VIPRE Antivirus + Antispyware

Despite still being relatively new in the competitive field of antivirus software, VIPRE AntiVirus + AntiSpyware comes out swinging this year with what our team of reviewers found to be the lightest-running, best antivirus software for 2010.

The balancing act with antivirus and anti-spyware is managing to be light-running while still providing PC protection.

This is one place where VIPRE delivers on its promise better than any of its competitors.

Our testing consistently showed VIPRE to be among the best performing software in every test we ran.

In fact, some of the older better known antivirus programs like McAfee and Norton didn't do nearly as well as VIPRE this year.

In comparison, VIPRE's light resource usage, strong antivirus and antispyware protection, and excellent customer service consistently pushed it to the front of the pack.

We really were impressed from start to finish.

*NEW* BitDefender Antivirus 2010

BitDefender Antivirus 2010 proves to be very impressive again this year. It scored very well in every antivirus test we threw against it, with only a few minor deficiencies.

Real-time antivirus protection was excellent (one of the best we've seen), Resource usage was very low, and overall PC protection against viruses and other malware was top-notch.

In addition to continued improvements in antivirus detection, BitDefender Antivirus 2010 also brings improvements in the user interface, making the software quite a bit easier to use for novices and advanced users alike.

They've split the interface into three separate sections: Novice, Intermediate, and Expert.

This is becoming a trend in antivirus software interfaces, and BitDefender really does a great job with it in presentation and ease of use.

*NEW* Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2010

Kaspersky brings a new and improved antivirus software to the table this year. As with previous versions, Kaspersky Antivirus 2010 is a powerful, dependable antivirus and antispyware application.

We're very pleased to see that Kaspersky continues year after year to produce one of the best antivirus software programs on the market today.

During our testing, Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2010 performed extremely well with the core antivirus and antispyware features scoring very high in our tests, and there was only one area that needs real attention.

The anti-phishing feature was less than impressive--especially for Kaspersky. Our testing revealed some poor results in this area.

Other than a weak antiphishing feature (which most consumers don't need since the antiphishing filters in modern web browsers like Microsoft Internet Explorer are so good) Kaspersky's Anti-Virus 2010 is a stellar product.

For advanced antivirus and antispyware protection, you can't go wrong with Kaspersky. And they continue to prove that year after year.

Kaspersky tends to be priced a little higher than most antivirus software; we hope they reduce their price in the near future.

That said, we're still very happy with Kaspersky's continued attention to its core suite of virus detection capabilities and the overall Internet security protection it offers.

$39.95

*NEW* Panda Antivirus Pro 2010

Panda Antivirus Pro 2010 makes solid improvements this year to its core antivirus software.

As one of the few antivirus applications that includes a firewall by default, Panda Antivirus Pro 2010 performs well in most areas.

Where it counts, Panda maintains its record of good real-time protection, making it a good choice for those seeking true antivirus firewall software without a need for the other features in the Internet Security Software Suites.

Their spyware and adware removal rate wasn't as clean as we'd like to see, but it was still effective.

Panda's overall system usage was impressive and very low compared to most other antivirus software we've tested, and we're glad to see a nice, simple user interface.

Where Panda Antivirus Pro 2010 falls behind this year is in the anti-phishing and customer service departments.

All in all, Panda Antivirus Pro 2010 is solid antivirus firewall software. And if you don't think you'll ever need phone or chat-based technical support, Panda may be a good choice.

$49.95

*NEW* Norton AntiVirus 2010

Norton AntiVirus 2010 is an improvement over last year's version. It now boasts "Pulse Updates" to virus definitions; according to Symantec, it can update every 3-15 minutes. Very, very impressive.

In addition to the faster antivirus definition updates, we're glad to see other solid improvements in areas like real-time protection and good Instant Messaging protection.

This year's version has a bold new colorful interface that has lots of information but may seem daunting at first for the average user.

Their resource usage is quite a bit better that last year, but it's still an issue this year. And the spyware/adware protection wasn't incredible either.

After delivering an absolutely outstanding installer last year, we were hoping for an equally good un-installer this year. No luck. Uninstalling Norton is no where near as good as uninstalling McAfee, which sets the standard for fast, clean, easy uninstallation for antivirus software. Maybe next year.

Norton's email antivirus protection was average and not as active as we felt it should be. But overall, Norton AntiVirus 2010 delivers a respectable performance, holding a solid place in the rankings, offering a very strong choice for consumers.

$39.99

*NEW* McAfee VirusScan Plus 2010

One of the best-known names in antivirus software, McAfee has built a reputation in both consumer and corporate antivirus softare.

The latest release we reviewed was their McAfee VirusScan Plus 2010, which showed a few improvements from last year.

The user interface is simple and straightforward, a big plus in our book in these days of needlessly heavy UI.

The real-time protection has been improved significantly and is now among the best, although other aspects of its detection and protection left us feeling like it wasn't quite as good as it could be.

The inclusion of a firewall software is a very, very nice addition to McAfee. Most antivirus software doesn't include a firewall by default, so we're glad to see McAfee delivering antivirus firewall software without the cost of full Internet Security Software.

$39.99

*NEW* CA Anti-Virus 2010

CA is a well-known antivirus software company with a long reputation; however, their antivirus software offers neither a low price nor outstanding support options necessary to compete with today's best antivirus software.

That said, CA Antivirus has made fairly significant improvements in manual virus scanning, email protection, and IM protection, and it even supports both POP and IMAP email clients, which is actually somewhat unique for antivirus software.

Overall, its feature and performance are adequate for most users.

The areas where CA antivirus falls short are in the user interface, resource usage, customer support, and to some degree real-time antivirus protection.

The user interface was clunky: our testers found it hard to navigate and find what they needed quickly.

Resource usage was at times quite heavy and fluctuated radically; CA seemingly hasn't put as much effort into reducing their overall footprint as the compeition.

Read on for our full review of CA Antivirus Plus Anti-Spyware 2010.

*NEW* Trend Micro AntiVirus plus AntiSpyware 2010

Trend Micro AntiVirus + AntiSpyware 2010 made a concerted effort this year to improve its footprint and resource usage, delivering a lighter-running antivirus program in the process.

The user interface is nice and easy to use, which we're always glad to see; unfortunately, the actual antivirus and antispyware functions are still lacking.

To begin with, the antivirus real-time protection only identified and captured around 50% of the incoming virus and malware attacks we sent at our test machines.

And disappointingly, the antispyware results weren't great either.

While the software detected all spyware, it was only able to remove about 66%, leaving around a third of the spyware still on the machine.

While we're always glad to see an Internet security software vendor working to improve resource usage, as Trend did this year, we weren't glad to see, rather mysteriously, that manual scanning actually missed initially the majority of known threats we tested with.

$39.95