Vipre Premium Antivirus 2013
Compatible Operating Systems: Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7.
Technical Support: FAQ, Forum, Knowledge Base, Tutorials, 24x7 E-Mail Support.
Many computer users opt for the low cost Vipre Antivirus ($29.95), but most customers choose to pay for more robust protection from Vipre: The Vipre Premium Antivirus ($39.95) that includes antivirus, malware protection and firewall. The latest version of this suite has some considerable improvements over previous versions.
- VIPRE Antivirus Premium runs seamlessly without significantly impairing system performance and is designed for an unobtrusive user experience.
- At VIPRE's core is an antivirus and antispyware engine that merges the detection of all types of malware into a single efficient and powerful system.
- The all-new anti-rootkit technology finds and disables malicious hidden processes, threats, modules, services, files, Alternate Data Streams (ADS), or registry keys on a user's system.
- Vipre antivirus makes sure you can’t get or spread a virus, worm, or Trojan horse.
- Malware Detection prevents unauthorized scripts from webpages and websites that are infected.
- Anti-Rootkit ensures even the toughest and most sophisticated threats are kept off your PC.
- VIPRE Antivirus Premium includes comprehensive protection against email viruses, with direct support for Outlook, Outlook Express and Windows Mail; and support for any email program that uses POP3 and SMTP (Thunderbird, IncrediMail, Eudora, etc.).
Vipre's anti-malware software is extremely popular throughout the world - it is used by 50 million people spread around 165 countries, speaking 15 different languages. The majority of users opt for the low cost Vipre Antivirus, but most customers choose to pay for more robust protection from Vipre: The Vipre Premium Antivirus 2011 ($39.95). The latest version of this suite has some considerable improvements over free version and previous versions.
We found the installation, including signature update and reboot, took about 12 minutes. There is a new 'optimization scan' which flags known-good programs - subsequent malware scans ignore these programs and run faster. On our test system, a full scan took 50 minutes, subsequent scans about 18 minutes.
The latest version of Vipre Antivirus is very similar in appearance to the previous version, apart from the enhanced speed. The new Vipre Premium is super fast antivirus which does not slow down your computer like many other antivirus programs do. It has some great features that help you automate the virus blocking process. Configuring this antivirus software is also a breeze.
On a couple of test systems which were already infected with malware, Vipre had no problems installing. We are able to install the antivirus and were able to detect all the viruses. It also detected all the malware on the system without any major problems. A few high-risk malware caused a little problem, however,we were able to remove those malware in the safe-mode.
AV-Comparatives has improved its rating for the latest version of Vipre - last time it was rated Standard for proactive detection and on-demand detection - this time it was rated Advanced for on-demand detection.
West Coast Labs and ICSA Labs certify Vipre for malware detection and removal - last year it passed West Coast Labs' certification for cleaning, too. Virus Bulletin has awarded Vipre Antivirus the VB100% award for all of the latest 10 Windows-based test sessions.
The Vipre antivirus comes with an award winning malware scanner that has a separate advanced rootkit scanning component. So it isn't surprising that we found the premium suite performs better at malware removal than other malware removal tools available.
The Vipre Premium Antivirus scored slightly above average, 4.6, in a test for removing commercial malware and antispyware. In the advanced rootkit test, the suite scored great - 8.0 points - it detected all the rootkit samples and removed them all. Norton Antivirus scored the second highest in this test, with 7.9 points.
In the Rogue Security Software (scareware) test, Vipre's scanner detected every sample and was able to fully remove them all, scoring 7.5 points, better than many other antivirus software. The best performer in this test was BitDefender antivirus, with 8.0 points.
Vipre's premium antivirus leverages multiple layers of protection which interact to enhance malware detection. Any malware active in memory is caught by the malware detector. Web pages are checked for dangerous scripts and files. The normal signature-based protection is augmented by the Identity Protection module which keeps a lookout for typical malware behavior. In addition to all this, Vipre has access to databases in the cloud where it can get extra information about any suspected threats.
We ran a test to re-download malware samples, and Vipre's web protection was very effective - all those infected URLs were blocked without problem.
A further test to open a folder containing the previously-downloaded samples saw Vipre perform a lot better - it removed 95 percent of them as soon as we clicked on them. Of the remaining 5 percent, all of them were later detected by the Vipre suite during installation. Vipre Antivirus scored 8.8 points here, and the Vipre Premium Antivirus scored 9.4. Norton Antivirus scored 9.6 in this test which was the highest.
All rootkit samples were detected and most of them blocked by the Vipre Premium with 8.1 points. When it came to scareware (rogue internet security) detection, Vipre scored 10 points with 8 other products scoring perfect 10 out of 10 points in this test.
We concluded that overall, Vipre Premium Antivirus is quite good at malware protection and it is one of the best when compared to other malware detecting software.
Vipre is among the fastest antivirus software and it has 10 - 15 percent less impact on system boot time than the previous version. Even so, we found it added nearly 10 percent to the boot time. Of rival products, Zonealarm Antivirus and CA Antivirus also took more than doubled system boot time.
In a test of copying and moving files, Vipre had very small impact, adding only 10 percent to the time taken. In a zip/unzip test, Vipre added 7 percent to the time. Still, Vipre had no impact on browsing time, and the suite's spam filter didn't have an appreciable effect on download time. The new optimization scan considerably speeds up malware scanning, and the suite installs quickly. Vipre's overall performance impact score was among the top 3 scorers of all the antivirus available out there.
We found that the current suite's firewall, unlike the previous version, successfully placed all ports in invisible stealth mode. It also has improved program control - several online databases are consulted and access is allowed for known good programs. Whenever an unknown program requests Internet access for the first time, a pop-up window will appear querying if you want to allow access.
We tried to stop Vipre's processes in Task Manager but the application successfully defended itself against this threat. For some processes we received an "access denied" message, and other processes re-spawned immediately after being terminated. We were unable to use the Windows Registry to trick the firewall into turning itself off, but were able to deactivate it by setting the services to 'disabled' and forcing a system restart. Conclusion: Vipre firewall is quite robust but needs to be toughened up a little.
When tested for effectiveness against malware that tries to evade program control, the firewall was assisted by other modules. Identity Protection blocked one of these programs based on behavior, and Resident Shield blocked several more as known malware. The firewall itself managed to block one of the programs, and a few others were able to penetrate its defenses. However, in a real-life scenario, if they really carried a malicious payload, they would probably have been blocked by Vipre Premium.
Vipre also took a team approach to protecting against attacks looking to exploit system vulnerabilities. When we used the Core IMPACT penetration tool against our test system, several modules swung into action. Web Shield disabled some exploits, LinkScanner a few more, and Resident Shield blocked still more. The system wasn't compromised by the few exploits that made it through the protection.
Conclusion: We found that the firewall is considerably improved over the previous version and integrates well with the other modules in the suite.
Overall Conclusion: Vipre Premium Antivirus latest edition is substantial improvement over the previous version. The firewall was quite weak in older versions but it has been considerably improved in the new version, and the different modules integrate well and present a united front to protect the system from malware attacks. It lacks a parental control module, but, if that isn't a prime concern for you, Vipre Premium Antivirus is a good choice for securing your system.