Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Just a reviewer background: I am a new user to the Kaspersky AV series with the 2009 version, so I cannot compare it with previous versions or any license renewal issues. Like many others, I wanted something different than what Norton offered - I felt the last several versions of NAV were too resource heavy and intrusive, even on a 2.0GHz Core Duo (Centrino) XP laptop with 2GB RAM which this program was installed on.
I tried Trend Micro last year, but wasn't overly impressed with the AV performance and had been using a combination of AVG 8.0 freeware and Lavasoft's Adaware freeware since reformatting with a clean XP install. So it came down to either Kaspersky or ESET NOD 32 after review reading, and Kaspersky won over because a brick & mortar store with the initials BB had it on sale.
INSTALLATION:
This was less than desirable. I knew that AVG had to be removed prior to installation, and just used the Windows XP removal utility. Once the CD was popped in I was off and running, or so I thought. Immediately it asked a stupid question: "Do you want Windows firewall to block this program?" Well duh, how can I access it otherwise? So after it checked the CD, I was prompted to download the latest updated files from the internet and reboot.
About ten minutes later I was ready to roll and proceed with the install after plugging in my access code, and used the "most users" vs. the "advanced users" installation option. Ooops, another prompt suddenly. KAV detected leftover remnants of AVG 8.0 and pointed me to their webpage for a removal utility called KLeaner.exe. Absolutely nothing happened when I clicked the executable, and after several minutes of frustration trying to run it, I decided to go to Grisoft's website and hunt around for their removal utility (and hunt around you have to do). For some reason, the .exe file worked from their website. KAV did not prompt me to remove Lavasoft's Adaware, so I did not (and I haven't tried to use it).
After running the Grisoft removal utility, I had to reboot again and essentially start all over with the KAV installation process including downloading the latest updates again! Another 10 minutes or so of that and I plugged in the access code and was rolling. I do not know who is in charge of the installation processes with this software, but it is perhaps the worst experience and hassle I had ever had. Heaven help those less tech saavy than me with this program with other AV programs that were loaded at one time.
INTERFACE, EASE OF USE, AND PERFORMANCE:
Overall, the interface is easy to use and information is at your fingertips for running the program. The first time a full system scan was run, it took about 40 minutes on a 120GB 5200RPM laptop hard drive loaded with pictures, home movies, and various MS office files. A faster hard drive would have shaved that down some. Right away there were twelve infections discovered, all tied to MS office applications that AVG did not pick up.
One thing that is ambiguous is that there are no instructions to remove, quarantine, delete, or anything else with these infections found. The interface is not clear here and you have to hunt around with the buttons to find information. However, I feel about as safe as can be with this program, and it does earn high marks from respectable places like ZDNET for AV protection.
There is a very informative 95 page .pdf user manual that comes on the CD. Nearly half of it is used for explaining the different viruses, Trojans, worms, and other threats and vulnerabilities. It also digs deeper into the different settings and more advanced controls, but still does not offer the user more detailed information on how to use said options and what exactly is happening with the program.
Resource wise, KAV is hardly noticeable on the CPU and memory. There is a slight delay when accessing web pages (Firefox - or bookmarks in the drop down menu) while running it in the background, and I assume this is the phishing checker. There is no noticeable difference in boot time either, something that NAV was absolutely horrible with. Kudos to KAV here.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION:
From start to finish including going through all the rigmarole mentioned above, it was about an hour and a half job to get the laptop up to speed and current. Overall, I would score this program a 7 out of 10. I would have given it higher marks had the KAV team made installation more straight forward and clear, especially with the removal information of previous AV programs. You will need to go to the respective manufacturer website for removal utilities. KAV's links as of this writing are outdated or something, at least for AVG. In all fairness however, everyone should know that completely removing an AV program can be a hassle without completely wiping out the HDD and re-installing the OS (Norton especially).
Finally, the interface and information tool bars could use some rework. That said, the limited resources this AV program uses makes up for any of the nuances mentioned. Even though it wasn't used by me, reviews say that Kaspersky's tech support is pretty good. I will be buying ESOT next for another PC and will report on that as well. In the meantime, those who are tired of NAV's programs the past few years will not be disappointed with this Kaspersky product.
UPDATE 9/16/2008:
After having KAV for one week, it has performed (mostly) flawlessly and stopped one Trojan from getting through. However, it is apparent it is a little deficient in spyware/adware detection. As mentioned above, I never removed Lavasoft's Ad-Aware 2008 because there was no prompt to during installation. I decided to download the latest update and run it (after temporarily disabling KAV) due to receiving several Spam emails recently - specifically after I stopped using it - hmmmm. Sure enough there were 9 detections Ad-Aware found that KAV did not pick up on.
The good news here is that you can run Ad-Aware and not conflict with KAV, so long as both are not running simultaneously. It's a little disappointing to not have a "one stop does all" AV, but considering the price of KAV and the fact that Ad-Aware is free and just as resource friendly, I'll take having to deal with these two over a single NAV program any day. I found a review site that mentions this deficiency with KAV's spyware detection:
http://anti-virus-software-review.toptenreviews.com/kaspersky-review.html
I'm surprised CNET/ZDNET didn't mention it their KAV 2009 reviews.
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