Kaspersky Security Cloud Free review - Tom's Guide |
Kaspersky Security Cloud Free review - Tom's Guide Posted: 05 May 2020 02:37 PM PDT Kaspersky Security Cloud Free replaces the old Kaspersky Free Antivirus and adds more tools as well as Android and (limited) iOS protection. The program has such a light system impact that it sped up our machine a bit after installation. In addition, it offers a pretty comprehensive array of extra features, even if other options are grayed out or just teases for the paid plan. When you consider Kaspersky's unbeatable malware-detection engine, opting for Kaspersky Security Cloud Free over other free antivirus packages, even the built-in Windows Defender, is a no-brainer. It's our unqualified choice for the best free antivirus software. Read on for the rest of our Kaspersky Security Cloud Free review. Kaspersky Security Cloud Free specsMalware protection: Excellent Kaspersky Security Cloud Free: What's covered and upgrade optionsKaspersky Security Cloud Free uses the same malware-scanning engine as the company's paid products. The free program not only blocks online attacks but includes limited access to the company's Secure Connection VPN. It works with Windows 7, 8.1 and 10. You'll need to use an older version for Windows XP or Vista. Kaspersky's cheapest paid antivirus program is Kaspersky Anti-Virus, and it is for PCs only. It starts at $60 per year for three computers and adds a system optimizer and specialized defenses against ransomware, phishing and spyware. Kaspersky Internet Security, which starts at $80 for three devices, includes software for Macs, iPhones, iPads and Android tablets and phones. Its Windows security repertoire includes keeping out unwanted apps, thwarting network threats and preventing webcam hijacking. There's also a secure browser for banking and shopping online. At the top is Kaspersky Total Security, starting at $100 for five devices. It adds file encryption, Safe Kids premium parental controls and an unlimited password manager. Kaspersky Security Cloud Free takes a different tack by protecting computers from above. Its free protection covers PCs, Androids and iOS devices by combining virus shields with a password manager and limited VPN access. The free service includes up to 15 password entries and 300MB a day of VPN communications. If you pay $90 for three systems for Cloud Personal, or $150 for 20 devices for Cloud Family, Kaspersky opens the coverage to include Mac systems, provides 500MB a day of VPN security and lets you set up an unlimited number of password-manager log-in credentials. The family plan adds Kaspersky's Safe Kids parental controls. Kaspersky software is banned for use by U.S. government agencies and defense contractors, and there have been allegations that the Moscow-based company spies on behalf of the Russian authorities. We have not seen any convincing evidence that Kaspersky does so, and we think the software is fine for civilian use. Kaspersky Security Cloud Free: Antivirus protectionWhether you get Kaspersky Security Cloud Free or pay for Kaspersky software, you get the same excellent protection against malware. The latest version of Kaspersky Security Cloud Free includes a tool called System Watcher that watches for ransomware attacks and can reverse changes to files. On the downside, Kaspersky Security Cloud Free has no specific defense against UEFI penetration of the system's start-up program. If the scanning gets in the way of gaming or watching video, Kaspersky Security Cloud Free's gaming mode can reduce interruptions. Scans are quick and easy to start. A Full Scan is two clicks from Kaspersky's main page, and a Quick Scan is one more click. Right-clicking a specific object in Windows Explorer lets you scan it, and when you plug in a USB flash drive, Kaspersky Security Cloud Free scans it behind the scenes. Kaspersky Security Cloud Free: Antivirus performanceKaspersky has one of the best malware-detection engines of any consumer antivirus maker, and the engine is shared by all Kaspersky Windows antivirus products. The program detected 100% of all malware in every monthly test run by German lab AV-Test in 2018 and 2019, a feat matched only by Norton, which doesn't offer free antivirus software. The same winning streak continued in AV-Test's January-February 2020 round. But Kaspersky had a better balance than Norton between efficiency and zealousness, racking up only three false positives over that two-year period, compared with Norton's 22 false positives. Kaspersky's results with Austrian lab AV-Comparatives were not quite as perfect. While it stopped an average of 100% of malware in the lab's February-May 2019 tests, Kaspersky averaged only 99.1% in the July-October round. Overall, Bitdefender, Norton and even Microsoft Windows Defender did better, but the latter two had many more false positives. However, London-based SE Labs saw Kaspersky scoring 100% in both protection accuracy and total accuracy for its July-September and October-December 2019 rounds. No other brand did as well. Free-antivirus stalwarts Avast and AVG each got only 94% for protection in the earlier round, and 95% in the later one. Kaspersky Security Cloud Free: Security and privacy featuresKaspersky Security Cloud Free installs its own browser extensions for Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Internet Explorer. The add-ons can keep you away from dangerous websites. Kaspersky Security Cloud Free comes with a Kaspersky Secure Connection client to tap into Hotspot Shield's VPN infrastructure. There are connection points in 18 countries, but it includes only 300MB per day of free data. If you want more, the unlimited Premium subscription for five users costs $30 a year, making it the least expensive paid VPN service we've seen. Kaspersky Security Cloud Free has one big thing other free antivirus programs lack: an on-screen keyboard to foil keylogging malware. But to get Kaspersky's Safe Money secure browser, you need to upgrade to the paid version of Kaspersky Security Cloud. Kaspersky Security Cloud Free: Performance and system impactTo gauge Kaspersky Security Cloud Free's impact on overall performance, we used our custom benchmark test, which measures how long it takes to match 20,000 names with 20,000 addresses in an OpenOffice spreadsheet. We used an Asus X555LA notebook with a 2GHz Core i3-5005U processor, 6GB of RAM, 34.1GB of files on a 500GB hard drive and the latest Windows 10 updates. Before installing Kaspersky Security Cloud Free, the system completed the spreadsheet benchmark in an average of 7 minutes and 15 seconds, which we used as the baseline. Benchmark completion time dropped to an average of 7 minutes and 11 seconds after Kaspersky Security Cloud Free was installed, a background system-performance improvement of 0.9%. That seems to indicate that Kaspersky Security Cloud Free runs a little more smoothly than the built-in Windows Defender antivirus, which switches off when a third-party antivirus program is installed. While performing a full scan, the test system took 7 minutes and 40 seconds to complete the benchmark tasks, a slowdown of 5.7% from the baseline and 6.7% from the background. A Quick Scan led to a 1.1% performance drop from the baseline and a 2.1% drop from the background. That impact is much lighter than any other free software we tested. Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition and Avast Free Antivirus each caused 29% slowdowns from the pre-installation baseline during full scans, and even Windows Defender created a 20% slowdown from its own background load. Avast's quick scan slowed the system by a whopping 53% from the baseline, AVG AntiVirus Free's slowed it by 26%, while Windows Defender slowed the system by 13% from the background. (Bitdefender's free edition has no quick scan.) Kaspersky Security Cloud Free: InterfaceThe interface for Kaspersky Security Cloud Free has a bright and open main screen. When everything is protected, there's a check mark in front of a cloud that turns to a yellow exclamation mark or a red "X" when it requires attention. The main page has eight rectangles for its tasks, but the free version allows the use only of Scan, Database Update and Password Manager, which is a separate download and limits you to 15 items unless you upgrade to the paid Kaspersky Security Cloud. The Mobile Protection category simply links to the mobile-app downloads, and Secure Connection opens the separate VPN client. The Safe Money, Privacy Protection and PC Cleaner are grayed out unless you pay to upgrade. In the lower left, clicking an icon of a support-technician wearing a headset logo is a tease because the free version doesn't include human tech support. Instead, you get links to online FAQs, community forums and configuration tips. The gear-shaped Settings link has a good assortment of customization options that put to shame programs like Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition. There are sections for General (turn automatic protection on and off) and Performance (gaming mode, run scans when idle and keeping an eye out for rootkits). The Scan category's Low, Recommended and High security levels are good, but we preferred the more granular scan-sensitivity slider on Avast and AVG free products. On the upside, Kaspersky has activated the customization elements of the Protection section for free users, so you can turn off web, file or email scanning should you want to. The Additional group is deceptively powerful with control of Kaspersky's Advanced Disinfection technology (inside the Threats and Exclusions section). You can whitelist apps, monitor LAN ports for odd activity, block memory-based attacks with Kaspersky Self-Defense and control the virus quarantine. Kaspersky Security Cloud Free lets you schedule scans, unlike some other free antivirus programs, and scheduling a scan takes just a minute. The frequency can be every night, week or month. It's flexible enough to allow full, quick or focused scans of memory, boot sector or external drives. Kaspersky Security Cloud Free's System Tray icon lets you run an update or open the on-screen keyboard if you right-click on it. You can also pause Kaspersky's protection, open the settings and see what version of the program you have. Kaspersky Security Cloud Free: Installation and supportUsing Kaspersky Security Cloud Free starts with the 2.5MB installer program that then proceeds to download and install the main 180MB program. You can read the license and choose to opt out of sharing suspect code with Kaspersky. Near the end, the software lets you have the program eliminate adware and suspicious programs from your machine — an especially useful way to get rid of the remnants of an old malware program. Finally, you need to set up a MyKaspersky online account that allows you to manage the security of systems and get access to online support. All told, it took us less than 7 minutes to protect a fresh PC. Should your system get bogged down with malware, Kaspersky's Rescue Disk can help. It's not integrated into the program, but you can download the software from the Kaspersky website, burn or install it on an optical disk or a USB drive, and boot the machine in a clean Linux environment for scanning and cleaning. Caveat: The Kaspersky rescue disk dates from 2018 and may not have the most up-to-date tools. You can try the newer Norton Bootable Recovery Tool instead. As is the case with most free-AV software packages, you get only the most basic support with Kaspersky Security Cloud Free. Forget about emailing or calling support technicians; you're limited to online resources and the company's forums to figure out how to fix things or use the program. Kaspersky Security Cloud Free review: Bottom lineKaspersky Security Cloud Free is well worth the download. It combines superior malware protection with a fast scanner that barely slows down the system and allows plenty of customization. It's well stocked with options, although several items are reserved for paying customers. You'll get a few more extra features with Avast Free Antivirus, but in our opinion, they're not worth the drop-off in protection. The bare-bones Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition is a good choice for people who don't want to bother with antivirus software, but for everyone else, Kaspersky Security Cloud Free is the free antivirus program to get. |
Posted: 01 May 2020 03:00 AM PDT Antivirus software options that keep your digital world safe have been around nearly as long as the viruses that warrant their use. As such, they stick to the older model of pay-to-own, which can leave you out of pocket for the privilege of simply being safe online. That's changing as a new wave of protections start to offer similarly high-level safety without the usual costs you'd expect from paid-for antivirus software. Enter Windows Defender, aka Microsoft Defender. Big-name antivirus protection platforms like McAfee, Norton, Avast, AVG, Kaspersky, and more have long defended computers and mobile devices from potential viral threats. News that Avast has been selling user data makes it a great time to drop excess unnecessary potential snooping threats. Now Microsoft has built up its Windows Defender to a level that, many say, is enough to protect you without the need for these other services. Is this true? We lay it all out for you to decide. What is Windows Defender?Microsoft's Windows Defender was first available with Windows XP and has since evolved to what it is now, Microsoft Defender. This free service now comes built into Windows 10 as standard. While this started off as an inferior antivirus system, rated as dead last in tests by AV-Test back in 2013, it's changed. That same testing lab now ranks Windows Defender as one of the top services. Microsoft has started taking endpoint security seriously, and as such the current Windows Defender is often found to outperform a lot of the third-party dedicated antivirus software competition when it comes to malware protection. What's good about Windows Defender?One of the stand-out features of Windows Defender is that it's really fast. Since this is built by Microsoft, into Microsoft systems, it can be optimized to perform far more efficiently than a third party option. As such, the system impact of Windows Defender is minimal, making it ideal for use on a tablet or laptop where battery life will be impacted far less. As such, Windows Defender works away quietly in the background keeping your system safe. That means it's far less effort than the competition since it just works. You don't have to think about it or worry about it slowing you down or eating through your battery. Unlike a lot of the free software out there, this won't try to get you to sign up to a paid service, continually pestering you or using ads. This is a refreshing offering when you consider this is free to use and is as, if not more, capable than the paid services. What does Windows Defender offer?The software can scan your system for known malware signatures, but it can also monitor your software for signs of an infection. One of the stand-out features that Defender offers is its ability to make sure that absolutely no malware can take over its test systems. That's something that even some of the paid-for services fail at from time to time, including names like McAfee and Symantec, according to AV-comparatives. Another area that the Defender did well in was zero-day attacks. This was previously a problem area for the service. Now, in recent testing, since the June update, it scored perfectly when it came to zero-day attacks. Say no more. The fact that Windows Defender keeps itself updated and scans, all without you needing to do a thing – or even noticing it running – really makes this a very appealing option. Why get extra antivirus software?There are still instances where you might want to pay for an antivirus service. These are mainly due to the extras that some of these software packages bundle in for you. Many offer related services like VPNs, credit monitoring and protection, online password vaults, and more. Ransomware is also an issue where specifically targeted software can help. Ransomware takes control of your system, and you're then told to pay money to the hacker, or your files will be either deleted or shared, whichever does you the most damage. For protection here, services like Malwarebytes and BitDefender are great options to keep you ransomware free – and that's the operative word as both those services are free. Which services work well?Even with Windows Defender, and everything we've said so far, another layer of security can't hurt. Also, for malware, another option is essential. BitdefenderBitdefender is a great example as it not only covers the virus protection side of things, like Windows Defender, but it also tackles malware, ransomware, Trojans and rootkits. Essentially this is a do-it-all solution in one package. There's even a VPN thrown in, plus a password manager and even some banking tools. It's a whole lot of bang for your buck. Talking of, this will cost you as little as $20 for a year. There are lots of options with one, two, and three-year tiers, each with one, three, five, or ten devices supported. Check out the Bitdefender pricing options here. VIPREAnother option is VIPRE, which is ideal for those that want an extra layer of email security. This minimal solution offers an email quarantine for suspicious emails, like phishing schemes. A copy is sent to the quarantine folder where you can open them securely to check if they're legitimate without putting your system at risk. This starts at $45.99 for one device for a year and goes up to ten devices – check out all the pricing options here Avast Premium SecurityAvast is also worth looking at since it offers excellent malware protection, ransomware defense, webcam monitoring, an auto gamer mode and works across lots of devices. This is really feature-rich and, as such, costs a bit more, starting at $48 for the year for a single device and going up to $72 per year for ten devices. Head over to Avast to see for yourself. |
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