AntiVir

AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic is freeware. This application is for personal usage only. Like most antivirus software, it scans disk for viruses and also runs as a background process, checking each opened and closed file. It also performs Internet updates (daily by default) in which it opens a window, with an advertisement suggesting the user to purchase AntiVir PersonalEdition Premium.

AntiVir PersonalEdition Premium costs € 20 per year. It has several improvements over the free version, most notable:

• besides viruses, it also detects adware and spyware;
• its Internet updates are both fully automatic and faster than for the free version, due to the exclusive download server;
• it performs POP3 scan (checks for viruses in incoming email before it is received)
  

AntiVir Workstation is for business use and costs € 59 for a year. It is similar to AntiVir PersonalEdition Premium, but may also protect computers in a network and P2P networks.

AntiVir Server, AntiVir MailServer and AntiVir ProxyServer protect data, mail and proxy server correspondently. The cost for each of these applications is hundreds to thousands of euros, depending on the number of users (from 10 to 250) and time (1, 3 or 5 years).

AntiVir Mobile runs on PocketPC under Windows CE or on smartphones under Symbian. The price is about $25 for PocketPC and free for smartphones.

The AntiVir Personal Edition offers the effective protection against computer viruses for the individual and private use on a single PC-workstation. In order to make possible an easy operation, the AntiVir Personal Edition is developed to the essential points.

You'll be amazed how thoroughly AntiVir protects:

• detects and removes more than 150,000 viruses
• always among the winners of comparison test featured in computer journals
• the resident Virus Guard serves to monitor file movements automatically, e.g. downloading of data from the internet
• scanning and repair of macro viruses
• protection against previously unknown macro viruses
• safeguard against cost generating dial-up program
• protection against trojaner, worms, backdoors, jokes and other harmful programs
• easy operation
• Internet-Update Wizard for easy updating
• Protection against previously unknown boot record viruses and master boot record viruses

http://www.free-av.com/

Avast Antivirus

Avast Antivirus is an anti-virus program developed by ALWIL Software based in Prague, Czech Republic, first released in 1988. avast! is used worldwide and is available in 27 different languages. It is loosely based on stereotypical pirates (the name "avast!", and the fact that it has a virus chest instead of a vault). Since its release, avast! 4 Home has become one of the most popular full-featured freeware anti-virus applications for Microsoft Windows users, almost reaching 6,000,000 downloads on Download.com.

The program is free for home and non-commercial use so it is often compared with the free version of Grisoft's AVG Anti-Virus.

The software is aimed at preventing several types of computer threats, including those that are not technically computer viruses such as spyware and even rogue anti-spyware, and can also make a virus Recovery DataBase which is used to recover files when they are infected (instead of just deleting them). The product can be downloaded with full text and voice translations to more than 25 different languages.

Avast! 4 Home Edition is a full-featured antivirus package designed exclusively for home users, non-commercial users. Home Edition is free of charge, since in our opinion, it is possible to avoid global virus spreading by efficient prevention; however, many user are not able or do not want to pay for antivirus software.

http://www.avast.com/

AVG Anti-Virus

AVG Free Edition is the well-known anti-virus protection tool. AVG Free is available free-of-charge to home users for the life of the product! Rapid virus database updates are available for the lifetime of the product, thereby providing the high-level of detection capability that millions of users around the world trust to protect their computers. AVG Free is easy-to-use and will not slow your system down (low system resource requirements).

Highlights include:

• Automatic update functionality
• The AVG Resident Shield, which provides real-time protection as files are opened and programs are run
• The AVG E-mail Scanner, which protects your e-mail
• The AVG On-Demand Scanner, which allows the user to perform scheduled and manual tests
• Free Virus Database Updates for the lifetime of the product
• AVG Virus Vault for safe handling of infected files

http://www.grisoft.com/

Active Virus Shield

AOL Active Virus Shield (AVS) is a free antivirus utility made available by AOL. Its engine is based on the one used by Kaspersky Antivirus 6. Active Virus Shield offers real-time protection.

Active Virus Shield is light compared to other commercial anti-virus products. It also does not consume much memory during startup. However, it does lack some features of Kaspersky 6.0 (such as proactive protection and HTTP protection), and the license provided is only valid for one year. Additionally, Active Virus Shield does not currently work with Windows Vista.

http://www.activevirusshield.com/

BitDefender

Bitdefender is the name of a popular antivirus engine, made by Softwin.

BitDefender is among the most widely used antivirus programs, with over 50 million users from 100 countries. The BitDefender products offer a line of anti-virus and data security defence (firewall, anti-spyware, etc). BitDefender has won several awards for both the enterprise and personal computer use software.

F-Prot AntiVirus

F-Prot Antivirus is sold in both home and corporate packages, of which there are editions for Windows, Linux, and BSD. There is also a DOS version for home users, and corporate versions exist for Microsoft Exchange, Solaris, and certain IBM eServers. F-Prot has been produced since 1989.

F-PROT Antivirus, version 6 for Windows, Home is a powerful new antivirus program.

• Easy to use
• Fast
• Light on computer resources
• Install and forget
• License for up to 5 computers in the home
  

While adding significant new features, F-PROT Antivirus builds on the product’s history of reliability, ease-of-use and speed to provide a powerful yet affordable antivirus solution.

http://www.f-prot.com/

F-Secure AntiVirus

F-Secure plc (formerly Data Fellows) is an anti-virus and computer security software company based in Helsinki, Finland. The company has large branch offices in the USA and Japan, where some antivirus analysis and software development work is also being undertaken. F-Secure Corp. is publicly traded on the Helsinki Stock Exchange under the symbol FSC.

The company sells security software to fight malicious code on diverse platforms:

• F-Secure's IBM PC compatible offerings traditionally had an emphasis on protecting the Microsoft Windows platform, but Linux versions of comparable functionality have been introduced during 2004 and 2005.
• F-Secure is one of the leaders in fighting mobile malware threats. Security software for the Windows CE derived handhelds and Symbian smartphones are available. The company's public weblog closely follows the mobile malware situation and has been voted as one of the web's 500 most read blog sources. The company also claims to be the first antivirus vendor to establish a World Wide Web presence back in 1994.
• F-Secure has been building relationships with mobile phone network operators and ISPs to provide its managed security solution as blanket protection for the carriers' clients. This is a strongly growing market segment.
  

F-Secure products for the PC feature CounterSign, an exclusive anti-virus technology based on multiple scanning engines for malware and adware identification as well as run-time detection of root kits. F-Secure has OEM agreements with several security vendors to integrate leading detection technology in its own offerings, including a long-standing cooperation with Kaspersky Lab, Russia.

F-Secure is historically related to FRISK Software International, a company based in Iceland, which publishes F-Prot antivirus. The original F-Prot conglomerate of Icelandic, Finnish and American computer antivirus researchers fell apart during the early 1990s and the resulting companies divided the global market. For a while, Data Fellows's product was marketed as "F-Prot Professional". As of 2006, the macro-virus detection capabilities of Frisk's F-Prot scan engine are still present in F-Secure products.

http://www.f-secure.com/

Kaspersky AntiVirus

Kaspersky Lab is a computer security company, co-founded by Eugene Kaspersky in 1997, offering antivirus, anti-spyware, anti-spam and anti-intrusion products. Kaspersky Lab is a privately held company headquartered in Moscow, Russia with regional offices in the UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Japan, China, Korea, USA.

In 2005, Red Herring magazine listed Kaspersky among "Red Herring 100 Europe", a selection of the 100 private companies in Europe and Israel that play a leading role in innovation and technology.

According to AV-Comparatives, Kaspersky Anti-Virus (formerly known as AntiViral Toolkit Pro) rates highly amongst virus scanners in terms of detection rates. In 2006 Kaspersky Anti-Virus was ranked second, and was the recipient of the TopTenReviews Gold Award. In addition, Kaspersky has passed all Virus Bulletin comparative tests since August 2003. According to PC World, Kaspersky antivirus software provides the fastest updates for new virus and security threats in the industry.

Kaspersky Anti-Virus engine also powers products or solutions by other security vendors, such as Check Point, Bluecoat, Juniper Networks, Sybari (now acquired by Microsoft), Netintelligence, GFI Software, F-Secure, Borderware, Frontbridge, G-Data, Netasq and others.

http://www.kaspersky.com/

McAfee VirusScan

McAfee VirusScan is a popular antivirus program created and maintained by McAfee, formerly known as Network Associates. VirusScan is designed for home and home-office use; McAfee also develops VirusScan Enterprise for use in corporate environments. The product is not available as a standalone package, it is included in the McAfee VirusScan Plus package or as part of McAfee Internet Security Suite. McAfee also produces a similar product for Mac OS X under the name of VirusScan for Mac.

The 2007 edition of VirusScan Plus integrates antivirus, firewall and anti-spyware capabilities and contains (amongst others) the following features:

• On-access file scanning
• Inbound and outbound firewall protection
• Spyware protection
• Daily definition updates (except the weekend)
• Daily pop-up reminders, appearing at random intervals, even over full screen applications and video games. This feature cannot be disabled.
• McAfee X-Ray rootkit detection
• McAfee SiteAdvisor - displays a safety rating for websites based on tests for evidence of spam, malware and phishing
• McAfee SystemGuards - monitors the computer for actvity that may be caused by virus infection or hacker activity
  

VirusScan Plus 2007 is compatible with Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista only.

McAfee also produces an enterprise-level product named VirusScan Enterprise which is designed for use on larger networks. It contains features designed to make management of antivirus software on multiple computers easier. Unlike the home-user edition it consists of a client application which is loaded on all networked computers and a server application, through which signature and application updates are installed and settings for all client programs are configured. You can control all the client with ePolicy Orchestrator (EPO) or with ProtectionPilot (PRP). ProtectionPilot is easier to configure and use but only control VirusScan. EPO is an unified console (it can control VirusScan and other McAfee products).

http://www.mcafee.com/

NOD32

NOD32 is an antivirus package made by the Slovak company Eset. Versions are available for Microsoft Windows, Linux, FreeBSD and other platforms. Remote administration tools for multiuser installations are also available at extra cost. NOD32 Enterprise Edition consists of NOD32 AntiVirus and NOD32 Remote Administrator. The NOD32 Remote Administrator program allows a network administrator to monitor anti-virus functions, push installations and upgrades to unprotected PCs on the network and update configuration files from a central location.

NOD32 consists of an on-demand scanner and four different real-time monitors. The on-demand scanner (somewhat confusingly referred to as NOD32) can be invoked by the scheduler or by the user. Each real-time monitor covers a different virus entry point:

• AMON (Antivirus MONitor) - scans files as they are accessed by the system, preventing a virus from executing on the system.
• DMON (Document MONitor) - scans Microsoft Office documents and files for macro viruses as they are opened and saved by Office applications.
• IMON (Internet MONitor) - intercepts traffic on common protocols such as POP3 and HTTP to detect and intercept viruses before they are saved to disc.
• XMON (MS eXchange MONitor) - scans incoming and outgoing mail when NOD32 is running and licensed for Microsoft Exchange Server - ie, running on a server environment. This module is not present on workstations at all.
  

NOD32 is written largely in assembly code, which contributes to its low use of system resources and high scanning speed, meaning that NOD32 can easily process more than 23MB per second while scanning on a modest P4 based PC and on average, with all real-time modules active, uses less than 20MB of memory in total but the physical RAM used by NOD32 is often just a third of that. According to a 2005 Virus Bulletin test, NOD32 performs scans two to five times faster than other antivirus competitors.

In a networked environment NOD32 clients can update from a central "mirror server" on the network, reducing bandwidth usage since new definitions need only be downloaded once by the mirror server as opposed to once for each client.

NOD32's scan engine uses heuristic detection (which Eset calls "ThreatSense") in addition to signature files to provide better protection against newly released viruses.

http://www.eset.com/

Norton AntiVirus

Norton AntiVirus (NAV) is a product of Symantec Corporation and is one of the most widely used antivirus programs. Norton AntiVirus is sold as a standalone product and is also included as part of Norton SystemWorks. In addition, there is also a standalone corporate edition version, which is aimed at a centrally managed corporate environment. It is called Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition and has different features not present in the traditional retail version of the software.

Symantec's LiveUpdate provides virus definition updates, which enable Norton AntiVirus to detect viruses known to Symantec; a total of 73,286 viruses as of April 17, 2007. In order to receive updates, a valid subscription is required; an initial subscription good for one year (or 90 days for OEM copies) is included with the purchase. When a user's subscription expires, the user can still receive program updates (patches) for free but will not be able to download virus definitions updates without renewing his or her subscription or purchasing a new version of the Symantec product with a year of subscription included.

The corporate edition has a client/server strategy to update virus definitions. Each of the workstations will not have LiveUpdate installed, but will be linked to a central server. The server will be the one that will actually update itself with LiveUpdate, and distribute such updates to the client/managed workstations. This is to reduce redundant updates over the organizational network (such as 100 PC's updating the same definitions).

http://www.symantec.com/

Panda Antivirus

The new Panda Antivirus + Firewall 2007 is much more than an antivirus. This solution will turn your PC into a fortress against hacker attacks and keep you safe from all types of viruses, spyware and online fraud. And now, for each Panda Antivirus + Firewall 2007 product purchase, you will obtain protection for up to 3 PC’s!

This solution is also available as multiple licenses with telephone tech support included. If you want to purchase this product, please click here.

Also includes:

- Panda Antivirus
- Panda AntiSpyware
- Panda Firewall
- Panda TruPrevent™

http://www.pandasoftware.com

Trend Micro Antivirus

Trend Micro Internet Security (formerly known as PC-cillin Internet Security and currently known as Virus Buster in Japan) is an antivirus/internet security program manufactured by Trend Micro. The program safeguards users computers, home networks and small networks. Trend Micro Internet Security 2007 is the first security suite that is VISTA certified and therefore is fully compatible with any edition of Microsoft Windows Vista.

In the latest version, Trend Micro Internet Security 2007 includes a real-time protection, virus outbreak warning, firewall, antispyware, antiphishing and content filter, web filter, Windows and Office vulnerability check, Wi-Fi intrusion detection and the brand new trend secure online security features.

In a recent test conducted by PC World, Trend Micro Internet Security came 5th following other popular security suites including Norton, McAfee, Panda and F-Secure. Trend Micro's interface, speed, and features (including an antiphishing toolbar) were better than its malware detection scores. However, this test was conducted before the release of Internet Security 2007 and was tested on Internet Security 2006.

Also, in some cases, the Trend Micro Internet Security 2007 Firewall may turn on the "Internet Lock" upon receiving one of these alerts. In these cases, you will cease to be able to use network and internet programs (you won’t be able to view any websites) until you right click the Trend Micro Internet Security 2007 Icon, and deselect the Internet Lock.

Many users don’t understand this. The Emergency Lock prevents you from using your Browser, but does NOT prevent you from connecting to the Internet. To turn Emergency Lock off, you must be connected to the Internet. For Broadband users, this is no real issue, but dial-up users often panic. You can still dial up and connect via your ISP, but you can’t view any web pages. As soon as you are connected, you can turn the Emergency Lock OFF.

Many times Trend Micro may pass over some viruses that are known to be on your computer. For example, it will not detect Spysheriff and the WinAntivirus malwares.

http://us.trendmicro.com/

Sophos Anti-Virus

Sophos Anti-Virus is an anti-virus and anti-spyware program by Sophos plc, which is aimed primarily at corporate environments. Centralised management is performed via Sophos Enterprise Console. It is believed to be the Anti-Virus used by Gmail.

The SAV Interface software development toolkit allows software developers to integrate the Sophos virus detection engine in their applications in C or C++.

http://www.sophos.com/

Windows Live OneCare

Windows Live OneCare, previously known as Windows OneCare Live and formerly code-named A1, is a computer security service developed by Microsoft for its Windows operating systems. An annual subscription is US$49.95, which can be used on up to three computers.

Microsoft designed OneCare as part of an idea set named Windows Live (see official ideas website). Windows Live OneCare itself entered a beta state in the summer of 2005. The managed beta program was launched before the public beta, and was located on BetaPlace, Microsoft's old beta delivery system. On May 31, 2006, Windows Live OneCare made its official debut in retail stores in the United States.

The beta version of Windows Live OneCare 1.5 was released in early October 2006 by Microsoft. Version 1.5 was released to manufacturing on January 3, 2007. It was made available to the public on January 30, 2007. Beta testing for version 2.0 is scheduled to start in early spring of 2007. Beta testers can sign up at Microsoft Connect to participate in the testing of the upcoming product.

Windows Live OneCare currently features an integrated anti-virus program, firewall, backup and restore utility, tune-up utility with the integrated functionality of Windows Defender for malware protection. The future addition of a registry cleaner has been announced.

Windows Live OneCare is built for ease-of-use and is designed for home users. OneCare also attempts a very minimal interface to lessen user confusion and resource signature. At the most basic, it adds an icon to the system tray that tells the user at a glance the status of the system's health. Three alert levels are available, from green (good) to yellow (minor problem) to red (major problem).

Version 1.5 of OneCare is only compatible with the 32-bit versions of Windows XP SP2 and Vista.[2] The 64-bit versions of XP and Vista are unsupported at this time, as are several other versions of Windows covered by the Microsoft Life Cycle Policy.

Windows Live OneCare requires the user to activate the product within 90 days of installation. This can only be achieved by having a valid Windows Live ID so that an association can be made between the account and the subscription to OneCare. When the product is activated, the grey message bar at the top of the program disappears, and the subscription is fully activated for 1 year from the date of activation. A user can check the status of their subscription on the Billing page at http://billing.microsoft.com/

Windows Live OneCare does not currently require the operating system to be checked with either Windows Genuine Advantage or Validation, neither before, during or after installation. The program is installed from a stub downloaded from the http://onecare.live.com/ website.

Windows Live OneCare Protection Plus is the security component in the OneCare suite. It consists of three parts:

• A two-way firewall blocking both incoming and outgoing traffic, as opposed to that of Windows XP that blocks only incoming traffic. A two-way firewall protects against trojan or other viral infections running on the local computer.
• An anti-virus tool that uses regularly updated anti-virus definition files.
• An anti-spyware tool that uses the Windows Defender engine as a core. In version 1.0, this required the separate installation of Windows Defender and was not integrated into the OneCare interface (although it could be managed and launched from OneCare). Version 1.5 integrated the Windows Defender engine into OneCare and no longer requires separate installation.
  

Windows Live OneCare 1.5 also monitors Internet Explorer 7 security settings and ensures that the automatic website checking feature of the Phishing Filter is enabled.

Windows Live OneCare Performance Plus is the component that performs monthly PC tune-up related tasks, such as:

• Disk cleanup.
• Disk defragmentation.
• A full virus scan by using the antivirus component in the suite.
• Check for Windows updates by using the Microsoft Update service.
• User notification if files are in need of backing up.

Windows Live OneCare Backup and Restore is the component that aids in backing up important files. Files can be backed up to various recordable media, such as external hard disks, CDs, and DVDs. When restoring files, the entirety or a subset of them can also be restored to a networked computer, as long as it's running OneCare as well. The Backup and Restore component supports expected modern backup software features such as incremental backups and scheduling.

http://onecare.live.com/

Zone Labs

Zone Labs is a security software company founded by Gregor Freund, an early partner of Philippe Kahn at Borland. The company produces firewall, anti-spyware, and anti-virus products & services. Zone Labs was acquired by Check Point in 2005. Its chief product is the ZoneAlarm line.

Products:
* ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite
* ZoneAlarm Pro
* ZoneAlarm Antivirus
* ZoneAlarm Anti-spyware
* ZoneAlarm Secure Wireless Router
* ZoneAlarm IM Security
* ZoneAlarm (Free)

http://www.zonelabs.com/