CNET editors' take
- Reviewed on: 03/11/2008
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.
Most helpful user reviews
- Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 18 reviews
- My rating: 0 stars Write review
-
Showing 3 of 18 user reviews
-
8 out of 8 people found this helpful
-
3 out of 3 people found this helpful
-
2 out of 2 people found this helpful
- See all 18 user reviews Write review
Submit your review
%20Internet%20security%20and%20firewall%20reviews%20-%20CNET%20Reviews&srcUrl=http://reviews.cnet.com/internet-security-and-firewall/vipre-antivirus-antispyware-beta/4505-3667_7-32896224.html){kind=small}