Antivirus vendors have included "2011" in their product names from the summer of 2010. Now that 2011 is actually the time has come for a fresh look at the whole collection. Several of the latest additions attempt to put on the protection by running two different antivirus engines, and some actually succeed. This lot also comes with 'Choice for antivirus free and Publishers new shared "a new choice for publishers of commercial antivirus.
As always, when I say "antivirus" I mean a utility that protects against all types of malicious software, not just the virus. Trojans, spyware, rootkits, keyloggers, adware, scareware - a good antivirus software should handle this.
Suite or separate?
Many of the products this year to blur the line between independent antivirus and security suite. In the past the presence of a personal firewall has been a defining element of the set, no more. There is a fully functional firewall in
Panda Antivirus Pro 2011.
11 eScan Antivirus and
McAfee Antivirus Plus 2011 also offers firewall protection.
Norton AntiVirus 2011 does not include a full firewall, but its role in intrusion prevention is more effective against attacks that most full-fledged suites.
spam filtering is one of the components typically found in a suite. The anti-spam filter built into
BullGuard Antivirus 10 is reasonably accurate and extremely useful at the time of installation. eScan also offers a spam filter, but it's not something you want to inflict your inbox.
StopSign Internet Security 1.0 includes an optional firewall with spam filtering built in. None of the independent laboratories have tested, however, and their performance in my own malware blocking and deletion of the evidence was so poor that I did not bother the evaluation of optional features.
BitDefender Antivirus Pro 2011 offers a complete remote management of other facilities in the network BitDefender. McAfee can control other remote installations and troubleshooting. Panda and Norton, at least you know when another facility has problems, although it will not fix problems remotely.
BitDefender provides a tool for "phishing" prevention is very effective, as G DATA AntiVirus 2011. The LinkScanner component of
Free AVG Anti-Virus 2011 also works to block phishing sites, like McAfee SiteAdvisor. AVG and Norton to scan the links on the pages of Facebook to guard against scams Facebook and viruses. BitDefender,
Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2011, both the verification system security vulnerabilities, BitDefender, but takes the concept a little further.
Outpost and BitDefender Antivirus Pro 7.0 can block the transmission of private data as defined by the user, a feature usually found only in the suites. Internet Security Ad-Aware Pro 9. 0, AVG, Kaspersky, McAfee and system performance tuning and finish with traces of computer and Internet use. Sometimes it's hard to remember that the product is "just" a virus, not a complete set.
The true independent antivirus is not dead, however. For example, F-Secure Anti-Virus 2011 is attached to the activities of virus protection with no signs of turning into a mini-suite.
Twin-Engine Trend
Several late-season additions to doubling its protection by using two antivirus engines, with varying degrees of success. G Double Data analysis does not take much longer than the average product of a single engine, and includes a powerful phishing protection. However, do not clean out the threats it detects and effective cleaning did not kill a test system. TrustPort Antivirus 2011 ran a bit slower than G Data and not significantly in my tests. After his alleged transfer some threats are still running. In the malware blocking test some threats that required to block managed to install and launch anyway.
Double Anti-Spy Professional v2 became the best performance of the twin-engine antivirus tools. Analyzed first with a motor, then the other, and also requires two separate updates. It is noticeably slower, but effective enough worth the wait.
Adjustable interface, integrated support
Some users want to hear about all security events recently, but most prefer a product that only does the job without making a fuss. Ad-Aware Pro appeals to both with a choice of simple or advanced mode. BitDefender beyond. Not only can users choose to view basic, intermediate or expert, you can build a personal library of frequently used tools.
Webroot Spy Sweeper with AntiVirus 2011 completely focused on keeping everything as simple as possible. It automatically updates, scans, while the system is idle, and interacts with the user through a completely redesigned interface. All details of a user with expertise might want is available, but hidden when not needed.
The user interface of Trend Micro Titanium 2011 Antivirus + discards the standard window of landscape-orientation of a thin vertical panel that takes up minimal space. McAfee has also changed to a vertical interface.
Norton retains a panel at the bottom of your main window for interaction and communication with the safety components. Initially, the panel displays an interactive map of the world of security activity, but you can also connect to Norton Safe Web Facebook or your account Online Backup Norton.
Integrated and automated support grace many features of these tools. BitDefender includes a search box to help topics right in your main screen, an integrated tool to collect system information and contact a support agent-based chat. with a single click of Norton includes the support of the diagnostic system and relevant offers FAQ or the chat-based support. Kaspersky integrated tool support can send diagnostic reports to the company and the script building process multiple use to solve specific problems. Panda allows remote PSCAN request samples analysts and promoting solutions without full interaction type chat. BullGuard offers built-in access to email and chat live with a message center to manage interactions support. eScan live chat links and online help.