Last year's CNET Editors' Choice award winner Kaspersky returns with another winner. Kaspersky Anti-Virus 7 features a new interface and new protection. But, unlike last year, the competition for Editors' Choice in this space was fierce with several worthy contenders all bunching toward the top of the scale. For example,
Setup
Kaspersky Anti-Virus 7 costs $59.95 for a single license and $69.95 for a three-user license. By comparison, Norton Antivirus 2008 costs $39.95 for a single-user license (there are no three-user versions of NAV 2008). Kaspersky Anti-Virus 7 runs on Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Vista, where Norton Antivirus runs only on Windows XP and Windows Vista. Kaspersky requires 512 RAM and at least 50MB of hard drive space (Norton requires 300 MB of hard drive space). A full-function
We experienced no problems with several different installations during the month of August. After installation, the system requires a reboot for full protection.
Should you want to remove Kaspersky Anti-Virus 7, the product includes an uninstall option in the All Programs menu. Once we uninstalled the product and rebooted, we found no lingering evidence of Kaspersky remaining on our machine.
Interface
Kaspersky Anti-Virus 7 sports a cleaner, more sophisticated interface than last year's. We like it best among the 2008 antivirus applications we've seen. Immediately our eye was drawn to the red banner with text that told us our signature files were out of date. This is visually very effective and efficient, whereas a simple Fix It button to the side is not always informative. Also, unlike Norton's morbid, black border, we like the open, bright, and colorful interface of Kaspersky that is skinnable to suite your own tastes.
Another interface feature we like is the left navigation. Within seconds, we were able to find the configuration settings we wanted to tweak.
In addition to antivirus and antispyware protection, Kaspersky offers antirootkit protection as well. We like the built-in System Restore, so that should your computer ever become infected, Kaspersky will roll back any registry changes to a time prior to the infection. This is effective against spyware and rootkits.
Features
Not only is the malware protection within Kaspersky proactive, with top-of-the-line heuristics to identify newly created malware, and, like BitDefender Antivirus 2008, Kaspersky's traditional signature-based protection is updated hourly, along with any available program updates. We like this approach, as Kaspersky seems to have figured out what Norton has not: how to deliver small file updates. Plus, Kaspersky has consistently demonstrated the shortest response time to breaking new malware threats.
Kaspersky still provides users with the process of creating a rescue disk, something that many antivirus products no longer offer. And, Kaspersky Anti-Virus 7 includes a process so that the operating system can revert back to a time just before an infection. Like Norton, Kaspersky can also throttle back on system resources, depending on user activity. Unlike Norton, Kaspersky can, by default, scan only recently changed files, greatly shortening the overall scan time considerably.
Performance
Kaspersky Anti-Virus 7 scored well in CNET Labs' performance tests and in third-party, independent antivirus testing using live viruses, although not always the top position. On the CNET iTunes test, Kaspersky Anti-Virus 7 came in just 4 seconds above the test system at 272 seconds. On the CNET Microsoft Office test, Kaspersky Anti-Virus 7 finished in 1,518 seconds. In a test scanning a single folder with compressed and media files, Kaspersky Anti-Virus 7 completed it in 521 seconds. And in boot speed, Kaspersky came in second, with a fast 29.77 seconds.
