Kaspersky anti virus and Internet Security Suite: A Review
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Kaspersky Labs Kapersky germinated in 1989, when Russian computer technician Eugene Kaspersky found the Cascade virus on his PC. He developed his own anti-virus program and purged the little monster, and released his program to the public in 1993. Since then, Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab has developed into a multi-national company with offices in Europe, Asia, and North America, and with Eugene Kaspersky still in R&D. Although the company's software is currently better known in Eastern Europe and Asia, it's growing in popularity elsewhere, particularly after Kaspersky Anti-Virus 6 won the PC World Editor's Choice award for Antivirus programs in 2007. Kaspersky Lab offers three consumer products: Anti-Virus 7, Internet Security 7, and new Mobile Security. Kapersky Antivirus (pricey at $59.95 per year) detects all the usual suspects, including Trojans, viruses, and worms, and it also scans for spyware, adware, and keyloggers at the same time. The program gives strong and prompt detection, with the malware database automatically updating every hour and the signatures of new virus and spam attacks added to the database within one to two hours of the outbreak's first report. There's constant background real-time scanning of files, email, and Internet usage. The current version roots out rootkits and analyzes for as-yet unknown threats based on heuristics. Any alterations made by an infection can be reset and the program includes tools for creating a rescue CD. On the next step up, Kapersky Internet Security ($79.95 per year) combines the Anti-virus engine with a personal firewall, spamware, privacy screen, and parental controls. Although the latter is still rough, it does allow for blacklists, allowable content, and usage time limiting. While the spam protection is average, the firewall is ferocious, as reported by PC Advisor and numerous other technology comparison websites and magazines. For those unenlightened individuals who allow the default program on their computers to remember their passwords, the privacy screen monitors that Windows-based storage area for suspicious activity. To get the highest level of security from these two programs, the default configurations require attention from the user. For example, while the level of "riskware" protection can be raised, the default setting did not catch ordinary advertising tracking cookies detected by the free program AVG Anti-Spyware. Some customers reported resource-hogging with Version 6 of Kaspersky Lab's Anitvirus engine, but Version 7.0 works to level out processor usage and reduce the software's footprint. While the background scanning could still create problems for older systems, the 1.67GHz with 480 MB RAM on which it was tested did not slow discernibly even while running a live currency-exchange rates charting feed at the same time. The first complete system scan for this 40GB hard drive took an hour and 23 minutes. The second one only checked the files that had changed and took ten minutes. Kapersky Mobile Security ($29.95 per year) performs similar real-time virus scanning and data protection for Smartphones, with a similar light footprint on battery resources. Database updates are at user-scheduled intervals, scans can be scheduled or on demand and take only a few minutes, and all incoming messages are checked. Considering the trend amongst some Antivirus companies to charge for support, Kaspersky's free email and telephone access, as well as a dedicated user forum, are appreciated. All in all, these are excellent programs and deserve the multiple awards they've won. The download and setup were simple, and the background monitoring truly is background. For anyone who stores sensitive data on their computer--banking information, balance sheets, passwords--the proactive and forward-looking attitude of the parent company is a huge asset. Despite Kaspersky's price structure, this one's a go.
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