Avast Antivirus Home Review
Anti viruses as the name point out are the set of code which work as exterminator of viruses. These Viruses are also a type of codes which are invented to detriment in computers. Today there are lots of anti viruses offered by distinct software merchandising company to eradicate intruders that attack the computer. Some of the contemporary anti virus comes as “Paid†and some as a “Free wareâ€. Paid AV’s provide ample fortification to make computer a robust mainframe. On the other hand Free Antivirus provide better solution for Home Users.
Alwill software is the pioneer of the anti virus christen as Avast Anti virus. The company yields Avast in two flavors namely Home/Linux & Professional edition. The Home/Linux edition comes in for free of cost while the professional edition is a paid Av. The main intention for the manufacturing of Free Edition is to endorse its Professional Edition and company name. On the contrary side Free Av provides an unbiased performance which is abundant for a home user. Paranoid user need not to look at free ware
Avast! 4 Home Edition is a full-featured anti virus package designed exclusively for home users and non-commercial use. “Today in a country like India where Piracy is at the top, practicing Free ware rather than using Pirated software is what my inclination is.â€
The Interface
Avast! , unlike other anti virus software has a Simple User Interface that gives a spitting image of a Media Player. The interface is very intuitive. The easiest in an Anti virus one could find. Though it’s a bit tacky when one use the default skin.
The amazing part unlike other anti virus is that you can customize the look and feel of the anti virus by installing skins just like we all do with media player. Avast! supports so-called skins, i.e. various appearances. Therefore, some of the controls described below might differ from the ones you use. However, the basic principle is always the same.
[BREAK=Installation]
The Installation
The quickest of all, yup after installing/testing several Av I found that Avast installation is the quickest of all. Dumping up few default steps the installation process completes in few seconds nearly 10-12 sec. Wow that’s gr8 and one needs not to hold on watching the installation with dejection. But unlike other paid AV Avast did not execute a pre-installation scan to check for present Viruses.
After the installation is finished one needs to restart the computer to wrap up the installation process. After restart the Av will perform a full Boot Time scan. This is the default option but you can bunk this step from the Installation final screen. Incidentally this boot scan can be scheduled to run each time you restart.
After the explorer opens you will be informed by Avast by some Pop ups that appears just near the clock/from system tray icons
. After the stint you are done...Here is a chart which will give you a brief info about all the features of the antivirus.
Features & Specifications
Being a free ware product one cannot envisage that it must come in a full feature packed content. Though it provides good level of features. The home edition does not possess any traits of its sibling i.e. the “Professional Editionâ€. The chart below will give you an idea of the features not inherited by Home edition
System Requirements:-
- For a computer running Windows® 95/98/Me:
486 Processor, 32MB RAM and 50MB of free hard disk space. - For a computer running Windows® NT® 4.0:
486 Processor, 24MB RAM and 50MB of free hard disk space and Service Pack 3 (or higher) installed - For a computer running Windows® 2000/XP® Workstation (Not Server):
Pentium class Processor, 64MB RAM (128MB recommended) and 50 MB of free hard disk space - For a computer running Windows® XP® 64-bit Edition:
An AMD Athlon64, Opteron or Intel EM64T-enabled Pentium 4 / Xeon processor, 128MB RAM (256MB recommended) and 50 MB of free hard disk space - For a computer running Windows® Vista:
Pentium 4 processor, 512MB RAM and 50 MB of free hard disk space
- Windows 95
- Windows 98
- Windows Me
- Windows NT 4 (No Server)
- Windows 2000 (No Server)
- Windows XP (No Server)
- Windows Vista
Some of the unique features shared by the antivirus are stated below:-
- Simple User Interface:- This interface is intended for those who are poor in configuring the AV. This interface is made mainly for rudimentary user those who did not want to do any tweak in the computer/products. Nearly all necessary functions can be used by a user practicing SUI.
- Enhanced User Interface: - Contradictory to that SUI the Enhanced interface is aimed at elevated user those are acquainted of what they do. This type of user can take full advantage of the Avast features.
- Resident Protection: - Resident protection is a special type of task that monitors (according to its settings) all applications being executed and all documents being opened, effectively avoiding virus infection in real time. The task contains a number of so-called providers that are special modules protecting various parts of your computer.
- Customization of Av: - The only AV present today that gave user full sovereignty. The skin fluctuating system is just sensational. One can just download the skin and just install it in few seconds. The skins are updated at regular intervals. E.g.:- After the release of Windows Vista the skin factory of Avast designed identical skin that uses background as Vista and Interface like WMP 11.
- Virus Recovery Database [VRDB]:- VRDB stands for "Virus Recovery Database"; it was known as "Integrity Database" in previous Avast! Versions. The aim of VRDB is to help when, despite all the security measures, a virus gets inside the computer and the files are infected. With the help of VRDB, it is possible to repair many infected files (return them exactly to their original state). VRDB is announced by an icon with the letter "I" in the system tray (next to the clock). If the icon is animated, the database is being created.
Shields/On Access Scanners
Though a freeware I was amazed by watching the number of effective shields provided by the company. The products feature a set of 8 operational and well armored scanners. Here is a brief description about the different shield used by the Anti Virus.
- Standard Shield: - Standard Shield checks the programs you start and the files you access. It will not allow an infected program to be started - so, the virus code cannot be activated.
- Outlook/Exchange Shield: - This setting affects MS Outlook and MS Exchange mail clients only. For setting up the other mail clients, such as Outlook Express, Eudora etc. This shield keeps an eve on the exchange of mails done through mail clients.
- Internet Mail Shield: - It is used to provide optimum security and keep a track of mail that come in through email client other than MS Outlook Express.
- Script Blocking - Provider Shield: - Script Blocking provider is a module protecting computer against script viruses from web pages. Some web pages might contain a script virus. Normally, running such a virus should not have any consequences, because the scripts are run in a protected mode that prevents them from accessing any files. However, there is a theoretical possibility that you might get infected this way (somebody may find a browser bug that will be exploited by the virus).
- Instant Messaging Shield: - The Instant Messaging provider protects your communication programs. Many communication programs are capable of sending and receiving files from other users. This way, it is rather easy to get an infected file and spread it further. Some viruses are even able to spread using the communication programs, without the user knowing about it. It monitors the folder where the received and sent files are stored. Whenever the content of the folder changes (a new file appears, a file is modified, etc.), Avast! Immediately performs a scan.
- AIM (AOL Instant Messenger)
- Gadu-Gadu*
- Gaim*
- Google Talk*
- ICQ
- IM2 Messenger*
- Miranda*
- mIRC*
- MSN / Windows Messenger
- Odigo*
- PalTalk Messenger*
- Psi Jabber Client*
- SIM (Simple Instant Messenger)*
- Skype*
- Tlen*
- Trillian
- WengoPhone*
- Yahoo! Messenger
- Packers Shield :- Though its not a shield but it’s a feature that Avast uses to diagnose the Zip/Packed files.
- Self-extracting DOS executables
- Self-extracting Win32 executables (UPX, ASPack, PECompact, ...)
- 7ZIP archive
- ACE archive
- ARC archive
- ARJ archive
- BZIP2 archive
- CAB archive
- CHM archive
- CPIO archive
- DBX archive (Outlook Express mailbox)
- GZIP archive
- Installer archives (Wise, ...)
- ISO archive
- LHA archive
- MAPI files (*.pst)
- MIME
- NTFS streams
- OLE archive (DOC, XLS, MSI, ...)
- RAR archive
- RPM archive
- SIS archive
- TAR archive
- TNEF streams
- ZIP archive
- ZOO archive
- P2P Shield: - P2P Shield protects a number of file-sharing programs (so-called P2P programs, Peer-To-Peer). The risk of getting an infected file from a P2P network is rather high due to the uncontrolled flow of data over the P2P networks. Some viruses are even capable of abusing P2P programs to spread themselves, without the user knowing about it.
- ABC*
- Ares*
- BearShare
- BitComet*
- BitLord*
- BitPump*
- BitTorrent*
- CZDC++*
- Direct Connect
- Direct Connect++
- eDonkey*
- eMule*
- iDC++*
- iMesh
- Kazaa
- Kazaa Lite
- KCeasy*
- LimeWire*
- Morpheus*
- Opera's DC++*
- Overnet*
- Shareaza*
- SoulSeek*
- StrongDC++*
- uTorrent*
- WinMX*
- Winny2*
- Zultrax*
- Network Shield:-Network Shield provider protects your computer from Internet worm attacks. It works similarly to a firewall, even though it does not fully substitutes it. The Network Shield does not require any user interaction.
- Web Shield: - Web Shield provider protects your computer from viruses that may infect your computer when browsing the Internet - especially when downloading files from web pages.
[BREAK=Scan Engine]
Scan Engine.
Though the scan engine of the Avast Antivirus is not as potent as of Nod32 and Kapersky but overall it’s decent enough for a Home User. All the shields provided enhance security and if a file is being detected then an Alarm will rise and a voice will be heard “A Virus has been detectedâ€. After the virus is detected a screen will appear displaying the information about the malicious code that is being detected with few options to deal with the infected file.
The options that are displayed to deal with the infected files are:-
- Delete: This will delete the infected file from the computer. But this option won’t work if the malicious file is present in removable drive or other media.
- Repair: This option overhauls the files. Same this wont works if the malicious file is on a removable drive or media.
- Move to chest: - This option will move the malicious file to Virus Chest of antivirus.
- No Action:- Leave eliminating the Virus and get back to the work.
[BREAK=Performance/Benchmarks]
Performance/Benchmarks
The performance of the antivirus is pretty good. To test the strength of the Antivirus I called up my friend as he is the most reliable source of getting different types of viruses. Confused his PC files are infected always so I think testing should be done in his system only?.
An antivirus is benchmarked in terms of dedicating capability, system resources consumed, features/utilities and how swiftly the database is updated.
To test the antivirus I use several other Antiviruses… The antivirus I used are:---
- Avast Antivirus 4.7 Home Edition.
- Norton Antivirus 2007.
- MacAfee Antivirus Ver. 10.
- AVG antivirus.
- Bit Defender 8 Free Edition.
The test rig: - The test rig as already told is of my friend. He recently brought new kit comprising Processor and Motherboard.
- Intel Pentium D 820 2.8 ghz.
- MSI P965 Neo-F
- ATI X1650 XT.
- 512 MB PC2 5300 Ram.
- 160 GB Sata Hard Disk.
The next was Norton. Do I need to say any thing? After installing we were tearing our hair. Grrrhh...I did at my own risk as I had read the new Norton utilize memory. Yes it does but it takes time to fill up the wounds. Slow poke is what I call it 25.9 Mb of memory utilization and still so slow OMG. Norton detected the Virus and cleaned it without user action. For an instance it was a good thing but searching for Viruses in net I don’t want to clean that. AVG and Avast performed well. Avast slow the system boot time by 10 seconds. That’s big and that can be neglected when light and effective solution like Nod 32 is present.
Bit defender did not detect the Virus. Now no need to say anything more. The chart below will give you an estimate of how ram, system resource and how much time was utilized during the 12 GB scan of different files.
From the above chart it is pretty clear that the Avast Antivirus provides robust performance without being much system hog.
Note: - Do not get fooled be lower time taken by Bit defender Antivirus as the Av did not On Access Scanner & on Access Protection.
The paid Av used like Norton and MacAfee are slower as they sports multi security solution by providing much more comprehensive scans. While Norton seems to be the slowest response Av as it has Worm Protection Firewall inbuilt…
. The antivirus updates the database after every virus is being released and nearly every day the Virus database gets update.[BREAK=Conclusion & Verdict]
Conclusion & Verdict
Summing it up all. The entire antivirus tested gave better results except Bit Defender. Avast provides an enhanced security for those who are on lighter work and uses mainly PC for Home purpose. But a user indulge in massive downloads should look for further options like Nod 32 and Kapersky.
Using Avast Home by such users can be precarious. But a user low on system specification can use it as for that user it prove to be a boon for him
.If you don’t want to waste money on Security coupled with freeware Firewall like Zone Alarm/ Windows firewall should definitely look no further than Avast home edition. While a paranoid user should leave this option and search a better one like Kapersky and Nod 32 anti-viruses.
Pros :-
- Mediocre System usage.
- Enhance protection at free of cost.
- Quick Updates.
- Stops execution of malicious files and folders.
- Effective on Access Protection.
- Highly Customizable.
- Eye Candy and skinning capabilities.
- Good response time.
- Free of Cost.
- Should be registered online to access the free offer.
- Not effective engine as of Nod and Kapersky.
- Slow boot time by nearly 12 seconds.
- Lack of inbuilt firewall.
- Scan :- 3.5/5
- Features :- 4/5
- Updates :- 4.5/5
- System Resource: - 4/5.
- Overall: - 8 /10.
- Download: Click Here
- Register: Click Here
- Customize:Click Here
Dark Star
hyeah:- but used wisely.:hap2:
All those Av are given by my friend 
:rofl: without his permission though I did not used too harmful virus
