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Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2009 software review
Review for: Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2009
- Review published on: Jan 19th 2009, 18:22
- Author: Dean Clatworthy
- User Comments: 0
- User Rating: No-one has rated this review yet.
Visit the website for: Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2009
Introduction
Having using Kaspersky Antivirus in the past, and been highly impressed, I found myself looking for a new antivirus for a freshly built PC. I had been using AVG 7.5 for the last year, and after becoming fed up of being nagged to use the paid version of AVG8 I decided to try the latest offering from Kaspersky Labs, in the form of the 2009 version of their anti-virus software.
Installation
The installation file weights in at a hefty 32mb, but that is almost normal these days as Anti-virus software has evolved from simply looking for viruses, to looking for trojan horses, malware, spyware, adware and all other kinds of virulent things that seem to plague the web these days. After downloading, installation was extremely simple. I was given two options: "Express Install" and "Custom Install". Express install simply installs everything you'd expect your average user to need, and "Custom Install" allows you to specifically exclude certain components such as email protection and phishing protection. Once all options had been selected, install took about 45 seconds on a 10,000 RPM hard-drive which is nothing compared to the long and drawn out installation of Norton Antivirus.
General Information
Once installed you are presented with a configuration wizard allowing you to configure the software to suit your needs. You can choose how often you wish to update the software.
Kaspersky have also added a great feature for those that don't want people messing with their antivirus when they let someone use their PC. You can set up a password which simply locks the program from anyone changing the configuration options.
Once you have set up Kaspersky Antivirus to run how you want, you are required to reboot your computer. I always find this one of the most annoying things about windows, that you are required to reboot after installing most pieces of software (particularly antiviruses). Alas, I don't believe this is something that Kaspersky can avoid, so reluctantly I rebooted my PC.
Once started up again, Kaspersky kindly ran a quick scan, which took about 2-3minutes to complete. I suspect this is aimed at your average user, but it would have been nice to have been asked. Once you load up Kaspersky you are presented with a very polished interface.
This is clearly aimed at your average user, but I'm not a fan of such interfaces and it would be nice to have a standard windows interface that isn't overly skinned and using an extra amount of resources to make it look that way. Irritatingly, as soon as you disable one of the components of the anti-virus software you are presented with a big "Your computer security is at risk" notice. As a power user, I do not need phishing protection as I am sensible where I visit and what links I click, and my browser already has built in phishing protection.
You have the usual options on what to scan including specific folders and drives. Scanning a 70GB 10KRPM hard-drive with only 20GB of data on it, on Windows XP, using an Intel Q6600 processor, with 4GB of SDRAM took 46 minutes. I have to say this is extremly slow, and I'm rather disappointed at Kaspersky's ability to scan individual files a bit quicker especially considering the high spec of the PC this test was ran on. Nevertheless, a similar test was done with AVG7.5 resulting in a test that took almost exactly the same time.
Kaspersky is constantly running in the background, and uses on average about 18MB of RAM to monitor your system passively. Like many other antiviruses, this feature will alert you the moment it finds a new file on your system which it suspects is a virus. Kaspersky offers a real-time graph showing you its activity scanning objects in memory, and on your hard-drive which makes for a nice aesthetic addition to functionality:
Conclusion
Overall, Kaspersky Antivirus 2009 is a more than capable antivirus for your average user. Costing only £30/€32/$60 it's certainly worth the money. It doesn't overwhelm you with options and is extremely easy to use.
Editors Rating: 7.3/10
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