Active Virus Shield Rode Off into the Sunset
Don’t you just hate it when you find something that you like and have been recommending has been quietly discontinued?
While on vacation, I noticed the computer that my folks have was a bit out of date with antivirus — to the point where it wasn’t updating signature files anymore. Unfortunately, I ran out of time while there and never got a chance to fix that before we left.
Last night I called the folks and we set up a CrossLoop session so that I could uninstall the old AV and then install my current free favorite: Active Virus Shield (previous mention).
Side Note: CrossLoop is just so damned slick for stuff like this.
Oops! Active Virus Shield is no longer an option. It has been replaced with “McAfee Virus Scan Plus-special edition.” Damn. That’s definitely not based on the Kaspersky engine like AVS was.
Conceptually, I like some of the McAfee stuff. Integrating AV with spyware/malware and all that is nifty. But last time I tried it out, it turned out to be a great way to make a computer run much much slower. I didn’t stick with it for very long.
To be fair: Keep in mind, my computers are a bit “dated”, so McAfee may be just the ticket if you’re running modern hardware. Maybe?
I ended up reloading a fresh copy of Free AVG on mom’s computer and called it a night. I should figure out if Kaspersky offers a free version.
Active Virus Shield
Over the past couple years, I’ve mentioned a few different free antivirus options. We’ve talked about Avast, AVG and Antivir. All have their pros and cons.
For family and friends I typically go with the Free AVG if they don’t have it on more than one machine at home. If you do, you get warning popups… In those cases, I might look at Avast.
There’s another choice out there that had been flying under my radar: Active Virus Shield. This is another freebie, courtesy of our friends at AOL. Now, don’t panic: No AOL account necessary!
How about this tidbit?
*Powered by Kaspersky Lab, one of the largest anti-virus providers, worldwide.
Kaspersky are those folks who tend to do quite well in most antivirus tests, right? In fact, I’m looking at them for the office network at work.
I’ve been running AVS on my laptop for most of May and so far have no complaints. It’s definitely low maintenance, unobtrusive (no spinning gee-gaws down in the tray) and seems to not use tons of memory (although I can’t quite identify which process it is in Task Manager, there aren’t any huge new ones). No constant chain of little pop-ups every time it updates or allows something. (more information)
I also like that I haven’t seen any “upgrade now” type alerts. Another plus.
I’ll be honest, the days of my intentionally tossing viruses at my own machine to test AV software are long gone… My “testing” these days is more about the user experience and unobtrusiveness. Granted, I certainly hope it actually works too…
So far, I like it. I’m planning to leave it on the laptop and continue to casually evaluate it. Anyone else tried it out? Any experiences to share?
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