2013 Antivirus Software Reviews

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VIPRE Internet Security 2013 Overall Score: 97%

by Kevin R. Smith, Co-Editor

If you're coming to VIPRE from another product like Norton or BitDefender, you'll probably notice two things right away:

1. installation is slow
2. the interface isn't as snazzy as most

They're both valid points, but there is an upside.

For starters, while it's installing, it's also downloading the latest definitions and scanning your computer, both of which are things few programs do.

Then, once you spend a minute using the software, you'll probably have the same reaction we did, "Oh... This is easy." (More on this in a second.)

When we looked at the most important aspects of the software, like its ability to prevent virus infections, it consistently rated at or near the top, including rating the best at blocking new viruses.

And, bear in mind that blocking new viruses is perhaps the hardest, most important, and most under-appreciated thing antivirus software does.

Next is the new "Easy Update" feature. To us, this is the most important advance in antivirus software in 10 years, and VIPRE is the only antivirus program that offers anything
like it.

Then there's their tech support. Based out of their Clearwater, Florida, headquarters, all aspects of it are free. From help with installation to free virus removal, it's all done free of charge, no strings attached.

When the dust settled, VIPRE Internet Security earned its third straight Editors Choice from us for Best Internet Security Software.

VIPRE Internet Security prevented virus infection of nearly all of the virus threats we tested it with. VIPRE detected and removed over 96% of all threats, including our tests with new viruses. We saw consistent protection of our test PCs against viruses, trojans, spyware, malware, and phishing attacks. And, for the 4th year in a row it was the only product to score 100% in our firewall tests.

Certified by:

• VB Bulletin
• WestCoast Labs
• Malware Research Group
• AV-Test
• ICSA

VIPRE Internet Security's blocking was also extremely effective against anti-phishing and malicious websites. If it encounters a phishing or malicious site, it blocks the entire page, making it nearly impossible for you to mistakenly click into the bad guy's site. One of the first things we noticed in using VIPRE is that it doesn't grind your browser to a halt when you're using the web.

And this held true throughout our tests where VIPRE Internet Security was consistenly fast with low resource usage.

CPU usage was 1% or less when our systems were idle. During a manual full system scan CPU usage hovered around 30% with about a 10% increase in memory.

There was no significant system drag while using other applications during testing, including heavy web surfing with Internet Explorer and Firefox and email use with Outlook and Thunderbird.
While the user interface lacks the flash of some competing programs, that actually works in its favor. It's also one of the easiest to use — and very fast. (You won't find yourself doing the click-and-wait routine. You click, it goes.)

There are two primary parts to VIPRE's user interface: The Main Window and the Advanced Settings Tab.

The Main Window includes large, prominent buttons. From this screen you can see all the most important aspects of the software.

The Advanced Settings Tab opens a new window where you can control the finer points of the software. These are also well-labelled.

Even though you might expect a glitzier interface, its speed and ease of use make up for it.
Taking the smart approach that good tech support equals happy customers, VIPRE's support has made it to the top of our list since we started reviewing it four years ago.

Why do we like it so much?

For starters, it's all free, even the phone support and virus removal. (Avira is the only other company to offer free virus removal; everyone else charges hefty fees, like $99 for virus removal with Norton Antivirus.)

Tech support help links are built into VIPRE's interface, and their phone number is extremely easy to find. (Hint: it's right on their homepage.)

It adds up to one thing: getting good help for VIPRE is about as easy as you can make it.
VIPRE Internet Security 2013 is one of the few Internet security suites that automatically updates during installation, giving you the latest protection right out of the gate. After that it downloads and installs updates hourly (or whenever you'd like.)

Manual updates, an increasingly rare feature, are also an option anytime.
VIPRE Internet Security 2013 has several important extra features that give added protection. Included among them is "Easy Update," the first of its kind in a consumer antivirus product.

VIPRE's Anti-Spam protection may well be the best spam filter we've ever tested with, where it got zero false positives in our tests with tens of thousands of spam emails.

VIPRE's PC Explorer is a significant upgrade to Window's Task Manager. It gives better organization and categorizing of all files, marking them with one of three labels:

• Safe
• Unknown
• Suspicious

Right click what you want Secure File Eraser to erase, and VIPRE Antivirus permanently deletes it and repeatedly overwrites the old space, ensuring the data is destroyed.

In Windows, even long after you consider something deleted, remnants of the data remain until something is saved into that space. Even then, forensic software and some spyware can still recover "ghosts" of the deleted file.

Attacking holes in unpatched software is the main way the bad guys are infecting PCs these day, so this new feature is a big deal.

Programs like Firefox, Adobe Reader, Flash, iTunes and hundreds of others are all monitored for patches and security updates automatically.

And, VIPRE is the first consumer antivirus software to do this. Whether or not you understand the way viruses attack PCs, this feature a huge advance in PC security.

This tool not only erases the history in all your browsers, but also erases the history of your toolbars, clipboard, media players, everything.

You can either select them all or just select specific applications to clear out.

It is perfect? No.

For starters, it's installer is slow and its interface isn't very glamorous. It also lacks parental controls and a backup feature.

But, is it the best protection out there? We think it is, and protecting your PC is really what it's all about.

In our tests VIPRE Internet Security successfully detected, blocked, and cleaned: viruses, trojans, rootkits, bootkits, bots, phishing scams, spyware, keyloggers, and other malware in our tests, scoring at the top (or tying for first place) in every category.

VIPRE also delivers the best customer service. No other software gives customers this level of free, personal, and US-based customer and technical support.

With reliable real-time virus protection, excellent malicious website blocking, a solid firewall and their new "Easy Update" feature, VIPRE Internet Security 2013 wins our Editor's Choice Award for the third straight year.