Date Published: 03/23/2007
Antivirus software can help protect you and your computer from unscrupulous individuals. If you use the Internet, your computer most likely connects to hundreds of thousands of other computers. And antivirus software helps to protect your computer. Some programs only deal with viruses, worms, and Trojans; others can also protect you against spyware, adware, and phishing.
Selecting the right program for your needs may seem like a daunting task. The five programs we highlight here are all quite capable of doing a satisfactory job.
CA Anti-Virus 2007
CA Anti-Virus 2007 has a lot going for it. For starters, the license allows you to install the software on up to three computers in your home. In addition, CA offers up to $1,500 protection in the form of technical support or hardware replacement if your computer fails due to an infection after properly installing and maintaining CA Anti-Virus 2007 on your system.
We're impressed by a company that stands behind its products. We also liked many features of Anti-Virus 2007, including its use of three independent scanners -- real-time, on-demand and email. CA's scanning technology is well regarded in the corporate world, another plus. While Anti-Virus 2007 is one of CA's more inexpensive products, the company didn't skimp on the scanning engine's performance and capabilities.
No product is perfect, of course. We were less than impressed with CA's single-minded dedication to stamping out viruses. Unlike many other antivirus applications, CA Anti-Virus 2007 doesn't include anti-spyware or anti-phishing capabilities, although these tools are available as separate products.
 CA Anti-Virus 2007 |
F-Secure Anti-Virus 2007 may be one of the more expensive antivirus applications in our collection, but it also offers plenty of capabilities to help justify its price tag.
The antivirus component can protect your computer from viruses, worms, rootkits, and other malware. F-Secure also contains real-time anti-spyware capabilities, to protect you from adware and other spying programs you may encounter. F-Secure is also capable of scanning incoming, and just as important, outgoing email for viruses and other malicious payloads, to both protect your system and prevent you from unknowingly spreading viruses to others.
Building so many capabilities into a single application can sometimes make it difficult to use, but we found the interface easy to navigate and easy to understand. The only glitch we encountered was during installation, when we were advised to physically disconnect our Internet connection. For some people, this means crawling under a desk, not exactly a routine occurrence when installing software.
McAfee VirusScan Plus 2007
McAfee VirusScan Plus 2007 may have the highest number of security capabilities that we've encountered in a single application. Add in its low price, and McAfee is quite a bargain.
VirusScan Plus 2007 includes antivirus, anti-spyware and anti-phishing tools, as well as a personal firewall. That's a lot to integrate into one user interface, and we suspect McAfee may have found the task a little overwhelming. All things considered, the user interface isn't bad. Setting up some of the application's capabilities requires delving into advanced features and terminology that may be confusing for some individuals, but the high level of security protection is worth the extra effort.
Panda Antivirus 2007
Panda Antivirus 2007 is one of the lowest-priced products in this category, yet it still manages to provide the major tools that many individuals need: antivirus, anti-spyware and anti-phishing. In addition, the license allows you to install the application on two computers in your home.
With the good news comes some not-so-good news. Panda Antivirus 2007 lacks some capabilities that we take for granted. There is no option to schedule scans, so you can't, for example, set a scan to run every Sunday night. There are also no quarantine capabilities. Files flagged as possibly infected are disinfected, ignored, or deleted; there's no option to set them aside to check later. Despite these limitations, Panda Antivirus 2007 performs well and delivers good value.
Symantec Norton AntiVirus 2007
Norton AntiVirus 2007 is light years ahead of earlier versions. It's so improved that if you didn't consider Norton AntiVirus products in the past, because of something you heard or read, it's time to give the product another chance.
NAV includes antivirus and anti-spyware tools, as well as a basic personal firewall. About all that is missing is a good anti-phishing function, to protect your personal information. To manage all of the program's capabilities, Symantec not only rewrote the code for the various scanning engines, but also overhauled the user interface. It still needs some work, but it's not bad considering all of the capabilities it has to manage.
One of the best new features is one you'll never see, because it was designed not to be noticed. NAV can now throttle its scanning to ensure that it doesn't adversely affect other applications when performing a background scan, a welcome change over earlier versions.
