Even though VIPRE Antivirus Premium is relatively new software in the highly competitive arena of antivirus firewall software, it still managed to out-perform the other top competitors in our 2011 antivirus tests.
VIPRE Premium is a unified antivirus firewall software that combines the antivirus protection of VIPRE Antivirus 4.0 and the overall Internet security of Sunbelt's Personal Firewall Software.
Before, you had to buy VIPRE Antivirus then add on Sunbelt's Personal Firewall to complete your Internet security suite.
That was fine, and they worked together as expected, but now they've combined the two programs into one: VIPRE Antivirus Premium.
In doing so, our main concern was that VIPRE would lose its highly-regarded speed and low resource usage, but the people at Sunbelt, VIPRE manufacturers, pulled it off.
They managed to keep the power and light resource usage of their antivirus software and combined it with their lean, mean firewall.
You still get the same top-notch antivirus and anti-spyware engine that's built into VIPRE but now there's the benefit of having a strong, integrated firewall, and without the hassle, however minor, of having to purchase, install, and run two separate programs.
The UI remains clean and easy to navigate. They've removed some redundant settings and integrated the firewall settings, thankfully, without feeling like they just slapped it together.
The memory usage of the unified antivirus firewall program is still very low, comparable to the combined resource usage of VIPRE Antivirus and Sunbelt Personal Firewall. Impressive.
Equally important, the antivirus and Internet security protection you get from VIPRE Antivirus Premium is still the best we've seen this year.
While there are only a few weak points with VIPRE Antivirus Premium, the good far outweighs the not-so-great.
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VIPRE Antivirus Premium 2010 Features
Real-time Protection
Prevents viruses, spyware and other malware from infecting your PC 24/7. Stops dangerous files from doing any harm.
Spyware Removal
Keeps dangerous spyware and annoying adware off your PC. Detects, finds, and destroys spyware trying to access your computer.
Email Protection
Stops dangerous email viruses from invading your PC. Scans incoming and outgoing email for malicious files.
Instant Messaging Protection
Scans and prevents viruses, spyware, and other malware from transferring through your IM conversations. Helps keep your Instant Messaging safe.
Solid Two-way Firewall
Filters incoming and outgoing traffic. Incoming traffic is blocked and scanned for threats until you let it through. Outgoing traffic is stopped and scanned to prevent dangerous programs from communicating with their makers.
Improved Network Performance
Allows connection to and from the Internet to flow more quickly and efficiently while still filtering for suspicious activity.
Excellent Packet Filtering
Inbound and outbound traffic is inspected for malicious activity.
Prevents Process Injection Attempts
Prevents malicious trojans and other malware from pretending to be safe programs by injecting themselves inside.
Improved Stability
Software performs well even under high-volume network attacks and other load.
Updated Translations Files
Improved support for several languages including Spanish and French.
Secure File Eraser
Permanently deletes sensitive or personal files. Keeps spyware from seeing sensitive information you delete.
History Cleaner
Permanently cleans browser history and cookies so spyware can't see where you've been.
Free Malware Removal
If a virus, trojan, worm, or other malware somehow gets through your defenses while you're a VIPRE or VIPRE Premium antivirus subscriber, Sunbelt's dedicated in-house team of malware removal specialists will remove the infection free.
Combining VIPRE Antivirus with Sunbelt Firewall was a logical step for Sunbelt. VIPRE Antivirus Premium brings together the critical components of an Internet Security Suite:
1. antivirus software
2. anti-spyware
3. firewall software
Its resource usage is still very light and low. Its core antivirus and antispyware protection is still more accurate than its competitors.
Its firewall is still easy to use, yet strong enough to block malicious attacks. And their customer support is still at the top of our list.
VIPRE Antivirus Premium is the best Internet security suite we've tested for 2011.
Is it perfect? No.
Is it excellent? Yes.
For starters, we'd like to see better antispyware protection. Our testing revealed some weak spots in VIPRE Antivirus Premium's ability to accurately detect and remove all spyware and adware during real-time protection.
Our pre-infection tests should have seen better results at detecting latent viruses on machines that were already infected.
That said, after running a full-system, manual scan, the majority of these viruses, worms, trojans, spyware, adware, and other malware were detected. Then letting VIPRE Antivirus Premium run in real-time, stopped any future attempts for the malware to run.
Overall, VIPRE Premium and Sunbelt do what you'd expect the best antivirus firewall software and Internet Security Suite to do. It keeps your PC clean and virus-free, runs without bogging your system down, and is backed by top-notch tech support.
he author invites you to visit:
http://shop.vipreantivirus.com
