CA Anti-Virus Plus CA Anti-Spyware 2008

(Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista)*

On one hand, CA Anti-Virus Plus CA Anti-Spyware 2008 is better and faster than its 2007 version, but that's about all the praise we can give it. Otherwise, this 2008 antivirus version is mediocre at best. It's got simple antivirus and antispyware functions, but not much else. The tech support is entirely lacking, and the install is geared towards up-selling and installing third party applications (Yahoo toolbar, etc).

CA Anti-virus is relatively expensive for the minimal features you get. You can do far better with one of our two top picks: Kaspersky, or BitDefender.


$49.99



Editor's Overview

• Basic anti-virus protections
• Basic anti-spyware protection
• No anti-phishing tools
• Limited tech support
• Poor installation and setup
• Third-party venders are part of the install

What's the Good and Bad about CA Anti-Virus Plus CA Anti-Spyware 2008?

The good part is, if you're looking for a very basic, stripped-down antivirus software, CA will do adequately. However, in independent tests, CA only scored average. And that seems to be the recurring theme with CA: average. Also, if you've used CA's 2007 antivirus software, this 2008 is noticeably faster and a little lighter.

On the bad side, unfortunately, CA scores very low points with us for 3 major reasons:

1. Mediocre antivirus and antispyware scanning and removal
2. Very limited tech support
3. Trying to up-sell Yahoo products and CA firewall during install

Support

The tech support is virtually non-existent. CA is a big security company, so you'd think they would have a substantial customer support system in place. Unfortunately they don't. The on-board help documentation is light on details, and there is no owners manual to help either. If you want to contact CA for tech support, good luck. There is no online chat nor any support forums to browse. On top of that, they charge $19.95 per incident if you want to talk to a live person. Not exactly “service” in our book.


Third-Party Installs

Then there is the issue with the Yahoo products. During install, CA Anti-Virus Plus CA Anti-Spyware 2008 asks you to install the Yahoo toolbar as well as make Yahoo your computer's default search engine. We would rather not be pushed into a toolbar or a search engine. I think we can make that decision for ourselves. Also, if you do happen to install the Yahoo applications, beware, you'll need in un-install them all separately. IN other words, they don't make it easy to change your mind. Then on top of that, CA will let you know that a firewall didn't come with this package, and that you should upgrade to their firewall. How convenient.

Anti-virus Software Features

• Average interface
• Low system resource usage
• Real-time virus and spyware threat alerts
• Support FAQ pages
• Daily, automatic virus updates
• Automatic email scanning
• Scheduled or on-demand system scanning
• Heuristic scanning

Conclusion

We can't recommend CA Anti-Virus Plus CA Anti-Spyware 2008 this year. It simply has too many flaws, too many aggressive up-sells, lack of sufficient tech support, and mediocre antivirus and antispyware functions. Try Kaspersky Anti-Virus 7.0 or BitDefender Antivirus 2008 as superior alternatives.


*System Requirements

Note: Product does not currently support the following operating systems: Windows XP 64, Windows Vista 64, Windows 98/Me

• Windows 2000 (SP4+), Windows XP (SP1+), or Windows Vista
• 256 MB RAM (512 MB for Windows Vista)
• 300 MHz or higher processor (800 MHz for Windows Vista)
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 or higher (7.0 for Windows Vista)
• 50 MB hard disk space
• CD-ROM drive
• Internet access
• Download Size: 22.1 MB

$49.99