Vipre antivirus review cnet

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.

The Vipre interface is one of the cleanest we've seen on an antivirus product. However, clicking those names for details got nothing but the same handful of generic descriptions for virus, adware, PUP, and malware.

For us, the uninformative descriptions proved disappointing. We launched those that remained and carefully noted how Vipre handled them or didn't. In a couple cases, it detected the malware installer after launch but didn't prevent it from dropping one or more executable files.

Overall, it detected 83 percent of the samples and scored 8. At the other end of the scale, Webroot SecureAnywhere AntiVirus detected percent of the samples and scored a perfect 10 points.

G Data came in second, with 9. Microsoft Windows Defender Security Center also took 9. Collecting, curating, and analyzing samples for that hands-on test is a time-consuming process, so we don't change them out more than once a year. Typically, these are no more than a few days old. We launch each URL, discard any duds, and record whether the antivirus blocked access to the URL, pulped the malware payload, or let the malware download proceed unhindered. We recommend flipping the switch to On.

For about three quarters of the test URLs, Vipre diverted the browser to a lengthy page announcing that it blocked access to the website, along with a detailed explanation for how to report a site blocked in error, and how to rescue such a site for immediate access.

We doubt many users will read that verbose page, but it did serve to reveal that Edge Protection handled about a quarter of the detections.

After that impressive performance blocking malware-hosting URLs, we hoped for something similar in the antiphishing test. Alas, our hopes were dashed. Phishing pages don't contain any malware as such. Instead of attacking the operating system or apps, they focus on the weakest link: you!

A phishing page apes the login page for some sensitive website, from banks and financial sites to dating and gaming sites. If you take the bait and enter your username and password, the fraudster now owns your account. For more on this kind of threat, you should read our piece on How to Avoid Phishing Scams. For this test, we scrape websites that track phishing frauds and suspected phishing frauds. We use a mix of verified fakes and sites too new to have been verified and blacklisted.

We launch each simultaneously in four browsers, one protected by the antivirus under test and the other three relying on protection built into Chrome, Edge, and Firefox. We toss out any URL that doesn't load correctly in all four browsers, and any that proves not to fit the profile for a true phishing site.

You can even send feedback on the Help file itself. Unfortunately, telephone support is only available Monday through Friday, 9 a. EST, so if you have a critical problem on the weekend, you'll have to send an e-mail. Conclusion Vipre is a worthy addition to a crowded antivirus field.

Sunbelt Software says it will continue to develop CounterSpy as a standalone antispyware product. Future releases of Vipre will probably include Sunbelt Personal Firewall code. However, Sunbelt Software is shying away from calling the resulting product a security suite. Robert Vamosi. The Good Vipre combines antivirus and antispyware in one engine; offers secure deletion of files and browsing history; exposes hidden processes running on your computer; fully functional, day, free trial.

Vipre does not yet include firewall protection. Vipre combines antivirus and antispyware technology in a fast and light application that also includes a worthy set of security tools.

This, it tells you, is because it is better to only have one security suite installed at any time. The installation takes only a minute or two, which is mainly due to it downloading all the necessary threat definitions. However, you will need to restart your computer halfway through installation in order to complete the process, which is slightly unusual.

The automated initial first scan is a foolproof way to ensure that the first scan occurs without hiccups, and ensures that the antivirus is doing its job right front the beginning, even if you are a total newbie with an aversion to tech.

A worldwide network of thousands of VIPRE users sharing and identifying potentially dangerous program files both through manual submissions and automatically , resulting in the blocking of new malware almost as quickly as it is released into the wild.

For privacy purposes, we decided to disable this tracking. However, the firm promises never to transmit any personal information to its servers that can be associated directly with you or your computer. Thus, it should be safe to engage in this telemetry tracking system. Whether you choose to accept really depends on your personal threat model. Following that, you can finally open the application to see all of its superb security features. We have included a screenshot of the main dashboard below, and, as you can see, the status shows that the first scan has already been successfully completed:.

With Vipre now installed on your machine, you are ready to start using the antivirus suite. The good news is that it comes preset by default to give you the protection you paid for. This makes Vipre extremely good for beginners. A big blue Scan button allows you to scan your computer as and when you want to. In addition, users can easily click on Schedule a Scan to set up a convenient time when a regular automatic scan will occur.

We found setting up a scheduled scan to be much easier than in some competing products, which is good. We asked for a full scan on a Friday at 3 a.

We left the quick scan setup to happen each day at 10 a. Users can also opt to change the scan from a Full Scan to a Custom Scan. This is ideal for anybody who wants to scan for specific things including cookies, programs that are running, the Windows Registry, archived and compressed files, as well as a specific deep level scan that searches for signs of Trojans or Rootkits.

Unlike some other antivirus programs, however, there is no way to set up a custom scan of particular files or folders of interest to you other than the Windows Registry. Thus, you will need to perform a full scan each time that you want to check all of the files and folders on your machine outside of the custom options provided. Overall, we found this to be no real issue and were happy with the custom options provided by Vipre — which give users the ability to seek out particularly stubborn infections.

With our scheduled scan setup, we decided to check out the rest of the available features. To do so, we simply clicked on Manage in the top right of the dashboard.

Here we gained access to various extra settings and features. Here you can decide things like how often to delete any threats that have been quarantined, you can turn off the advanced active protection , which by default is switched on and will scan files when they are opened or copied and block any potential malicious processes.

This prevents exploits from being downloaded by your browser. This comes turned off by default, to ensure that the internet works normally, for beginners not used to dealing with this kind of feature. However, it is a useful addition that has a whitelisting feature that advanced users can employ to whitelist any websites they trust that are blocked or work irregularly with the feature turned on.

Blocks websites that could be dangerous, and comes turned on by default. As is the case with the firewall, the scanning of removable drives, and any other features that Vipre considers essential. However, users can opt for a few other options here as well, so it is definitely worth checking the settings if you want Vipre to do a full scan, for example, when it finds something during the daily scheduled quick scan.