Avast Home Edition: Consistent and Cool
How many anti virus software do you think look this cool? Only one, and it is called Avast. This actually is not the default skin of the program, but the default skin also looks pretty cool. (See below). The Spiderman skin was developed by Alwil software, in collaboration with Marvel comics as a promotional gig for Spiderman, the movie.
The Avast default interface
Why am I talking about its looks first? Well, because it tends to blow you away. A far cry from the utilitarian interface of a Norton or a Mcafee, it is surprising to note that for all its frills, Avast also scores highly on the usability front.
Whenever you access the anti virus console, the program opens a five click guide to scanning your computer. It may not be as easy as 1-2-3, but it certainly is as easy as 1-2-3-4-5.
Looks aside, you may ask how good is it as an anti virus software? Very good, would be the answer. A testament to its quality could be the fact that Avast Home Edition has featured consistently in the top half of Download.com’s most downloaded software list, for God knows how long!
Here are some of its features:
- Anti virus kernel certified by the ICSA Labs
- Outstanding unpacking support— it can scan into the following archives: ARJ, ZIP, MIME (+ all associated formats), MAPI (Outlook pst files), DBX (Outlook Express archives), RAR, TAR, GZIP, CAB, BZIP2, ZOO, ACE, ARC, LHA/LHX, TNEF (winmail.dat), CPIO, CHM, RPM, ISO, 7ZIP and SIS. It also supports a number of executable packers (such as PKLite, Diet, UPX, ASPack, PeShield, FSG, MEW etc.).
- Powerful resident protection modules: including protection for file systems, protection for email and news (SMTP/POP3/IMAP4/NNTP protocol level)
- Built-in plugin for MS Outlook
- Heuristic analysis of email scanners to block out new and unknown viruses and trojans
- Peer to peer shield
- Instant Messenger shield
- Network shield
- Web shield
- Virus Chest quarantine
- Automatic updates
- A special screen saver, that when active, performs virus scan of your system
- Boot-time scan option: This gives you the option to perform a thorough scan while your computer is booting. In the process, you can catch any virus before it becomes active on your system.
- Integrated avast! Virus Scanner (IaVS): A virus cleaning tool that can remove most common viruses from computers that are already infected.
- Support for 64 Bit Windows platform
- Availability in several languages
I have been using Avast home edition for 3 years, and can vouch for the quality of this program. It has sniffed out malware where many expensive and well know anti virus software have failed to diagnose a problem.
The software is also pretty low on system resources. Of course, the best part of avast! Home Edition is that it is FREE for personal use.
You can download the software and give it a test run by clicking here.
I would love to know your feedback on the experience.
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