software they can install and forget and BitDefender does just that! In less than a half an hour, you can download, install, follow the prompts, re-boot your system and voilá, you're protected and can forget about viruses, trojans, spyware, worms, and malware. Nobody wants to spend time tweaking antivirus software when they could otherwise be getting work done or watching the latest videos on Youtube. We all want protection without the effort or expense and now we can have our cake and eat it too.

When tested right out of the box with the default setting, BitDefender did exactly what it was supposed to do. It scanned boot-up files, recently accessed files, packed files and incoming and outgoing emails. For those who want more aggressive protection, BitDefender can be enabled to scan HTTP blocks on port 80 and 443 for malicious ActiveX and JavaScript which is nice, but not necessary. Simple installation of the program using the default setting is recommended for the average user.

One of the best advancements in the latest version of BitDefender has been the increase in scanning speed. Softwin makes BitDefender capable of logging when files were last accessed, and if a clean file hasn’t been used since the last scan, BitDefender skips it. This has made scans much faster than they used to be, which is nice because scan speeds were BitDefender’s prior weakness.

Effectiveness:

You might think antivirus software that’s this easy to use and this inexpensive might not be as effective as products with bigger brand names and bigger price tags, but you would be wrong. AV-Test.org is among the most prestigious, independent research laboratories in the world for testing antivirus software. In recent tests, BitDefender received their highest rating for having removed 98% of all viruses and spyware in their rigorous tests. In addition, BitDefender has received the highest ratings for effectiveness by Virus Bulletin (VB100%) and AV Comparatives.org, and was certified by ICSA, Checkvir.com and West Coast Labs for its ability to detect viruses and virus replication while minimizing false positives (detecting viruses that are not there).

One of the key features BitDefender has developed is a virtual machine that runs invisibly in the background on your computer where it tests suspicious code, which is code that looks like a virus but doesn't currently match any of the known virus signatures. In this way, BitDefender can protect your computer from viruses no one has reported yet. In the same tests by AV-Test.org, BitDefender scored higher than Kaspersky, Norton, Computer Associates (CA) and McAfee on its proactive detection of viruses and other malware with this heuristic approach. BitDefender scans somewhat slower than some of its competitors, due (we believe) to this virtual machine running. Naturally, there's going to be a price for this type of protection, but other products like ESET's NOD32 have done a better job at minimizing it.

Although BitDefender is great at removing viruses and spyware, it excels at protecting your system from incoming viruses. The new BitDefender can actually strip viruses from your incoming HTML stream before the virus makes it to your browser. We think every new computer should be outfitted with this kind of protection.

Updates:

Virus signatures need to be updated regularly to maintain overall effectiveness. The heart and soul of antivirus software is recognizing malicious code and BitDefender does that primarily by matching code on your computer with known virus signatures.

BitDefender updates its virus signatures every hour unless you adjust it to a longer interval. Or if you are really into managing your antivirus software (does your photo appear in Wikipedia under the listing geek?), you can set it to “manual” and manually update the virus signatures and decide what other features you want updated. Otherwise, just sit back and know that your BitDefender is updating itself every hour, 24/7.

Feature Set:

In the spirit of “install and forget” software, BitDefender doesn't go in for the blinking red and green lights to notify you of its activity. Instead, a tiny red and black icon appears in the lower-right corner of your desktop, just above the system tray. This unobtrusive icon is the scan activity monitor. A green line indicates when files are being scanned for viruses and spyware. You can remove the monitor by going into the configuration settings.

The antispyware section of BitDefender includes Privacy Protection. This feature is disabled by default, but turning this feature ON is recommended. In the Advanced Setting link, you can enter your credit card numbers or other private information, and if any Windows application attempts to send these over the Internet, it stops and requires your active permission. Otherwise, BitDefender will refuse any program that attempts to send your personal information over the Internet.

BitDefender is the only antivirus software reviewed with a gamer mode. With gamer mode enabled, online gamers are protected without sacrificing much performance. Since online gamers are notorious for disabling firewalls and other protection to optimize performance, this could be a lifesaver for the family computer used for online gaming by members of your household.

Ease of Installation:

Here is where BitDefender really shines. Installation is easy and intuitive. BitDefender also easily and transparently removes any other antivirus software you might have on your computer. This is a requirement for effective use of your computer after installation. Two antivirus packages on your system do not give you twice as much protection, but rather play havoc with performance and diminish protection.

Bit Defender uses about 60MB of hard disk space (new computers average about 200GB hard drive so it uses about .03% of your hard drive space), which is more than Kaspersky and NOD32, but about 1/3 of the space required for Norton AntiVirus.

Help/Support:

BitDefender does its job without you having to fuss or tinker with it. BitDefender is much like your car or phone, ready when you are. It works without you having to. You can rest assured, though, in the rare case when you may need some help, BitDefender offers good live support either over the phone or through live chat online.

Previously, BitDefender phone support required you to fork out money for a long-distance call to Europe. But the manufacturer, Softwin, has since issued a FREE phone support line for you to use (1-888-868-1873), making it cheaper and easier to get support when you need it.

For common issues, BitDefender offers a FAQs page. BitDefender can also be reached via email at support@bitdefender.com, and they have been very prompt and effective in answering questions.

Summary:

BitDefender is nearly everything you’ll want in easy-to-use, highly-effective antivirus and antispyware software. When BitDefender upgrades their tech support and improves their uninstall utility, they will have a nearly perfect product.

BitDefender received the “eBLOG Gold Award” as the top antivirus software for its consistent high performance in protecting your computer, ease of use and installation. BitDefender is highly effective and offers trememdous value without making a dent in your pocketbook. For superior performance, protection, and price, we recommend BitDefender Antirvirus 2009.

Manufacturer: Kaspersky

Version: 2009

Overall Rating

Ease of Use

Effectiveness

Updates

Feature Set

Ease of Installation

Help/Support

Overview

Kaspersky Labs has been one of the best antivirus software developers in the world for over a decade and now Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2009 only strengthens that reputation. Founded by Natalia and Eugene Kaspersky in 1997, this Russian company is often the first to find and identify new viruses. Long used in Russia and Europe, Kaspersky is now making inroads in the North American market. Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2009 is one of the most effective antivirus packages in the world today and boasts a great interface with easy to use and intuitive controls.

Like so many of the other antivirus packages including BitDefender, Kaspersky Anti-Virus comes with an antispyware component. Kaspersky's software is among the best products in the world, but at $39.95 for a one-user for one-year license, it’s on the high-end of the software we reviewed. There are no complaints about Kaspersky's effectiveness or ease­-of-use. As a result, Kaspersky Anti-Virus is the “TopTenREVIEWS Silver Award” winner. If you're looking for antivirus protection for small business, you might be interested in Kapersky Anti-Virus for File Server.

Kaspersky's Standout Features

• Highly Effective antivirus/antispyware protection
• Light on computer resources
• Nearly all features are configurable
• Great interface, easy-to-use and intuitive
  

Ease of Use:

Kaspersky has always been among the best samples of antivirus software on the market, but has been less than simple to use. With the release of version 7, Kaspersky dramatically improved their interface giving this software an interface that matches the quality of the overall package. Further improvements have been made for the 2009 version. From a geek’s perspective, Kaspersky's interface is probably the best of all the software reviewed. That being said, it may not be ideal for someone who's not interested in fine-tuning and tweaking their antivirus software. Every feature is configurable and controllable with intuitive and easy to use controls in Kaspersky Anti-Virus.

Effectiveness:

Kaspersky Labs has always been known for its ability to effectively detect and remove viruses as well as or better than any software program on the market. Like BitDefender, Kaspersky was able to remove over 98% of all viruses it encountered in the most recent objective tests of AV-test.org. Kaspersky is also certified by all of the major virus/malware testing laboratories. Tests confirm Kaspersky's effectiveness. It found every virus on the test computer.

Although Kaspersky is excellent at detecting viruses and malware, it could use some work in the detection of spyware. Independent tests by AV-test.org showed that Kaspersky allowed 8% of adware/spyware to go undetected. Furthermore, Kaspersky’s proactive/heuristic engine failed to meet the high standards set by BitDefender, NOD32, F-Secure, Panda and some others.

Like other software with proactive/heuristic engines to detect malware before their signatures are available, Kaspersky's scan is relatively slow. The time and resources demanded by these proactive/heuristic engines slows these scans, and relatively slow scans may be the price we pay for this level of protection. Of the antivirus software packages reviewed, only NOD32 (see “TopTenREVIEWS Bronze Award” winner) scored high on both proactive detection and scan speed.

Updates:

The best antivirus software packages provide virus signature updates on a routine basis. Both Kaspersky and BitDefender update their signatures every hour. That may seem like overkill until a new virus rapidly begins to spread around the globe and your antivirus software only updates every week. That may be too late for you! Since it does its updates automatically, you get the best protection with no effort on your part.

Feature Set:

Kaspersky's feature set is one of its strongest assets. While BitDefender’s interface is primarily an enable/disable feature set, Kaspersky is the software-tweakers dream with controls for nearly all of its features. Like most of the antivirus packages in our review, Kaspersky protects your computer from spyware as well as viruses. Scanning for both viruses and spyware simultaneously is far more efficient in terms of time and resources than stopping to do both separately. Like Bit Defender, “TopTenREVIEWS Gold Award” winner, Kaspersky scans email and port 80 traffic (port 80 is the port that receives web traffic and must be open while browsing the web) so that this excellent software can detect and block online viruses, Trojans, and various other malware before they can cause you trouble.

Kaspersky also has a proactive defense for your computer. Kaspersky watches for unwanted adware, dialers, rootkits, remote access utilities and locks specific registry keys that malicious code may target to damage your computer. Furthermore, Kaspersky now includes protection from viruses while using IM and ICQ.

Kaspersky, in its ever-vigilance against viruses and other malware, now helps you create a rescue disc in the case that your computer is hit by some malicious code that makes your system unbootable. Although this effort to prepare users for the computer equivalent of Armageddon is commendable, the process is tedious and difficult. If you downloaded your operating system or the system disc is lost or unavailable, this feature will be unavailable to you.

Ease of Installation:

Kaspersky is among the easiest pieces of antivirus software to install. Its rather compact 50MB file downloads quickly and installation and activation are a snap. After rebooting, Kaspersky was on the job protecting our test computer. One complaint is that Kaspersky did not automatically remove the antivirus software already on the test computer. This is bound to lead to problems with the average user. Invariably, some will unknowingly end up running two antivirus programs and problems will ensue. With two antivirus packages running, computers run more slowly and error messages become an issue. On a positive note, Kaspersky does come with its own uninstall utility and after running it, no traces of it were found still in the registry. Some of the other antivirus manufacturers should take note: How much confidence can customers have in you, if you don't even know how to completely remove your own software?

Help/Support:

Software should be intuitive and easy to use, and if you still have a question, the software manufacturer should have excellent help/support to resolve your issues quickly and easily. Software should not be a source of stress, but instead, should make your life easier and simpler. When a question does arise, Kaspersky has devoted adequate resources to address them. Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2009 provides context-sensitive in-program help files. This is a great idea, and some of the other software developers should do likewise. In addition, there are active user forums and FAQs available online. Finally, you can email or call a toll free number for live technical support.

Summary:

Kaspersky is among the best antivirus software packages on the market today. It’s highly effective, has a great interface, and it’s easy on computer resources. Kaspersky is an excellent choice and was barely edged out by BitDefender, receiving the “TopTenREVIEWS Silver Award.”

Manufacturer: Webroot Software

Version: 6

Overall Rating

Ease of Use

Effectiveness

Updates

Feature Set

Ease of Installation

Help/Support

Webroot Antivirus with Antispyware and Firewall is a solid product from Webroot Software. This competent defender earns our "TopTenREVIEWS Bronze Award" because it not only includes sophisticated antivirus components but also includes a full version of Spy Sweepr anti-spyware software. Both programs have been awarded all major industry awards and certifications and can dynamically alter themselves to fight emergin threats that hit the World Wide Web every second of the day.

The internet provides unlimited opportunities for communication, education, commerce and entertainment; however, it also provides opportunity to malevolent programmers and pranksters to distribute their viruses, spyware, worms, keyloggers and more. It is absolutely necessary that all internet connected computers have a serious, up-to-the-second form of protection, like Webroot’s Antivirus with Anti-Spyware.

Putting advanced antivirus software on your computer is not a sign of paranoia, it is smart. All computers that are connected to the internet without some sort of protection will acquire some kind of virus, spyware, adware or worse. Take proactive action and defend your personal information and your computer with a program like Webroot’s Antivirus with Anti-Spyware.

Webroot Antivirus Standout Features:

• West Coast Labs and ICSA Labs Certified, also received VB100 Award
• Gamer mode for uninterrupted play
• Includes the award-winning Spy Sweeper for advanced spyware protection
• Webroot offers free remote file storage

Ease of Use:

This antivirus software is perfectly designed for home users and those who do not know much about security software and security threats. The software includes well thought out menus, easy to understand icons, and the layout is organized and logical.

Configuring this antivirus software is easy, it has powerful default or recommended security shields, so it really can configure itself, if you do not want to have to figure out which of the 17 shields to run. It is also simple to command quick or deep scans as needed. However, if you want to configure a customized sweep, that option is available too.

Effectiveness:

Webroot Antivirus successfully keeps computers free of malevolent viruses and other malicious applications. And it has the awards and certifications to prove it. This antivirus software has received the VB100 award (Virus Bulletin) 39 times for detection of 100% of all viruses in the wild. It is also has received the West Coast Labs checkmark certification for detection and disinfection of 100% of in the wild viruses. Webroot Antivirus is also ICSA Labs certified. It is not just TopTenREVIEWS that recommends Webroot security software; the Spy Sweeper part of this package has received PC Magazine’s Editors Choice recognition eight times.

Updates:

Frequent updates are absolutely necessary since new threats emerge constantly, Webroot Antivirus and AntiSpyware offers updates automatically and regularly, even hourly if needed. It also has the ability to detect “suspicious” behavior so it can protect your computer well before new menaces hit the official threat list.

Feature Set:

Webroot Antivirus with Spy Sweeper offers almost everything that a full security suite does, it monitors internet activity, scans emails, performs full system scans and it is constantly updated.

This antivirus software includes 17 kinds of shields, 13 of which are included in the recommended setting. These powerful shields include web browser protection, network shields, Windows systems shields, start-up protection and email attachment scanning. This software has the ability to protect computers from common threats like viruses, adware, spyware, Trojans, malware, keyloggers, worms, rootkits, browser hijackers and cookie trackers.

Beyond the “always on” protection it also includes three different types of scans, a quick sweep, a full sweep and a customized sweep option. The quick sweep quickly scans through locations that unwanted programs are often found, the full sweep is a once per week scan that looks deep for spyware and viruses, the customized sweep can be configured to only scan or not scan specific drives, files or file extension types.

This software is updated constantly, every hour or less if needed, it can be set to automatically update or can be updated manually. It will also tell you when the last update occurred. In addition, Webroot Antivirus offers alerts and news that relate up-to-date information about the newest threats.

Webroot Antivirus also has a feature called gamer mode, which can pause scheduled scans and alerts while you are playing a game or watching a movie, so you can enjoy your entertainment uninterrupted.

Ease of Installation:

This security software downloads quickly and in most cases can run in the background without slowing down other processes. However, we would recommend that this software be installed on a PC that exceeds the recommended minimum system requirements. The recommended requirements list only 256 MB of RAM, which will hardly run any software efficiently these days and certainly is not competent enough for multitasking.

Help/Support:

Webroot provides free US-based online and telephone support. They also publish extensive customer and technical support online such as tutorials and a useful, searchable knowledgebase. They offer remote desktop assistance with your permission.

With the purchase of this antivirus software you get a service that very few other companies offer, free remote storage of files. Webroot offers a virtual storage space for backing up files, so you can access you files from any computer with an internet connection. This service also is useful if you need to send large files. Generally, it is difficult to send large files as an email attachment; this service can provide you with a download link that you can pass along through an email, so the recipient can instantly access the file without having to open a large attachment. Of course this download link does not provide others access to your additional files stored on the remote servers.

Summary:

Webroot Antivirus with AntiSpyware, backed up evidentially by high test scores from rigorous industry testing, has proved to be a powerful and versatile security program that is easy to use and install. With a gamer mode and free remote file storage, Webroot Antivirus with Spy Sweeper provides full spectrum security with useful extras.