Internet security for free (Avast 4 Home Edition)

Member Name: sparksteroid

Product:	Avast 4 Home Edition
Date:	28/09/08 (752 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Wide range of functins, 99% detection rate, p2p shield, webscanner, password protection

Disadvantages: None

Up until recently I was a faithful and dedicated user of Mcafee Internet Security. That is, until I started running into problems with it. My computer, even after reinstalling Windows, was repeatedly becoming infected with the same three trojans, namely Zlob, Fakealert and Vapsup.

As Mcafee was no longer doing it's job, despite being told by several IT professionals that Mcafee is the best, I decided to look for a different antivirus program but my funding was insufficient so I had to look for something I could get for free. I came across the free version (Home Edition) of Avast antivirus software and decided to give it a go. Therefore this review is based upon my experience of the free version, which is upgradable.

Prior to discovering Avast, the only antivirus software I knew that I could use for free was AVG, though I've had bad experiences with it in the past and according to reports which I've recently read AVG only has a detection rate of approximately 85%. According to the same report Avast had an impressive detection rate of approximately 99% and was therefore a much better choice.

The user interface of Avast is a little awkward at first, strongly resembling a car stereo, which is a little confusing as it looks more like some form of Media Player, though once you get used to it, it kind of grows on you. Avast is a highly configurable internet security facility and for a program which is free for home use, it is more than sufficient at doing it's job.

Impressively, Avast has a wide range of security functions including password protection to stop hackers and unauthorized users from changing the software's settings and shutting it down, a problem which I was regularly experiencing with Mcafee. Another impressive feature of Avast is the VRDB function which indexes all the files on your computer. Should any of the files then become damaged or infected with viruses, Avast can restore the files to their original state. Avast also has on-access protection control which consists of a webshield - a handy utility which scans all the webpages you view before they are downloaded onto your computer, filtering out any viruses or malware found on the page. On top of this Avast also has a p2p (peer to peer) shield, to help protect your from hackers and filesharing exploits. Peer to peer programs seem to be the main target for viruses and hackers at the moment and so this is a highly necessary function for modern day users. Another regular target for viruses and hackers are instant messaging programs and Avast even has a shield to protect these, aswell as a network shield to protect your home network and an e-mail scanner.

Though running Avast on a 2.2Ghz system with 1GB RAM tends to slow the machine down a little bit, it doesn't use anywhere near as much resources or CPU power as Mcafee or Norton and performs it's functions sufficiently. Avast does take a long time to perform a full scan of your machine, but it does do a very deep scan and combined with a decent firewall such as Zonealarm, this is one program which is sure to keep your computer secure.

Summary: A great security tool with a wide range of functions and password protection

Variety of features:
Reliability:
User friendly:
Installation:
Update possibilites: