Review by T. Adlam

I still prefer Kaspersky and recommend it to my friends and family. When I read a comparative analysis of the leading anti-virus software programs on the market a few years back, I made my switch and I’ve stuck with Kaspersky through its various iterations. But, I nearly chucked in the towel at KAV 10 when it slowed my computers down so much that I found myself disabling it more than often than not. That said, there is a noticeable performance improvement with KAV 2011.

The upgrade went smoothly on my Windows XP machine and installation was smoothly on my Windows 7 (32 and 64 bit) machines. The first thing I noticed after installation on the Win 7 machines was the interface changes and the addition of a (IMO, unnecessary) desktop widget. I like the new look; it’s more straightforward and user-friendly. It tells you at a glance whether you have any problems with your protection. (If there’s a problem a red or yellow bar will appear at the top of the interface, or the desktop widget will change color.) The basic settings are grouped and you can access the general/advanced settings by clicking a link at the top of the screen.

The ‘Protection Center’ lets you easily see and customize which areas of the program you’d like to have activated, such as data files and online/email protection. The ‘Scan’ section shows you see when your last scans (full system or critical files) ran and lets you run them if necessary. The ‘Update Center’ tells you when the last update was downloaded and lets you manually check for/download any new updates. And the ‘Tools’ lets you access the additional tools such as Rescue Disk, which allows you to make a bootable disk/USB drive in case your computer ever becomes infected beyond all reason, Vulnerability Scanner, which lets you see your computer’s weak spots, Browser Configuration, which lets you tweak your Internet Explorer settings for enhanced security, Privacy Cleaner, which basically clears away your computer’s history files, and System Restore, which is like Windows’ System Restore except this is specifically for malware/viral threats.

In my experience the default settings are usually adequate for most users, but the advanced settings allow you to tweak the level of protection for each individual service (i.e. web and email scanning, customize update times–especially handy if the updates are slowing down the computer, etc.). However, some of the settings might go above the heads of laypersons and the icons aren’t always intuitive; one would need to click on each to see what they are for and some may be averse to that in fear of changing something one isn’t supposed to.

Running a full scan of the computer after upgrade threw up one false positive (WinDVD 8), but it was easy enough to add it to my trusted applications. I tested it on a few known ‘bad neighborhoods’ and each time I received a Kaspersky warning page telling me the site was trying to harm my computer. This is one of the features which makes it especially good for non-tech savvy computer users, especially those who may stumble onto a phishing or scam website.

One feature that I miss from a few versions ago was the ability to monitor/approve/deny registry changes made by applications. While I understand why they may have removed it (it’s rather easy for a user to accidentally bork his system beyond repair), but it was a great feature for those who understood registry changes and wanted to see what software programs were doing what and when. In the grand scheme of the software, though, it’s not a big deal.

Also, I’ve had problems using the virtual keyboard which loses focus when you access another program and can’t be easily brought back into focus. And it’s not clearly disclosed that there’s a time limit on the installation. If you planned to add the software to a computer in the future, you’d be met by a bad surprise since all 3 installations must be used within 30 days of the first.

Despite a few quirks–it still slows down the system, but not nearly as much and it’s much less noticeable on the Win 7 machines which are newer and more agile, a few of the settings aren’t user-friendly, and the virtual keyboard is quirky–it’s still one of the better anti-virus programs available in terms of effectiveness/protection, ease of use, and performance.