When people talk about Antivirus applications, "Kaspersky" isn't usually one of the first names to roll off of their tongues. But this stalwart, known colloquially as KAV, has been drawing accolades since 2007 for its fast scan times, and high virus detection rates. Unfortunately, our benchmarks found that KAV 2011 lags behind other major antivirus programs in key performance metrics.1) Installation: 4/5
Kaspersky AntiVirus 2011 installed in 1 minute and 52 seconds on our reference computer*. The installation was a typical Windows MSI package that produces multiple user prompts, making it less of a worry-free install than some of its competitors.
If you've downloaded an older trial version of Kaspersky off of a site like CNet.com, Kaspersky will ask if you wish to download and install the latest version instead - a handy feature that ensures you're obtaining the latest Kaspersky technology immediately. This will, however, significantly increase your installation time, as Kaspersky downloads the latest installer in full, as opposed to downloading an update or a patch. *Reference Computer: Windows 7 Home Premium running on a Toshiba Pentium Dual-Core T4200, with 3GB of RAM and a 210GB hard drive. 2) Features & Ease of Use: 8.5/10   Like most antivirus programs, Kaspersky runs silently in the background if you leave it alone with default settings. The Kaspersky AntiVirus 2011 Dashboard provides a running tally of the latest background scans in its lower-right corner. A large icon at the top of the Dashboard gives your current virus scanning status, and indicates whether there are any active threats.  Kaspersky aims to protect its users from a wide range of malware and adware. Its Proactive Defense feature scans for "zero day defect" viruses that are not yet listed in the virus definition database. Kaspersky contains some interesting add-on tools, such as a virus-aware System Restore. The best tool in its bag of tricks is the Vulnerability Scan, which examines your computer for known security holes in installed applications that may be exploited by malicious computer code. By finding these vulnerabilities pro-actively, Kaspersky helps you eliminate security holes before a malware application attempts to exploit them. Sadly, this feature doesn't appear fully baked: clicking on a reported vulnerable application's Details button results in a "404 Not Found" error on the site SecureList.com.  New Features: •  Desktop Security Gadget - allows quick access from your desktop to protection status and settingsFeatures Checklist:
3) Virus Scanner: 3/5  Under Windows 7 Home Premium on a Pentium Dual-Core T4200 computer with 3GB of RAM and a 210GB hard-drive space, Kaspersky can scan 10.2 MB of data per second. This translates into scanning a 50GB hard drive in just over 83 minutes. This is the second slowest scan time of any antivirus program we've tested this year - just behind McAfee 2011. A Critical Areas Scan took 86 seconds - almost four times slower than Norton AntiVirus 2011's Quick Scan.  One nice touch with Kaspersky's virus scanner is its new drag and drop scanning feature - which lets you click on any file and "drag" it to be quickly scanned by Kaspersky. This is especially nice if you have one or two files that seem suspicious. Updates: It was disappointing to see that the Kaspersky virus definition database was still two and a half months out of date about half an hour after installation. Why this wasn't updated immediately after install is a mystery. In general, Kaspersky only updates itself an average of 6.7 times per day - far less than the industry leader, Norton AntiVirus, which clocks an average of over 200 updates over the same period. 4) Performance Testing: 4/10  A good Antivirus program should not only protect your computer from Viruses but also not slow down the Performance of your computer too much by using up your computer's resources. We run each Antivirus program through a set of Performance Tests to see the impact it has on the computer. View the results below of our Antivirus testing for Kaspersky 2011...
5) Effectiveness: (Virus/Malware Detection) 13/15
6) Help & Support: 3/5 Kaspersky's Help & Support options are a mixed bag. The Help section is very thorough, but many of the topics sound stilted and wooden. The Support link at the bottom of the Dashboard was frustrating. One of the links (KnowledgeBase) results in a "404 Not Found" error. Also, there is no obvious way to contact a Kaspersky support professional directly from the interface. Kaspersky's Support options all point to online resources, such as its FastTrack interactive knowledgebase and its user forums. (Hint: You have to click on My Kaspersky Account - you can then log a new support ticket with Kaspersky from your online dashboard.) What makes this even more frustrating is that Kaspersky offers Live Chat support - but you have to dig through their Support website to find the link. » Quick Support Links:• Kaspersky Support Home • Kaspersky FastTrack Support • Kaspersky User Forum • Kaspersky Live Chat Support CONCLUSION: For the last 2 years we've seen each successive version of Kaspersky get slightly worse than its predecessor. Kaspersky AntiVirus 2011 continues this trend as this year's version has some major Performance issues that our Antivirus Testing found. Kaspersky is a shadow of its former self when it was one of the best performing Antivirus programs on the market just 5 years ago - now it's near the bottom. If Kaspersky doesn't address these issues soon, we may actually stop recommending it. But Kaspersky still has some of the best protection against Viruses & Malware, so if you have a good enough computer that can handle Kaspersky's performance shortcomings then carry on with Kaspersky. Otherwise, read our other Antivirus Software Reviews for a less obtrusive alternative.
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Anti-Spyware
a) AV Comparatives has 2 major Virus/Malware tests. In the most recent test, the On Demand Detection Test, Kaspersky received a 2 out of 3 Star rating. In the 2nd test, the Proactive Test, Kaspersky performed better receiving a 3-Star rating. Last year, AV-Comparatives gave Kaspersky its Silver award, as the second best antivirus program they tested (just behind Norton).
