VIPRE Antivirus is originally from Sunbelt Software but On July 13, 2010, GFI Software has bought over the company. To me, the first thing that comes to my mind when you mention GFI is their server-based email security software called GFI MailSecurity which comes with 5 virus scanners (Kaspersky, McAfee, Norton, BitDefender and AVG). Unfortunately I never got a chance to use or set it up since my work place is running Red Hat Enterprise Linux and GFI MailSecurity is only compatible with Windows. I believe many people especially Americans trust GFI Software because it is a USA company with USA tech support.
Anyway, back to the topic. If you visit the official VIPRE Antivirus website, the first thing you will notice is the banner that says “SPEED MATTERS Voted #1 By Users”. If you refer to my antivirus benchmark test on VIPRE Antivirus, the report shows that the speed and lightness is just at a acceptable moderate level. They have also recently joined the VB100 comparative testing and so far failing only 1 test because of 2 false positive and passed the other 3 tests. VIPRE Antivirus normally cost $29.95 for 1 year subscription on 1 computer but if you searched around, you would find that Amazon UK and HSN is selling LIFETIME license which is very rare!
Antivirus signature needs to be constantly updated which is why most if not all antivirus are on a subscription plan rather than just a one time payment. Surely there are some of you that are just fine using the free version of antivirus such as Avira AntiVir, Avast, AVG or Comodo, but there are also others that think that paid version will always have more advantage over the free ones. That is quite true because paid antivirus normally contains more features than the free one to provide extra security.
Vipre Antivirus Features:
– Antivirus and Antispyware
– Anti-Rootkit with FirstScan cleaning technology which is very effective in removal because it runs without loading the Windows operating system.
– Email Protection for email program that uses POP3 and SMTP
– Active Protection to protect against known and unknown malware threats by analyzing the software’s behavior
– System Tools such as Secure File Eraser, History Cleaner, and PC Explorer. The PC Explorer is a very useful module to easily identify specific application files and processes within different programs that may be suspicious.
– Free malware removal assistance from the support team
– Small footprint. Most antivirus setup installer is nearly at 100MB in size but VIPRE Antivirus is only at 15MB
I tried installing 2 different keyloggers that uses rootkit technology to hide itself and VIPRE Antivirus’ Active Protection immediately notifies me and stop the installation.
Here is a piece of good news. Jesmond Darmanin from GFI has generously offered 5 LIFETIME license to be given away at this blog and here is what you need to do to be eligible for the draw. Please subscribe to my newsletter, Digg, Like in Facebook, Share in Facebook, Tweet, Stumble, etc etc etc. spam spam spam. Nah I’m just joking. All you need to do is make sure you’re already a subscriber and then leave a comment. It is that simple. The winners will be announced tomorrow.
UPDATE: Winners has been randomly selected and they are jayschwalb, jbellante, GaleVette, mithiljani, and car_cubero.