Entered CNET Catalog: 03/11/2008
SKU: CNETVipreAntivirusAntispywareBeta
Manufacturer: Sunbelt Software
Editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 03/11/2008
Photo gallery:
Vipre Antivirus Antispyware beta
It takes guts to introduce a brand-new antivirus solution in a crowded market, but Sunbelt Software, known best for its award-winning CounterSpy antispyware, is doing just that by creating its own antivirus engine from the ground up. Arriving late has advantages, however. Traditional antivirus engines have been slow to adapt to emerging threats.To bridge the best of traditional antivirus with new cutting-edge thinking, Sunbelt Software hired veteran antivirus expert Joe Wells for about one year to help design a "hybrid" antivirus antispyware engine. While we await the first test results of the final product, Sunbelt has released a public beta. Here's a first look.
Installation
The installation takes a few minutes and does not require a reboot. A wizard asks a few predictable questions on the following topics: Internet and proxy settings, automatic updates (default is every two hours), active protection setting (high, medium, low), joining the Sunbelt threat community to report new threats, scan schedule (default is 1 a.m.), adding Vipre to Windows Security Center (default), disabling Windows Defender (default), and activating and registering for technical support (name and e-mail).
The Vipre interface is one of the cleanest we've seen on an antivirus product. It's intuitive and easy to use. Your system status is displayed along the left-hand window, while the right side displays current worldwide threats and the latest local scan results for your machine. Four tabs across the top take you to the overview page, scan, manage, and tools.
Features
What we like is that Vipre packs a lot of extras, extras that other antivirus products should have but often do not.
In addition to antivirus and antispyware protection, there are useful tools such as a secure file eraser that writes 1s and 0s over deleted files, a history cleaner that goes beyond just what's in your Internet browser cache, and something called PC Explorer, which reveals processes and services running that might be suspect or known to be malicious. Many of these tools are also featured within Sunbelt Software's standalone antispyware product, CounterSpy v2.
Performance
Short of final code and formal testing, we cannot say how Vipre performs relative to other antivirus products on the market. But in informal testing, the product feels fast, uses few system resources, and didn't try to convince us that benign Internet cookies were a threat.
Conclusion
Sunbelt Software says it will continue to develop CounterSpy as a standalone antispyware product. Vipre will be available later this year and is expected to cost a reasonable $29.95 for a single user and $39.95 for a three-user license.
Future releases of Vipre will include Sunbelt Personal Firewall code, although Sunbelt Software is shying away from calling the resulting product a security suite.
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18out of 18 user reviews
Best Anti-virus, spyware program ever!
Pros: -Powerful, missed technician's scan
-lightweight, uses far less memory than any other program
-FAST! Much faster than others
-very easy to use
-no automatic renewal
-many, many awards, highest rating on Amazon that I could find
-tech service in USA
Cons: -no integrated firewall (but can be purchased separately through Sunbelt Software (it's cheapest there too if you purchase it along with Vipre- just 10 bucks).
-didn't buy it before my computer crashed!
out of 18 user reviews
Awesome antivirus
Pros: Simplicity and productivity would be the best words to describe it. Doesn't slow down your computer even when its in the deep scanning process.
Cons: Haven't noticed anything. So far its been great
out of 18 user reviews
Is the Best Product
Pros: Very simple and self explaining GUI, Consumes less Resources, Silent background Scans, Effective in Real Time Protection, Excellent Heuristics.
Cons: Experienced no cons so far.
out of 18 user reviews
Fastest and easiest to use antivirus solution.
Pros: Easy to set up - even the Enterprise Edition. Everything is intuitive.
It's REALLY fast, compared to just about every other product. Likewise, its use of CPU and RAM are unbelievably low.
Cons: No active scanning of Exchange Store in the Enterprise Edition. Otherwise, none.
out of 18 user reviews
Hozes almost all of my programs, including parallels
Pros: Nothing, except if set up not to check files as they are opened, it is pretty fast.
Cons: Not compatible with any other antivirus or malware software, will not co-exist with a lot of current products, so be careful, make sure you uninstall all antivirus and spyware and do not use parallels workstation .
out of 18 user reviews
Excellent prgm that allowed my computer to run faster
Pros: I had been using Norton (5 yrs) that took forever to load and slowed down my computer and was more expensive. This program is much nicer. It plays well with all my other programs. Not a hiccup yet.
Cons: No complaints. I wish i could find more results from actual testing of this newer program
out of 18 user reviews
VIPRE is great! No waiting forever to boot up anymore.
Pros: I like everything about this program so far. No glitches when updating and very easy to navigate.
Cons: There is nothing I don't like about this product.
out of 18 user reviews
Ultimate Antivirus & Antispyware Engine
Pros: It is a very fast & high security software than other!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cons: firewall missing!!!!!!!!!!!
out of 18 user reviews
Sunbelt software
Pros: US based company
Cons: none to speak of
out of 18 user reviews
VIPRE seems to be a complete package
Pros: Clean interface . Low system resources and relatively quick scans.
Cons: Took forever for the initial definitions update. Granted, I am on a dial-up connection, but after downloading the program itself at ~ 13 megs another 40+ megs for the definitions. FOREVER DIAL-UP
out of 18 user reviews
Fast, Easy and Complete. This is SMART!
Pros: Great support throughout beta testing, and a new approach to antivirus/spyware. VIPRE will wake a few sleeping giants.
Cons: There aren't any!
out of 18 user reviews
I plan to purchase the final product.
Pros: I agree with Robert Vamosi's review .
Cons: Had problems with updates, possibly email protection.
out of 18 user reviews
Will be one of the best
Pros: Easy Install, clean interface, low impact on system resources
Cons: Not gold yet
Something I forgot to mention in my earlier review: Sunbelt is adamant in asserting Vipre is NOT an antivirus/antispyware "suite", but rather an integrated anti-malware application. Personally, with more blended threats appearing on the horizon every day, I like this approach very much. If Vipre lives up to its promise, I can scale back from 3 or 4 separate antivirus, antispyware, firewall programs to maybe 2 or 3.
I'm already a CounterSpy user (also from Sunbelt) and am convinced it's the best antispyware program currently on the market. What remains to be seen is whether Vipre will suffice as an antispyware application and allow me to let my CounterSpy subscription to expire or not.
If you have access to the beta (it's a free 30-day time limited trial), I highly recommend you give Vipre a try.
out of 18 user reviews
Nice Piece of software
Pros: very user friendly, nice GUI, not a resource hog
Cons: forces windows defender to be disabled
out of 18 user reviews
Finjan warns that this CNET page is a potential risk!
Pros: Please see my post
Cons: at the link in the opinion section
out of 18 user reviews
Finally!! A REAL antivirus!
Pros: Company that knows what it's doing and develops what consumers REALLY want.
Cons: None yet, assuming it lives up to the hype and so far it seems to be!
They don't cater to the masses...but if the masses are smart they'll follow. out of 18 user reviews
A Great Product!
Pros: Very User Friendly, efficient, installs nicely, good stuff!
Cons: Haven't noticed any!
out of 18 user reviews
It makes me feel safer than any other security product out there
Pros: Easy to use, thorough, really watches my system and prevents intrutsions
Cons: None so far
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