2010 Antivirus Firewall Software Report

This is an absolutely unsolicited comment from me.

I recently purchased Vipre Premium (Premium has the Firewall with the antivirus).

It is wonderful. It has a balance of ease-of-use and effectiveness. (Tired of saying "user friendly" and "power parsimony")

Over the last 15 or so years I have had Norton, McAfee, PC Tools Doctor and Bitdefender, et al. Immediately I disliked Norton… a process hog. Disillusioned with McAfee as it degraded in effectiveness and support after 2 or 3 years. PC Tools was not too bad but got some infections over time. BitDefender was nice the first year then live customer support declined next 2 years. Renewed BD January 2010 but additional operational problems turned me sour.

Feb 2010 I tried Vipre free trial and loved it from the start. In a matter of 2 days decided simply HAD to purchase the Unlimited Home License. We have a Dell D610 laptop, a Dell VOSTRO 200 Desktop and two self-built AMD 2 GigaHZ desktops. All four are Windows XP Pro.

From the second you open Vipre it appears logical and obvious what each bell and whistle does. It feels like they designed this from scratch.

It is powerful but you can set nearly every option with a click of the checkboxes.

All the "sales pitch" phrases Vipre promoted were true.

Just a few examples to keep this short:

If you want a manual scan it first checks and loads for the latest version (Vipre labels them "definitions") It takes from (honest to goodness) less than half a second if you are up to date to 9 seconds if you are one version behind to 18 to 28 seconds if you are 4 hours behind.

Scheduling scans is a breeze and 100% flexible. Assigning various scan depths for Deep or Quick or Custom is just a click away. Wake up PC or not for scan. Scan USB drives upon insertion or not.

Frequency of updates, naturally. Active protection degrees, email server types. View Vipre history for scans and manually clean PC histories for 4 dozen apps.

I now understand the advantages of a great firewall too.

And the CPU is still mine - Vipre is no hog at all. If it needs 100% of the CPU it takes it ...but rarely and then for just a few seconds. I do not mind that because I know I must need some protection.

But most of all - YOU CAN GET HOLD OF A REAL HOMO SAPIEN. If you type in "support" in their help panel you get everything... Phone numbers, email address, land mail address. Not a Byzantine process to finding help. You can also send a file to them for analysis if needed.

I had a very minor question on versions and I got an email from one of their editors, Larry Jaffe, in no time. I thanked him and asked about redundancy vis-à-vis RegServe (registry editor) and he notified his techies for a fully qualified response. How cool is that?

A nice feeling of security without relinquishing all of my motherboard.

Thanks, Vipre. First encounter with SunbeltSoftware and I like it. Please do not get too big for your britches like BitDefender did and morph into just another AV company with no support.

Sincerely,
Raymond

Hi Josh,

Thanks for the quick response...

Thanks Josh!!
Rosa
1/29/10

Hi Kevin,

I'm so glad I was able to contact someone that has been as helpful as you.  I'm glad I found out too that I could save some money.  I wasn't going to have an anti-virus on my computer, but after thinking about it I thought it would be best in case I do get a virus and then have to pay a lot of money to get my computer fixed.

I'll let you know how everything worked out after I complete the process.

Thanks again.
Patricia
1/21/2010

I would like to say Thank you. You and Josh are awesome. I will continue to do business with Sunbelt and PCantivirusreviews.com for years to come.

Thank you also Josh.

Very Warm Regards,
AJO
10/17/09

wow!! guys thats service n atention thanks keep going !!!

ok i will make my purchase n buy the program thnks for all

GOD BLESS YOU ALL JOSH...
Andy
10/15/09

Hi Kevin,

Thanks so much for your responses to my questions. I had not heard of VIPRE up until now. Just trying to make the best choice for my PC.

This is for my home desktop and I'm interested in the best program that Sunbelt has to offer....

The software looks promising for sure!

Thanks again for your thorough and PROMPT response!!!

Best Regards,
Ron
10/12/09

Hi Kevin & Josh

Thanks for the advice. You're doing a great service !

Cheers
Gina
9/5/09

Hi, Josh!

Thanks for your quick response....

...Again, THANK YOU for your prompt follow-up.

...WOW! YOU ARE FAST!....

...Thanks again for your assistance! Have a great day!

...THANKS A MILLION, JOSH!!

I have bragged on Sunbelt's fine service, prior to receiving this refund...your detailed steps will be passed along to others, who received my 'free advertising' (smile)...

Many blessings to you and yours! Have a great weekend!
Marlene
7/23/09

Dear Kevin,

Thank you very much for your reply. I will try to send you the info you asked for when I have time. The more I use VIPRE,the better I like it. I don't understand why other sites have not recommended it.

I used another antivirus with Windows XP and it worked fine. When I tried to install it on my new Dell with Windows Vista Premium 64 bit, it locked up my computer and I had to use system restore to uninstall it. Repeated attempts with their techs to resolve this did not work,and then they never got back to me.

I sent them an e-mail wanting a refund and they never replied. Try calling them on the phone-it's impossible. Their support is terrible,and various forums have had the same problems I had. I recently installed VIPRE,and am very pleased with it.

It is everything you say it is....

My daughter and I both had a bad experience with other antivirus programs that kept failing and they were no help. Their support too is awful.

Unfortunately, I signed up for two years and they never replied to my request for a refund. Please tell your readers how important support is.

Angelo
5/1/09