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Anti-virus software

Viruses and other forms of malware can cause serious damage to your computer. They may steal sensitive information, delete important files or even stop your computer from working altogether. Therefore it’s vital you have effective anti-virus software installed on your PC.

See also:

• What to look for

• FAQs

• Jargon explained


Anti-virus software comparison chart for 2024

Displaying 11 to 13 of 13        Previous | Next

Rank 11 12 13
VIPRE Antivirus Plus
Webroot Secure Anywhere AntiVirus Review
ZoneAlarm Pro Antivirus + Firewall NextGen
Excellent
Five stars means excellent
Very good
Four stars means very good
Good
Three stars means good
Average
Two stars means average /
Poor
One star means poor
 Product image of vipre antivirus plus Product image of webroot secure anywhere antivirus review Product image of zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen
 
 
Ratings
Overall
 vipre antivirus plus has a rating of four overall webroot secure anywhere antivirus review has a rating of five overall zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen has a rating of three overall
Setup
Setup - Was installation quick & easy? How big was installation file? Does it use up alot of hard-drive space? Did it detect already had anti-virus running? How much memory is used?
 vipre antivirus plus has a rating of five for setup webroot secure anywhere antivirus review has a rating of five for setup zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen has a rating of three for setup
Protection
Protection - What type of technology does it use to stop viruses? Does its stop other forms of malware such as spyware, worms, rootkits & keyloggers?
 vipre antivirus plus has a rating of five for protection webroot secure anywhere antivirus review has a rating of five for protection zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen has a rating of five for protection
Effectiveness
Effectiveness - How did the anti-virus score in the major independent tests: ICSA, West Coast, AV-TEST, VB100%?
 vipre antivirus plus has a rating of four for effectiveness webroot secure anywhere antivirus review has a rating of five for effectiveness zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen has a rating of four for effectiveness
Scans & updates
Scans & updates - Are quick, deep & custom scans available?
 vipre antivirus plus has a rating of four for scans & updates webroot secure anywhere antivirus review has a rating of five for scans & updates zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen has a rating of four for scans & updates
Features
Features - Is there a laptop or gamer mode? What useful extras does it come with?
 vipre antivirus plus has a rating of five for features webroot secure anywhere antivirus review has a rating of five for features zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen has a rating of four for features
Ease of use
Ease of use - Is the software easy to use, easy to navigate? Are there basic & advance settings?
 vipre antivirus plus has a rating of five for ease of use webroot secure anywhere antivirus review has a rating of five for ease of use zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen has a rating of three for ease of use
Help & support
Help & support - Are telephone, email, live chat support options available?
 vipre antivirus plus has a rating of five for help & support webroot secure anywhere antivirus review has a rating of five for help & support zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen has a rating of three for help & support
Protection
Anti-virus
Anti-virus - Detects and removes viruses. Anti-virus also picks up Trojans, worms, keyloggers and other forms of malware that threaten your computer.
 vipre antivirus plus includes anti-virus webroot secure anywhere antivirus review includes anti-virus zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen includes anti-virus
Anti-spyware
Anti-spyware - Detects and removes spyware. Spyware tries to obtain sensitive information such as passwords and credit card details. It then attempts to send this information to cyber criminals.
 vipre antivirus plus includes anti-spyware webroot secure anywhere antivirus review includes anti-spyware zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen includes anti-spyware
Anti-spam
Anti-spam - Helps stop junk email by filtering your emails.
 vipre antivirus plus includes anti-spam webroot secure anywhere antivirus review includes anti-spam zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen includes anti-spam
Anti-phishing
 vipre antivirus plus anti-phishing webroot secure anywhere antivirus review anti-phishing zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen anti-phishing
Anti-ransomware
 vipre antivirus plus anti-ransomware webroot secure anywhere antivirus review anti-ransomware zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen anti-ransomware
Independent lab results
AV-Comparatives
 vipre antivirus plus av-comparatives webroot secure anywhere antivirus review av-comparatives zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen av-comparatives
AV-TEST
 vipre antivirus plus av-test webroot secure anywhere antivirus review av-test zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen av-test
Detection & removal
ActiveX
ActiveX - A technology developed by Microsoft that is often downloaded to provide more browser features - online gaming for example. It is a legitimate program, but is often abused by virus creators.
 vipre antivirus plus detects activex webroot secure anywhere antivirus review detects activex zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen detects activex
Adware
Adware - Adware is a program that displays unwanted advertisements on your computer, usually in the form of annoying pop-ups. Adware is harmless by itself, but is often associated with spyware that can steal your personal information.
 vipre antivirus plus detects adware webroot secure anywhere antivirus review detects adware zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen detects adware
Browser exploits
Browser exploits - A browser exploit takes advantage of a security flaw within the browser, changing its settings without a user's knowledge. Typical symptoms of a browser exploit include an altered homepage (to a suspicious website), favourites removed or freezing and crashing.
 vipre antivirus plus detects browser exploits webroot secure anywhere antivirus review detects browser exploits zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen detects browser exploits
Dialers
Dialers - A dialler is a program that uses the phone line to connect the computer to Internet. However, there are some fraudulent diallers that automatically modify the access numbers without your knowledge for financial gain, while leaving you with a huge phone bill. Many anti-virus programs are equipped to block such fraudulent diallers.
 vipre antivirus plus detects dialers webroot secure anywhere antivirus review detects dialers zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen detects dialers
Keyloggers
Keyloggers - A program that gains unauthorized access to your computer, tracks and records individual keystrokes and sends this information to cyber criminals for fraudulent use.
 vipre antivirus plus detects keyloggers webroot secure anywhere antivirus review detects keyloggers zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen detects keyloggers
Phishing
Phishing - A way of trying to obtain personal or sensitive information such as your debit/credit card details, by the creation of a website (such as your bank) that appears to look genuine, but is actually set-up by cyber criminals for fraudulent use.
 vipre antivirus plus detects phishing webroot secure anywhere antivirus review detects phishing zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen detects phishing
Rootkits
Rootkits - A rootkit is an unauthorized program that secretively installs on your computer without your knowledge, providing complete access to computer hackers.
 vipre antivirus plus detects rootkits webroot secure anywhere antivirus review detects rootkits zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen detects rootkits
Script blocking
Script blocking - Prevents suspected malicious programs from running in background of web pages to prevent potential virus threats.
 vipre antivirus plus detects script blocking webroot secure anywhere antivirus review detects script blocking zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen detects script blocking
Spam
Spam - Scans incoming emails for spam.
 vipre antivirus plus detects spam webroot secure anywhere antivirus review detects spam zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen detects spam
Spyware
Spyware - Spyware is able to monitor your internet activity, stealing confidential information such as frequently visited pages. It can also alter your browser settings and create unwanted homepages or redirects. There are many dedicated spyware removal programs available, but many anti-virus programs now offer the ability to detect spyware as well as viruses.
 vipre antivirus plus detects spyware webroot secure anywhere antivirus review detects spyware zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen detects spyware
Trojans
Trojans - Also known as Trojan horses – Trojans pretend to be authorized and useful programs, but when installed, perform unwanted actions on your computer.
 vipre antivirus plus detects trojans webroot secure anywhere antivirus review detects trojans zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen detects trojans
Viruses
Viruses - Viruses are malicious programs that often spread through e-mail attachments. If those attachments are opened they could corrupt or erase the data on your computer.
 vipre antivirus plus detects viruses webroot secure anywhere antivirus review detects viruses zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen detects viruses
Detection technology
Signatures
Signatures - A signature is the known coding pattern of a specific virus. By running a set of signatures against a particular file, a virus can be identified instantly.
 vipre antivirus plus uses signatures webroot secure anywhere antivirus review uses signatures zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen uses signatures
Heuristics
Heuristics - Heuristics detection attempts to stop unknown viruses (usually newly created ones) by looking for common coding patterns used by viruses.
 vipre antivirus plus uses heuristics webroot secure anywhere antivirus review uses heuristics zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen uses heuristics
Scan options
On-access scans
On-access scans - Scans your computer continually, monitoring any files that are downloaded, opened or transfered. On-access scans run quietly in the background. It is the opposite of an on-demand scan that requires user intervention to start a scan.
 vipre antivirus plus offers on-access scans webroot secure anywhere antivirus review offers on-access scans zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen offers on-access scans
On-demand scans
On-demand scans - User intervention is needed to start a scan process. Scanning is therefore on-demand.
 vipre antivirus plus offers on-demand scans webroot secure anywhere antivirus review offers on-demand scans zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen offers on-demand scans
Quick scans
Quick scans - Quickly scan your computer for the most vulnerable files that can be affected by viruses.
 vipre antivirus plus includes quick scans webroot secure anywhere antivirus review includes quick scans zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen includes quick scans
Deep scans
Deep scans - Allows you to scan your computer's entire hard drive for viruses, trojans and spyware. This is a far more thorough scan method than the quick scan, but it also takes longer to complete.
 vipre antivirus plus includes deep scans webroot secure anywhere antivirus review includes deep scans zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen includes deep scans
Selective scans
Selective scans - If you know the specific file or drive posing a virus threat, you can avoid a full scan and save your time by running a manual scan on the questionable file or drive.
 vipre antivirus plus includes selective scans webroot secure anywhere antivirus review includes selective scans zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen includes selective scans
Scheduled scans
Scheduled scans - Allows you to set a specific time, date or day of the week for when you want the anti-virus to automatically scan your computer. Most anti-virus software also allows you to schedule scans when your computer is shut-down or when your away from your computer.
 vipre antivirus plus includes scheduled scans webroot secure anywhere antivirus review includes scheduled scans zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen includes scheduled scans
Vulnerability scans
 vipre antivirus plus vulnerability scans webroot secure anywhere antivirus review vulnerability scans zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen vulnerability scans
Compressed files
Compressed files - Viruses are often transferred in compressed files such as a ZIP file. Some viruses are transferred with a compressed file within a compressed file and so on.
 vipre antivirus plus includes compressed files webroot secure anywhere antivirus review includes compressed files zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen includes compressed files
File exclusion
File exclusion - Exclude files or folders from scan processes. Exclusions can speed up scan times, but you should only exclude files or folders that you're sure won't contain viruses.
 vipre antivirus plus includes file exclusion webroot secure anywhere antivirus review includes file exclusion zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen includes file exclusion
Updates
Automatic updates
Automatic updates - You can set your anti-virus software to automatically check, download, and install the latest virus definitions/updates from the product’s web site as soon as an update is available.
 vipre antivirus plus includes automatic updates webroot secure anywhere antivirus review includes automatic updates zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen includes automatic updates
Manual updates
Manual updates - Offers the ability to manually check, download, and install anti-virus updates directly from the anti-virus company’s website.
 vipre antivirus plus includes manual updates webroot secure anywhere antivirus review includes manual updates zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen includes manual updates
Scheduled updates
Scheduled updates - You can schedule when you would like your anti-virus software to receive updates. You might want to do this first thing in the morning or at night, when you are not using your computer.
 vipre antivirus plus includes scheduled updates webroot secure anywhere antivirus review does not include scheduled updates zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen does not include scheduled updates
Reverse updates
Reverse updates - If an update appears to have had a negative effect on your computer, for example it freezes or behaves strangely you can reverse the update.
 vipre antivirus plus does not include reverse updates webroot secure anywhere antivirus review does not include reverse updates zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen does not include reverse updates
Features
Battery mode
 vipre antivirus plus battery mode webroot secure anywhere antivirus review battery mode zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen battery mode
Laptop mode
Laptop mode - Laptop mode saves your laptop's battery by delaying the power-intensive functions of the computer until it is plugged in.
 vipre antivirus plus includes laptop mode webroot secure anywhere antivirus review does not include laptop mode zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen does not include laptop mode
Gamer mode
Gamer mode - Lets you play your favourite video games uninterrupted by disabling annoying pop-ups, postponing alerts and scheduled scans, while providing adequate protection to your computer from potential virus threats.
 vipre antivirus plus does not include gamer mode webroot secure anywhere antivirus review includes gamer mode zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen includes gamer mode
Cloud backup
 vipre antivirus plus does not include cloud backup webroot secure anywhere antivirus review does not include cloud backup zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen does not include cloud backup
Quarantine
Quarantine - You can move the infected file or file suspected to pose a virus threat to an isolated folder where it cannot cause further harm to the computer.
 vipre antivirus plus includes quarantine webroot secure anywhere antivirus review includes quarantine zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen includes quarantine
Extras
VPN
 vipre antivirus plus vpn webroot secure anywhere antivirus review vpn zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen vpn
Password manager
 vipre antivirus plus does not include password manager webroot secure anywhere antivirus review does not include password manager zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen does not include password manager
Email
Email - Inbound & outbound email protection.
 vipre antivirus plus protects email webroot secure anywhere antivirus review protects email zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen does not protect email
Webcam blocking
 vipre antivirus plus webcam blocking webroot secure anywhere antivirus review webcam blocking zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen webcam blocking
Microphone blocking
Microphone blocking - Webcam blocking
 vipre antivirus plus protects microphone blocking webroot secure anywhere antivirus review protects microphone blocking zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen protects microphone blocking
Devices
Auto USB detection
Auto USB detection - Recognise when a USB device has been added to your computer and asks you if you want to scan that device for viruses.
 vipre antivirus plus includes auto usb detection webroot secure anywhere antivirus review does not include auto usb detection zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen does not include auto usb detection
Scan USB (and other external drives)
Scan USB (and other external drives) - Scans the USB device and external drives for viruses.
 vipre antivirus plus includes scan usb (and other external drives) webroot secure anywhere antivirus review includes scan usb (and other external drives) zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen includes scan usb (and other external drives)
Help & support
Telephone support
 vipre antivirus plus offers telephone support webroot secure anywhere antivirus review offers telephone support zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen offers telephone support
Email support
 vipre antivirus plus offers email support webroot secure anywhere antivirus review offers email support zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen offers email support
Live chat
 vipre antivirus plus offers live chat webroot secure anywhere antivirus review offers live chat zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen offers live chat
Manual
 vipre antivirus plus offers manual webroot secure anywhere antivirus review offers manual zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen offers manual
Knowledge base
 vipre antivirus plus offers knowledge base webroot secure anywhere antivirus review offers knowledge base zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen offers knowledge base
Forums
 vipre antivirus plus offers forums webroot secure anywhere antivirus review does not offer forums zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen offers forums
FAQs
 vipre antivirus plus offers faqs webroot secure anywhere antivirus review offers faqs zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen offers faqs
Operating systems
Windows 11
 vipre antivirus plus is not compatible with windows 11 webroot secure anywhere antivirus review is not compatible with windows 11 zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen is not compatible with windows 11
Windows 10
 vipre antivirus plus windows 10 webroot secure anywhere antivirus review windows 10 zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen windows 10
Windows 8
 vipre antivirus plus windows 8 webroot secure anywhere antivirus review windows 8 zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen windows 8
Windows 7
 vipre antivirus plus is compatible with windows 7 webroot secure anywhere antivirus review is compatible with windows 7 zonealarm pro antivirus + firewall nextgen is compatible with windows 7

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